What is the greatest WWII fighter?

Hello everyone, from Down Under in sunny Australia!
I’m going to reignite the age-old question: just what is the best fighter of WWII? I’m just wanting to collate different ideas, because I am curious as to what people think on the issue. As for me, I am always going to be loyal to the Spitfire, in particular the Mks. VIII and XIV. I know of many aviation enthusiasts down here who disagree with me, and think that the Mustang was far superior, but I think I agree with Stewart Wilson in his very good book “Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk in Australian Service”, which states that the Mustang and the Spitfire are very similar machines, and thus are very difficult to compare. In addition, I believe the Supermarine aircraft, as an interceptor, was unmatched, and it is for the reason that the interceptors staved off the Luftwaffe that the P-51 ever got the chance to fly in European skies at all, for without the victory of the Battle of Britain by the Hurricane, supported by the Spitfire, there wouldn’t have been any offensive bases for the USAAF and their Mustangs.
Anyway, over to you…is it the Spitfire, the P-51, Bf-109, or maybe something completely different? Hear from you soon…

Being as fair as possible I’d have to make a top ten list and say they are not in any strict order.

Mustang
Spitfire
109
190
Hellcat
Tempest
Yak3
Lightning
Corsair
Zero

Some people will take some out and some people will place them in some sort of order but I think it would be fair to say that all of the above belong in the top 10. I would put the Spit at number 1 purely because it is my favourite but not because I think it was any better than the rest. In some ways it was in others it was lacking a little.

Greatest WW2 fighter

If not the best one of the most elegant

By the way, if some of us know the construction number, I would be interested

Hey Guys,

The Best Fighter, you all are missing something here its the Guy in the plane that makes it the Best.

Hartman flew 109 even thou we’ll agree that the 190 was better

Pappy flew Corsairs and yes The Black Sheep were going to be converted to Hellcats but Pappy and Foss talked the USMC out of it.

Garbiski flew P-47

So we can all say this one or that one was better but its what the Pilot did that makes it Great.

You Guys Are All Wrong! Again!

The Brewster Buffalo was the finest fighter hands down! 😮
However I must give second place to the Mosquito! what a great and beautiful airplane.And made of wood to boot!(my,how very british)Whether or not it belongs in a post about greatest fighters,To me it takes first place in the Greatest PLANE of WWII.What other airplane was able to be converted to as many different configurations as the Mossie was? What other plane was then able to excell in the mission requirements demanded of these various Marks and models, as the Mosquito did??none (or very few) that I can think of.Many of you will dispute my claim and you may be correct,but when it comes to sheer beauty and stirring up my passions and excitement level,nothing beats the Mosquito!DeHavillands(Dehavilands?) masterpiece! 🙂

Tuck, it’s nice to see a fellow Hurri fan. Unfortunately that’s rare on this forum. Most everyone is a Spitfire or P-51 nut.

Personally the Hurricane is my favorite British fighter, but I’ll have to put my favorite, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk up against the Hurricane.

I think that’s a rather interesting comparison, as they both aren’t often given the credit they are due aside from a few exceptions (i.e. Hurricane’s kill count in the BoB and the P-40’s performance with the AVG).

Both were rugged, very versatile, down their fair share of Axis planes, and served in most if not all theaters of the war.

True workhoreses without which Allied victory would have been all the more difficult.

Been a Hurricane nut since birth, i would like to say Hurricane. But then to say fighter, that covers a vast array of operational circumstances.
For me the Hurricane, for best all rounder,
Spitfire, best interceptor,
P51, best long range escort,
Mossy, Best night fighter
Typhoon, Best ground attack.

These all for the european theater of war.

And let’s not forget the F7F Tigercat, which compares much closer to the Mossie than the B-25.

I love this thread, why don’t we have one asking what everyone’s favorite color is. Now that would be exciting.

Some universal truth’s of warbirds:

Brit’s will never forget that the Mustang has a Merlin engine.

American’s will never forget that the Spit didn’t have the range of the P-51.

