1942: the best fighter

[tomo pauk]

How about a crisp & short thread that would resolve the issue: what was the best fighter plane available to air forces in 1942? That would be land based fighter, thank you; carrier suitability yields zero points here Also, no prototypes.
If the plane can do jobs for air forces other than ones it was designed for, that one receives bonus points.

[woljags]

the one and only Mosquito

[Shortround6]

When in 1942 and in what numbers?

Jan or Dec makes a big difference as does 12 vs 500 available?

[DonL]

FW 190A hands down.

[Vincenzo]

When in 1942 and in what numbers?

Jan or Dec makes a big difference as does 12 vs 500 available?

agree
and that available in front line or elsewhere, combat proved or not?

[Shortround6]

That is sort of the point, The F4U was available in 1942.........or was it???

2 delivered in July, 9 in Aug and 13 in Sept, deliveries got better but none were sent to a combat zone until early 1943 when around 300 had been built total.

Combat proven is a little tougher. A lot of planes combat debuts were not particularly successful but had little to do with the actual capabilities of the aircraft.

[tomo pauk]

Okay. In the thread qualifies a design that was available at least in quantity of 100, in combat service, prior 1943.

[riacrato]

Fw 190 A

[tomo pauk]

So far only the 190 gets real votes.
Was it better than Spit IX of 1942? Would it be of better use than Ki-43 in IJA service?

[Vincenzo]

my poker of candidates Fw 190A, Bf 109G, Spit IX, Zero-32

[Thorlifter]

I gotta side with the Fw190 over the Ki-43, but only because it was more rugged and the survivability rate. The Oscar was a fine aircraft, arguably the best of the war, but suffered from typical IJAAF shortcomings of no armor or self sealing fuel tanks.

[davebender]

As capable as a Fw-190A but the Corsair carried a lot more internal fuel. Consequently the Corsair could project combat power twice as far as a Fw-190 and it could loiter longer when assigned to CAP. Like most U.S. fighter aircraft the F4U was armed with .50cal MGs rather then 20mm cannon. Otherwise it was close to perfect.

[tomo pauk]

I was trying to point out that typical European fighter (that is, conceived between Atlantic and Ural) was of of limited use for projection of power at everyday distances of Asia/Pacific. Even in MTO, or above Northern Atlantic?
And, particularly for Fw-190 (A3?), why would we consider it better than Spit IX, both for 1942?

[oldcrowcv63]

I'm thinking in terms of historical dominance as well as sheer performance:

I'll go with the FW-190A-3 as an interceptor-fghter, and Mitsubishi A6M-21/32 as an offensive air superiority fighter that cleared the air of all allied opposition enabling the subsequent conquest of South East Asia. I don't think the two american contenders P-38F and F4U-1 were quite as effective at this stage of the war although both showed great promise eventually fulfilled.

[Shortround6]

As capable as a Fw-190A but the Corsair carried a lot more internal fuel. Consequently the Corsair could project combat power twice as far as a Fw-190 and it could loiter longer when assigned to CAP. Like most U.S. fighter aircraft the F4U was armed with .50cal MGs rather then 20mm cannon. Otherwise it was close to perfect.

Except it was not available for combat in 1942. Available for initial training of squadrons yes.