Best Fighter Aircraft of WW2

[crusader377]

Helped immensely by his strongarming Allison into building an opposite-turning "left hand" version of their V-1710 engine so the engines canceled out each other's torque. Imagine what coulda been if he coulda gotten a lefty Merlin or Griffon like powered the late Mustangs and Spitfires...

Probably you would have had an aircraft with performance similiar to the de Havilland Hornet. A twin engine RAF fighter which was introduced just after WW2 with a top speed of 475 mph. Remember the Allison engine on the P-38 was a slightly older design than the RR Merlin or the Packard version of the Merlin. The Merlin had better altitude performance and a better power to weight ratio on the engine.

[chuckman]

I think that is the interesting part- that how good the fighter was is related to how well it was handled in its fight. Even a Wildcat could give a Zero a problem if flown correctly, ie play to its strengths and not make mistakes. Look what Chenault did with P40s against the Japanese in China. I doubt the F15 would have kept its 50-0 kill ratio in against the Warsaw Pact. I was listening to a padcast from an F14 pilot and he made the comment that you didn't want to lose focus in a fight with an F4 pilot. Some of those guys had lots of combat missions and a long time in the aircraft. I thought I read in Yeager's autobiography that he would embarrass guys in their F100s when he had an F86.

That's the whole point of Topgun and Red Flag: maximizing YOUR aircrafts potential and exploiting the enemy's weaknesses.

RE: F14, Ward Carroll has a great series of F14 vids on YT. He was a long-time RIO and author.

[Diamondback]

Germans also had a "fly or die" policy but scary enough how many 100+ aces still flying at the end of the war.

The Japanese lost their core fighter talent at Midway, after that it was things like the Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot. You can't replace talent with new guys.

It's a lot easier to survive "fly or die" when your opposition is trying to Zerg-rush you with poorly-trained, undernourished peasants who've barely completed flight training. For the most part, Erich Hartmann might as well have been flying against hobbyist pilots in Cessnas or Piper Cubs... USN practice was after every cruise, the carrier air group's squadrons were broken up and their pilots reassigned to form cadres training up new squadrons, while another airgroup worked up to Car Quals ready to take their place as soon as the ship got out of refit--a never-ending conveyor belt that sent fatigued pilots ashore to teach while they recovered and fresh ones benefiting from the veterans' Lessons Learned, or perhaps "teeth in a shark's jaw" is a better comparison.

[chuckman]

It's a lot easier to survive "fly or die" when your opposition is trying to Zerg-rush you with poorly-trained, undernourished peasants who've barely completed flight training. For the most part, Erich Hartmann might as well have been flying against hobbyist pilots in Cessnas or Piper Cubs... USN practice was after every cruise, the carrier air group's squadrons were broken up and their pilots reassigned to form cadres training up new squadrons, while another airgroup worked up to Car Quals ready to take their place as soon as the ship got out of refit--a never-ending conveyor belt that sent fatigued pilots ashore to teach while they recovered and fresh ones benefiting from the veterans' Lessons Learned, or perhaps "teeth in a shark's jaw" is a better comparison.

Current CAG operations are very similar. No active combat and attrition by being shot down, but a Navy aviator/NFO usually stays with one squadron for two cruises before moving on to teach or go into leadership/CAG staff. The Navy really figured out their conveyor belt replacement training in WW2. It worked.

[chuckman]

Not limited to WW2 AC, Ward Carroll goes through his list of the top 18 fighters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4TxgyL564s

[SteyrAUG]

It's a lot easier to survive "fly or die" when your opposition is trying to Zerg-rush you with poorly-trained, undernourished peasants who've barely completed flight training. For the most part, Erich Hartmann might as well have been flying against hobbyist pilots in Cessnas or Piper Cubs... USN practice was after every cruise, the carrier air group's squadrons were broken up and their pilots reassigned to form cadres training up new squadrons, while another airgroup worked up to Car Quals ready to take their place as soon as the ship got out of refit--a never-ending conveyor belt that sent fatigued pilots ashore to teach while they recovered and fresh ones benefiting from the veterans' Lessons Learned, or perhaps "teeth in a shark's jaw" is a better comparison.

Sure, that's a real factor. But it's still kinda impressive when a guy like Rudel wrecks shop on EVERYTHING in the Eastern Front.

Obviously I think "our" current system is far superior, but the fact that those guys performed that well under that totalitarian system in itself is kind of impressive. I think Rudel claimed another dozen or so tanks after having a leg amputated.

[pag23]

Sure, that's a real factor. But it's still kinda impressive when a guy like Rudel wrecks shop on EVERYTHING in the Eastern Front.

Obviously I think "our" current system is far superior, but the fact that those guys performed that well under that totalitarian system in itself is kind of impressive. I think Rudel claimed another dozen or so tanks after having a leg amputated.

A lot of the earlier Luftwaffe pilots cut their teeth in the Spanish Civil War and really had serious training before WW2 kicked off, as losses mounted training suffered along with getting quality pilots.

If the Germans rotated out some their aces back to training and development, the Allied losses would have mounted and it might prolonged the air war a bit.