B-24 guys will go on and on about the Davis wing and how the B-24 is faster than the B-17.

Brit’s will point out that you can fit a B-17 nicely in the bomb bay of a Lancaster.

Russian’s only want to know how many cannons does it have.

So, what was the best “whatever”? Whichever one you like.

La-5FN, or Yak-9.

I can’t pick a best but here are my favourites, year 1944. Put it this way if we played war games I don’t think the opposition would have anything better.

Interceptor Spitfire XIV Fast climbing and manoeuvrable

Long range escort Mustang Fast, long legged and reasonably manoeuvrable

Battlefield air superiority Tempest V Peerless speed and manoeuvrability.

Ground attack Chose from: Typhoon, Corsair, Thunderbolt, Fockwulf 190F

Night/all-weather Mosquito Again peerless in all areas

Going right back to the beguinning of this thread, let’s remember that the Hurricane was the most important fighter in the Battle of Britain. The Hurricanes shot down more than all the other defences combined that’s as categorical as you like. Forget old saws about Spits going for the fighters, there being more Hurricanes than Spitfires – true in part, but the Hurricane did what was required. As F K Mason’s book says “The RAF was glad to have trhe Spitfire. It HAD to have the Hurricane.

‘Best’? Yhat’s easy. The most useful you could get yourt hands on at the time. So Gladiators in N Africa and the Med, Hurricane in the Battle of Britain, P-40 in the early Pacific etc. The ‘what if’ element of chucking a Zero, say, into Europe in 1941 is fun, but pointless really.

Personal award? The Boomerang. 16 weeks from nothing to first flight. Punchy little beast. Quirky award of being the only W.W.II fighter never scoring an air-to-air kill; but very useful in ground support. And it’s Aussie. 😉 Not the best, just my fave.

If you can count the P-61 as W.W.II (not really fully developed) then you have to allow the Hawker Fury / Sea Fury and Grumman Bearcat. Easilly supirior to all W.W.II iron.

Cheers

19 to 1

Excellent question!
19 to 1. Any other better kill ratio during the war?
How many of the others mentioned here, were able to be mastered in a very short amount of time, able to take on the best the enemy had to offer, while operating off of an aircraft carrier, and being mass produced by an ever changing workforce?
Oh yeah many of those kills were made at night using the night fighter version…
1,000 lbs of bombs and 6 rockets made it a hell of a mudmover as well…
I find it to be almost criminal, that because of the USN policy, so few Hellcats survived the peace, and only 3 or 4 fly on a regular basis….
Just my 2 cents worth…

Found this thread using the much-maligned post April 2004 search function! Was looking for the Heinkel 219. So I’m taking the opportunity to resurrect it.

Much of what’s said above is of course (and entirely reasonably so) opinion. I wonder if there’s any way of arriving at an objective “answer” here – say along the lines of Neilly’s bomb tonnage per target arguments re. the Mossie.

Reflecting on fighters in their primary role (IMHO = intercepting and destroying or at least deterring enemy aircraft). I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the Hurricane had destroyed more (presumably enemy) aircraft than any other fighter in WWII. Is that cods or gospel – anyone know? And how that might pan out kills/sortie I don’t know.

Also I wonder whether the HE219 might win a kills/sortie ratio contest in night-fighters. It certainly started out on the right foot with 5 kills on the first sortie (pilot Werner Streib). Don’t know how it went after that – but it packed a hell of a punch. And unfortunately Allied night-fighters would likely get nowhere on this scale – not enough targets!

Apologies for the Lazarus act for those tired of this thread.

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

I agree with Glenn on most points except I would pick the Corsair over the Mustang. The F4U-1D was its equal and the F4U-4 was much superior! The Japanese is a harder one to crack. The Zero in the right hands could still be dangerous even in 1945. Thought for all practical purposes was obsolete by 43. The George, Frank and Jack were more or less equal to the Allies. With the Frank being my favorite…………As jets go obviously the Me-262! On the other hand. If, the war would have when on another 6-12 months I would have to put my money on the P-80.

