Best Pacific Fighter?

[cheddar cheese]

What was the best fighter used in the Pacific theatre during WW2?

The list has been chosen by the good members of the site

I say P-38

Discuss

[GermansRGeniuses]

None of those, the N1K2 Shiden-Kai is the best...



Now, I'm just being complicated..

Gotta go with the Shiden.

[cheddar cheese]

[Nonskimmer]

I think it was the Corsair.
Early models were a bitch to start, and it was tricky to land on carriers, but with improvements and experience that was dealt with.
Yeah, that fighter rocked!
It was a decent ground pounder, too.

Plus, it just plain looked cool!

[MP-Willow]

Question what hapened to the P-47 or the P-51? they were both relativly new to the war but they did make an impression. And the thunderbolts even flue off carriers

For me P-38 or P-40. They were both around a long time were in every battle and served with all nations. That P-40 just never gave up even when it was getting out classed. The P-40P and Q were looking really nice!

C.C thanks for the pole we need more talk bout the Pacific!

[lesofprimus]

I have to go with GrG and say it was the N1K2-J Shiden-Kai, Allied Code Name: "George"......

The plane was just unreal in its flight performance, and when American test pilots first flew it, the couldnt compare anything in the US arsenal to it, because there was nothing we had that was close.....

A plane flown by the best Japanese pilots they had left......

Four wing-mounted 20 mm Type 99 Model 2 cannon (N1K1-Ja, N1K1-Jb, N1K1-Jc, N1K2-J, N1K2-Ja and N1K2-K)....
One Nakajima NK9H Homare 21 eighteen-cylinder air-cooled radial, rated at 1,990 hp for take-off, 1,825 hp at 1,750 m and 1,625 hp at 6,100 m, driving a four-blade metal propeller (production N1K1-J, N1K2-J, N1K2-K, N1K3-J and N1K3-A)....

The Shiden Kai was to become the best all-round fighter to be operational in the Pacific theatre.... It was fast, powerful, and maneuverable, and was well-armed and armored...... In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Shiden-Kai was the equal of any Allied fighter, even the later models of the P-51D Mustang which began to appear over Japan in the spring of 1945......
In one notable action, on February 16 1945 over Yokohama, Warrant Officer Kinsuke Muto of the 343rd Kokutai in an N1K2-J single-handedly battled a dozen F6F Hellcats...... He shot down four of them before the rest were forced to break off combat and return to their carrier......

The Shiden Kai had its center of gravity just alittle too far aft, and to correct this problem the N1K3-J Shiden Kai 1 Model 31 was built, which had the Homare 21 engine moved forward six inches..... This freed up enough space to permit two 13.2-mm machine guns to be fitted in the engine cowling..... Two prototypes were built at Himeji, but this model was never put into production....

Only 415 production examples of the outstanding N1K2-J fighter were built, owing primarily to construction snags and delays resulting from the continuous B-29 raids on the Japanese homeland in the last year of the war..... With the exception of Kawanishi's Naruo and Himeji plants, the other companies involved in the production pool were late in getting started and delivered only a token number of machines before the war ended.....

It is fortunate for the Allies that this outstanding aircraft was not available in greater quantity.

[MP-Willow]

Well Said, the N1K2 was very good, fast and was one of the few Japonese fighters that has the armor it really needed.

I agree it was equill to the Allied fighters whin in quallity hands. But the pilot pool had been all used up. Also The Allies were sailing out the F7F and F8F as well as a few other fighters a liitle more off.

But the Shiden-Kai should have been in production a year to 18 months before it was.

What to you all think about the A7M? It had problums but promis!

[NightHawk]

In the hands of an experienced pilot, every plane is a match,i heard a story thet a p-36 in perl harbor, shot down a zero, but i cant say the plane is not importent.

[GermansRGeniuses]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand?


Many P-36's (ok, not that much) shot down Zeroes, serving with Holland in the Dutch East Indies...

[cheddar cheese]

Thank god it wasnt a P-26

Yay the P-38 is winning

[the lancaster kicks ass]

dude you realise the wildcat's missing from the poll??

[cheddar cheese]

Yeah but the Hellcat was better than the Wildcat...

[MP-Willow]

The hellcat might be better, but it was the wildcat that was used from day one to the end. Flew off the CVEs and did all the hard work. It is like saying the B-29 was better then the B-24, yes, but with out the b-24s the B-29s would not be able to have had all that glory.

The wildcat was a strong little fighter that flew with the USN and RAA. But as CC said before he had to draw a line and could only add a few picks. So write in slot for the F4F

[cheddar cheese]

How much service, if any, did the F7F and F8F see during the war and were they successful?

[MP-Willow]

The F7F, was in theater and was being used by a few Marine units. The F8F Bearcat was still in the states and I think was set for an early 1946 deployment. Both would have played rolls in the invasions to come. But as for the Summer of 1945 they were just late.

Grumman had a lot invested in the two projects and the F7F-3 was the first twin engine carrier qualified plane! We had some good conversations about the Tigercat earlier on the forum. I can try to find it if you want.