Best World War II Aircraft?

[JoeB]

Originally Posted by kool kitty89

An interesting note on the opinion JAAF pilots - Mr. Yohei HInoki Japanese Ace Pilot

Re: previous statement about general success of the Type 1 in 1941-42 except against AVG, Hinoki was WIA v. the AVG April 10, 1942 (his a/c hit 21 times but did not 'fall apart'). In its relatively few combats v. the AVG the 64th Flying Regiment seems to have lost 11 Type 1's while only downing 3 AVG P-40's. But again that was opposite to the Type 1's record v Hurricane and Buffalo in early 1942 (Type 1's downed 20 Hurricanes for 4 losses, and 14 Buffalo's for another 4 losses, in 1941/42 combats where both sides' losses are known). And as mentioned the Type 1 had its moments against even later Allied types in Burma. Hinoki claimed a couple of P-51A's in 1943 and the 311th FG's Allison Mustang operations over Burma ca. Nov 1943 only yielded about a 1:1 real ratio v Japanese fighters, mainly Type 1's. Hinoki was severly WIA though v. P-51A's, lost part of a leg and became and instructor at the Akeno Fighter School back in Japan. He fought one last battle v P-51's, D's of the 506th FG, in the Type 5 Fighter (radial 'Tony') July 16 1945.

F4U v Type 1 isn't a comparison of real contemparies. The Type 1 was competitive against the Allied fighters in met at least to the end of 1942 (though some of those in turn were earlier planes than the Type 1). Also, though there were limited cases of F4U v Type 1 (in 1943 in the Solomons), and it's not a well documented period from both sides, remember that we still tend to evaluate F4U fighter combat success in the Solomons ca. 1943, mainly v the Zero, based on Allied claims which we do know enough two sided examples to say were quite overstated (so were Japanese claims, but traditional Western popular perception is based mainly on Allied claims, not Japanese claims).

Joe

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by Boss Calamari

I will restate that the good pilots flying this craft could take on any plane. A 16 year old pilot Yasuo Kuwahara downed f6fs and b-29s with his ki-43 and this was late in the war in 1944 to the last days. One doesn't have to be a veteran to champion, just need to spot the enemy to evade a diving pass. The Ki-43, a plane that remained in production to the war's end, should be in the top 50.

Yep - Bong also shot down around 10 Oscars as well.

I think Joe B summed it up pretty well.

[Marcel]

!

[Boss Calamari]

Originally Posted by wingnuts

I thought Yasuo Kuwahara's book "Kamikaze" was mostly fiction? ... I may be wrong.

It's claimed to be fiction by people who knew him, the author defends Yasuo with statements such as the people only knew him during school. I think it's possibly fiction or at least some parts are. I think the ki-84 is also a great aircraft, it just had the misfortune of having a lot of bad pilots and engine problems. I also would like nominate the b-29. It was advanced and has a successful history.

[Burmese Bandit]

Best War Two Aircraft....

Oh boy. Tough. But here goes..

IMHO...

Fighter: FW 190, Mustang, tie. Absolute dead heat.
Ground Support: B-25 a whisker ahead of Ju-87, with the Stormovik a close third. (Yes, yes, the Il-2 was a design dog - but as the ******* Stalin said "Quantity is a quality all by itself) Why the 87? Here I'll put Stalin in reverse, and say that the quality (of the pilots) is a quantity all on its own.
Bomber: In spite of my great admiration for the Lancaster, it's the B-17 by a head...or should I say a nose...
Transport: Dakota. no other comes even close.

[Elvis]

So, as far as fighters are concerned, we seem to be coming to a realization (at least over the past couple of pages of this thread) that maybe its not one single aircraft, but a small group that stand above the others.

Again, concerning fighters only, would we all agree that, over the entire war, the list is pretty much as follows?...

P-51
Me-109
FW-190
Spitfire
Zero

Yes? No?



Elvis

[kool kitty89]

Elvis, on fighteres alone there have been several "best fighter" threads, the overal reasoning gets pretty complicated in such discussions, particularly given the abiguity of "best." (and what it means to be the best fighter, which devides into interceptor, dogfighter, escort, etc... as well as if best means most important, best performing, most effective, etc.)

There's a good poll http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/pol...r-7415-12.html (Best Piston Engined Fighter Ever...) which was organized after a preceding discussion thread to narrow down the choices. So you can see that there are a lot of variables even in such a discussion even when you narrow it to a single type.

In terms of most important to WWII of all types, it would have to be the C-47.

[Burmese Bandit]

Agree Kitty. Air transport is the most underrated and overlooked aspect of air power. Yet...in many situations it is the winning hand.

[Burmese Bandit]

Hey! I just noticed! Within 24 hours of joining I've been promoted to member!

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by Burmese Bandit

Hey! I just noticed! Within 24 hours of joining I've been promoted to member!

You've been busy!

[Catch22]

Originally Posted by Elvis

So, as far as fighters are concerned, we seem to be coming to a realization (at least over the past couple of pages of this thread) that maybe its not one single aircraft, but a small group that stand above the others.

Again, concerning fighters only, would we all agree that, over the entire war, the list is pretty much as follows?...

P-51
Me-109
FW-190
Spitfire
Zero

Yes? No?



Elvis

I know that there are threads for fighters specifically, but no. The Zero should not be in there and the Corsair should be in its place.

[Marcel]

Why not the zero? It was a very good fighter in it's time (1941). That it was outclassed later in the war like many others should not count that much against it. The Corsair was relative late, so naturally it would be better than the earlier types.

[Burmese Bandit]

The operative phrase is "over the entire war". The design of the zero made in incapable of accepting upgrades: it was one of those planes that was maxed out from the Mk 1 model onwards.

[Marcel]

Originally Posted by Burmese Bandit

The operative phrase is "over the entire war". The design of the zero made in incapable of accepting upgrades: it was one of those planes that was maxed out from the Mk 1 model onwards.

You can hardly say that the P51 and the Corsair served over the entire war. If that is a criterium, the Spitfire and the Bf109 are the only candidates for fighters.

[Burmese Bandit]

Good point Marcel. C'est vrai.