Best tank killer aircraft of WW2

[corpcasselbury]

Which of the planes whose business it was to kill tanks was the best? Many will claim it was the Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik. My personal favorite has always been the Hawker Hurricane Mark IID, which featured a pair of Bofors 40mm guns slung under the wings. It cut quite a swathe through Rommel's armor in North Africa.

[trackend]

Although im not very clued up on these type of aircraft, one that comes up in conversations time and again that I have with ex-service men who saw them in action is the Tiffy ( rocket firing Typhoon). As one gentlemen said to me "a hit from one of these on a Tiger Tank would peel it open like a bleeding bean tin. and when you only have pea shooters to defend yourself it made a really nice sight" so i'll go with these guys but i would like to hear some info on the other aircraft used in this role.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

interesting views, but can i put in a word for the german stuka (junkers ju 87), proberly not best known for this role, and not often used in this role, but it still made a great anti-tank weapon when armed with a pair of 37mm cannon.

my second entry would have to be the american p-51D mustang, also known as the "jet buster" or more appropriatly in this case the "tank buster". Built and designed in the record time of 17 days the p-51 performed well in all fields, as a long range bomber escort, all round fighter, ground attack aircraft, and under the latter, comes the role of tank buster, for which it required it's considerable speed and exelent manouverability, by the time you'd seen one of these coming out of the sun storming down on you with underwing cannon pods, you were as good as dead.

[corpcasselbury]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

interesting views, but can i put in a word for the german stuka (junkers ju 87), proberly not best known for this role, and not often used in this role, but it still made a great anti-tank weapon when armed with a pair of 37mm cannon.

my second entry would have to be the american p-51D mustang, also known as the "jet buster" or more appropriatly in this case the "tank buster". Built and designed in the record time of 17 days the p-51 performed well in all fields, as a long range bomber escort, all round fighter, ground attack aircraft, and under the latter, comes the role of tank buster, for which it required it's considerable speed and exelent manouverability, by the time you'd seen one of these coming out of the sun storming down on you with underwing cannon pods, you were as good as dead.

I was unaware that the Mustang ever carried underwing cannon pods. What is your source for this information? If true, the combination would have been devastating to any tank.

[Crazy]

Originally Posted by corpcasselbury

Which of the planes whose business it was to kill tanks was the best? Many will claim it was the Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik.

hear hear! I'm going to represent corpcasselbury's statement on this one. The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik and it's many varients were devastating to German tanks. It capacity for a multitude of different bombs plus it's sheer ruggedness make it my favorite for that role. I've seen pics (don't remember where) of an Il-2 with one wing shreeded like swiss cheese, but it was still flying, and I think the caption stated that it made it home.

I'm in the process of re-locating a set of journal entrys by an Il-2 pilot that tell of his experience with it. Will post them here



S!

Crazee

[the lancaster kicks ass]

In return to "corpcasselbury"'s comment regarding the mustang having underwing cannon pods, i saw arcive footage of a mustang with cannon pods on a documentary about ww2 fighters on channel 4, but perhaps they weren't as common as i thaught?

[corpcasselbury]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

In return to "corpcasselbury"'s comment regarding the mustang having underwing cannon pods, i saw arcive footage of a mustang with cannon pods on a documentary about ww2 fighters on channel 4, but perhaps they weren't as common as i thaught?

That may have been an experimental plane they showed in the documentary, or even a postwar model; a lot of such TV programs aren't exactly careful about the footage they used.

As far as the USAAF goes, its best tank killer was probably the P-47 Thunderbolt. The ordnance carrying capabilities of this aircraft are simply astounding: rockets, bombs, napalm, you name it. Plus those eight .50 caliber machine guns, just to make life interesting for trucks, troops and trains.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

*cough* P-51 MUSTANG *cough*

P-47 Thunderbolt

IL-2 achieved the best result for WWII, from the start it was designed as ground attack, not classical bomber, nor fighter or dive bomber. It was rather fast and maneuverable and could dogfight for its life. Last but not least, it was damn sturdy.

Late Stukas with 37mm killed many tanks too, but it was an old design
and therefore lacked performance (esp. speed and payload)

Hurris MkIID were quite good I think but I don't know much about

P47 was good but lacked maneuverability at low alt, which is normal bcs it was designed as an high alt energy fighter

Early in the war the Stuka was definitly the best ground attack plane. But as the war went on the Il-2 came and it blew away the Stuka. But also the P-51 and Typhoon variations took a prime role in bombarding Germany's armour into submission

[I./JG53_lud13]

The best German plane for sure Hs-129...But I think that Il-2 was the best in allied inventory.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well, it's the mustang as a tank killer, but for general ground attack, the tornado runs away with the title

What about the B-25 or B-26 as used in the pacific for close ground support? They were very good at what they did and the B-26 could move like a fighter?

[Erich Hartmann]

I still think ol' Sturmovik was the best.