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-04-02 AT 09:21 AM (GMT)]Hi All,
Regarding the various night fighters, we’re just speculating! If you read Jeremy Howard-Williams book Night Intruder, he flew most of these aeroplanes. The things he said about:
ME 110
Lovely aircraft to fly… just like a big powerful Tiger Moth… Excellent for night fighter work.
JU 88
Not a nice aeroplane to fly… took to much pilot concentration to keep it under control, not ideal for night fighter work.
ME 410
Similar performance & handingly as a Beaufighter
Beaufighter
Good sturdy aeroplane… early Mk’s had a lateral pitch problem… mostly cured with the dihederal tailplane
P-61
Big aeroplane… excellent duration & climb rates… wouldn’t be very good in a turning fight, but that’s not a problem for a night fighter, as most aircraft shot down at night never knew the enemy night fighter was there. Everything was electrical & caused to many problems.
Mosquito MkXXX
Quite simply the best night fighter of them all!

Cheers,
Neilly

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

Yes, but the JU-88 night fighter versions rocked.

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

>the Bf-110 was only a stop-gap solution.

Not really. It was seen that way later in the war before the He 219 was ready but from early ’41 onwards it was the typical night fighter.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/7404/bf110.htm

Regards, Glenn.

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

Neilly, I’d appreciate it if you’d actually read what I wrote. I did say TAKE OFF. I never said they landed. I said in the very next sentence that you are probably correct about the landing part (regarding the Mosquito). As far as the Bf-110 is concerned, I think it got a bad rep for its Battle of Britain performance. It performed well in the fighter/bomber and nightfighter roles and is in my opinion a very underrated aircraft. As far as your views on Mosquito are concerned, I respect that because I too have a little crusade going for the P-40…..in my opinion, THE SINGLE MOST UNDERRATED AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR II.

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

To be honest, I’m surprised people are even talking about the B25 and Mosquito in the same sentence. They were both designed for completely different roles, so a direct comparison is difficult to justify. Try to imagine either of these scenarios: a B25 nightfighter stooging around looking for lone intruders, and a wing of Mossies flying medium level daylight bombing missions in Tunisia. Can’t see either of them myself…

Just to add another one into the night fighter arena, Heinkel 219. A very underrated aircraft, IMO.

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

Hello again.
It’s nice to have several opinions running at the same time…so thanks a lot! As regards the Mosquito/Mitchell argument, there can be no contest; the DH machine all the way! The Mosquito was virtually untouchable over Axis skies, but the Mitchell did not have the legs nor the clean lines of the Mosquito.
As for the nightfighter argument, for services rendered the Beaufighter and Mossie were the best by far! The Ju-88, whilst versatile, was never more than a satisfactory nightfighter, and the Bf-110 was only a stop-gap solution.
Cheers,
Violator

RE: What is the greatest WWII fighter?

Sorry, Phantom, but you’re wrong. The Mosquito was the first twin engine to LAND & take off from a carrier! Doolittles’ B-25’s were put on the carrier deck by crane. He only took off, no landings.

Squasher, I don’t think you put your foot in it! I’m a provocative sod at the best of times. I’m always interested in other peoples views, especially anything to do with aviation. There’s so much aviation stuff out there & I only have so much time to concentrate on anything to do with aeroplanes, so it’s good to get other peoples ideas etc. & if a particular aircraft, subject etc. crops up that I know little about & the discussion was interesting, then I go & have a read up on it. So Ifind these discussion forums a sort of short cut to interesting reading & so cut out the stuff which is of no interest!

Regarding the Mosquito, I’ve had a ‘love affair’ with this aeroplane, for nearly 40 years (I got an Airfix model for my 9th birthday & been hooked on the Mosquito, ever since!). So I’m very passionate about the Mosquito & can usually tell when others know little about or know all the wrong things about this superb aeroplane. This is why I push the Mosquito cause, whenever I can.

TTFN
Neilly:-)