If you Designed your own Fighter plane, what Characteristic would you want most?

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Could be propeller, jet, or rocket aircraft.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

it's not as easy as picking one from that list, you may want one aspect more than annother but in the end you'll always want the best combination, although i'd say speed or manouverability (i'm still very much in the 1930s RAF mindset )

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Yeah, I know it's a hard decision. But the poll is more about what you would want most in a fighter.

I also thought this poll might be fun for differant users who often stress the best aspect of a fighter. The
P-47 had the Dive, The FW had the Roll, The Spitfire had the Turn, the P-38 had the Climb, the Zero had it all!

Of course speed was one of the things the Zero didn't have.

[plan_D]

I would take speed because speed can dictate the fight. The Zeke didn't have the roll or the dive, it could climb fast and turn fast [at slow speeds] but it was slow.

[cheddar cheese]

Lightweight. That is likely to bring about a number of other positive characteristics.

[wmaxt]

You want more than one of those attributes in a fighter. The P-38J-25/L had
exceptional
climb - 3724 aveto 20,000ft
acceleration - 2.8mph/sec from cruise at 15,000ft
range - 1 mission was 2,300mi not including combat at the target
high speed roll - above 350mph better than the Fw-190
at 250mph or less maneuverability was excellent (maneuvering flaps)
load capacity - 5600lbs reported
stall, power on stall (dirty, flaps and gear out) was about 60mph (AAF test) and the P-38 had no accelerated or torque stall.
initial dive up to the ~.68 mach limit.

In the hunt performance
speed - between 420 and 442
sustained dive - max was ~.68 but was very controlable with the dive slats
maneuvering ability - in a march 43 AAF test comparing the P-38F to the P-51, P-47C, P-40F, P39D the P-38 was considered the best fighter tested to date and had superior maneuvering above 15,000ft, and equal in ability from 10,000-15,000ft. BTW: the Allison P-51 was considered the best maneuvering Mustang. The later P-38J/L were better in every way than the F model except weight. John Tilley recounts how he out maneuvered a Zero at 90mph and 1,000ft

The F4U-4 had less acceleration, range, but was a little faster and could land on a carrier.

you don't get much better.

wmaxt

[FLYBOYJ]

BULLETPROOF!

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Well, it depends on how much "toughness" you want!

[lesofprimus]

Manuverability.....

[Bullockracing]

I put target accuracy. If I can get in the air and put lead on the target (assuming that my target accuracy outweighs their one attribute), I get a mark in the kill column.

[FLYBOYJ]

Well, it depends on how much "toughness" you want!

I want 20mm rounds to bounce off me like rain drops!

[Glider]

I think it has to be speed as you have the ability to choose when and how to fight, and also when to get out if things are going pear shaped.

[Gnomey]

I would want a combination of the factors with manouvability up there as well as firepower (and bulletproof).

Joe what about 30mm rounds?

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

I kinda was worried multiple choice would be to easy to make a "super plane" out of too many choices.

Maybe I should have put manuverability/speed in the same poll option.

[102first_hussars]

This is what mine would look like