Old ThreadsDiscuss Best Piston Engined Fighter Ever in the Old Stuff forums; My top 10 list of piston engined Fighters that ever flew.
1. Hawker Fury/ Sea Fury
2. de Havilland D.H. ...
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This it may be the best of the war, but the Sea Fury must be the best piston fighter ever. It could be used in ground attack, was blisteringly fast (at up to 460mph, arguably the fastest single engined plane ever, with a piston engine) and could have taken on anything that came from WW2, many of the early post war jets and downed some Migs in the Korean war with no losses themselves.
But I'd give the TA152 2nd and the Sea Fury 3rd (IMO). I'm sure the Sea Fury was a fantastic plane, but it was not as versatile as the Corsair.
If your looking for just a pure fighter, I'd have to give it to the TA152. If your looking for a fighter that could do anything, I'd go with the Corsair F4U-5, then the P-47N.
ever, i'd leave it between the Sea Fury and F8F Bearcat, giving it to the Sea Fury due to the greater service record, and you'll find few who'll agree with you on the P-51, there was a thread similar to this recently...........
This it may be the best of the war, but the Sea Fury must be the best piston fighter ever...downed some Migs in the Korean war with no losses themselves.
One confirmed credit for a MiG, specific confirmation from Communist side unknown. Anyway later that same day, Aug 9 '52, a Sea Fury was hit by a MiG's 37mm shell, belly landed on a UN held island off the Korean coast and was apparently a total loss.
The Corsair MiG kill in Korea was by an F4U-4B (BuNo. 62927 to be exact). It was immediately downed by another MiG; that incident is confirmed in a specific Communist account. The straight F4U-5 was little used in combat in Korea, -5N's and -5P's were the standard however for night fighters and recon Corsairs. The -5 had nice paper stats but bugs had crept into some "improvements" in the design and the paper advantages were not so relevant to the Korean War mission. And there weren't enough around to sustain any attrition; so after brief use of straight -5's by one Marine sdn in Korea early on, the USN and USMC standardized on -4/4B for straight fighters in Korea, until the Marines received some new AU-1's (F4U-6) close support planes in 1952.
Anyway I think fluke MiG killing is a weak basis on which to compare prop fighters.
Most of the planes mentioned were very impressive performers; I personally like the P-51H. However WWII showed that you need extensive realworld combat service to see the full value of a plane, all its intangibles. That mainly doesn't exist for the very late war/postwar prop fighters; they all had pretty scant air combat records, or very difficult circumstances (eg. Ta-152).
I would go with the F4U-5. Top speed of 465 mph at 31,400 ft. Service ceiling of 41,400 feet. Rate of climb of 4230 fpm. 4-20mm cannon with 924 rounds of ammunition carried. Yardstick range of 1036 miles. All metal now with a cigar lighter.
The best piston engined fighter of the War was undoubtably the Ta 152H-1..
Above 25k ft, the Ta 152H-1 would reign supreme. Below that there are several aircraft that appear superior to the Ta, F4U-4 or 5, P-51H, probably F8F, Sea Fury, and Tempest II. So, you might have a good time up there, but it could be sporty going up or coming down.
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Best Piston Engined Fighter Ever 
Originally Posted by lesofprimus
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