Best Battle of Britain Aircraft

the lancaster kicks ass · 05-24-2005, 12:05 PM

all good points.......

d_bader · 09-06-2005, 01:14 PM

I vote 4 the spit! One of the best fighters in the war. There is no contest. By the way why is the ju87 on the list.
It was so bad that it was withdrawn from the BoB.
There should only be votes for He111, Me 109, Spit, Hurricane and maybe Me 110.

d_bader · 09-06-2005, 01:18 PM

I feel that the Bf109 should come above the hurricane because like the spit is to us Brits the Bf109 was there best thing at the time and something school boys could admire.

schwarzpanzer · 09-07-2005, 08:25 AM

Paul-Boulton Defiant! :P

- I can't believe you actually put it on there!

I think Me109 or Hurricane.

FLYBOYJ · 09-07-2005, 09:18 AM

During the BoB the task presented to the RAF was to keep the Luftwaffe out of British skies, mainly the bombers. As history shows this was achieved and the main instrument that accomplished this was the Hurricane....

I always felt the Hurricane was under-rated in terms as the BoB as many like to remember the Spit to -109 match up, but it was the Hurricane, knocking down Luftwaffe bombers that really saved the day!!!!

Parmigiano · 09-07-2005, 09:43 AM

As overall effectiveness: Hurricane

As best performance plane : Bf 109E

The comparison must be 109E vs Spit MkI and II
I LOVE the Spit, and I believe that the 'pure' MkI is one of the most beautiful planes ever designed but:
- the MkI was suffering the engine cut-off (famous carb issue)
- Armament was inferior to 109E
-109 was better in climb and dive, far superior in dive if we consider the Spit problems
- 109 was beating the Spit until was allowed to fly above the bombers and use the boom-and-zoom tactic, was in trouble when stupid Goering forced the 109 to fly close escort, moving the combat in the 'dogfight' area where the Spit could use her better rate of roll and 109 could not use her best attitudes: but this can't be blamed on the aircraft.
- Main problem of the 109 was the limited range and so the short time that she could afford in combat, but once again this is more an headquarter issue: they believed that the 110 could do the job, so did not develop an aux tank for the 109 until 1941

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 09-07-2005, 02:29 PM

For me it depends on what you are looking at. I went for the 109. I feel the Bf-109E was the the best aircraft in the air at the time of the BoB. The Spitfire however was so close that as others say it really is hard to tell between the two. I still went with the 109 because it is my favorite aircraft of WW2.

Now though if you want to go with Historical reasons, then I would say the Hurricane is the best of the BoB. Yes the Spitfire was superior but the Hurricane was more numerical than the Spitfire and it did most of the work stopping the Luftwaffe Bombers while the Spitfires fought the 109's and 110's. Therefore in that case I would go with the Hurricane.

Still though as I stated, out of love for my Bf-109 I voted for her of course.

plan_D · 09-07-2005, 06:51 PM

The armament issues of the Spitfire are not even worth mentioning. The fact that there were eight .303cal made enough lead flying at the enemy to bring him down.

I chose the Spitfire. The Bf-109E and Spitfire Mk.I were an even match but I love the Spitfire!

For historical reasons, the Hurricane saved Britain by numbers but the Spitfire could have done the same in greater numbers. And the Spitfire shot the fighters down.

The Spitfire was a fly swatter and the Hurricane killed the cows.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 09-08-2005, 02:28 PM

I agree with your statement about the Hurricane and Spitfire.

Parmigiano · 09-08-2005, 02:43 PM

PlanD, I have to disagree with one of your statement
If we want to technically compare aircrafts the armament issue IS worth mentioning, like any other asset or performance: does not matter that the 8x7.7 could down foes, the fact is that the 109E with the 2x20mm was better armed.
And the fact that the Macchi 202 could shot down some B17 with only 2x12.7 does not change the fact that the 202 was severely undergunned.

Using your same logic we could say it's not worth mentioning that the Spit had a better turn, even the Me109 could effectively turn and change direction!

Then, if you believe that the Spit had small edge on the 109 and I believe the 109 had a small edge on the Spit, this is perfectly fine!

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 09-08-2005, 02:45 PM

The 109 and the Spit at the time were pretty much equal (echoeing what others have already said).

plan_D · 09-08-2005, 11:18 PM

The Bf-109E had little edge over the Spitfire in the armament issue when dueling one another. That's what I'm saying.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 09-09-2005, 10:31 AM

The advantages of each aircraft though pretty much equalled each other out.

plan_D · 09-09-2005, 10:53 AM

I couldn't agree more, Adler. With all the aircraft technical details taken into account, the only significant that either aircraft would ever have over the other would be the pilot sat in it's seat.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 09-09-2005, 11:36 AM

Agreed completely. If you think about it the Spit and Hurricane were a perfect ballance for one another. The Spits held off the fighters while the Hurricanes hit the Bombers. They worked togehter really well with the help of a thing called Radar. Have to hand it to them.