What was the best fighter plane of WW2?

Question

Do not include jet fighters (10 points for the most knowledgable answer).

Answer 1

There were several fighters that each made its mark at a particular time and in a particular role and as many people here have commented the P51 Mustang was an awesome machine, combining a great American airframe with (in some models) the best aero engine of the war, the Rolls Royce Merlin.

For overall longevity, contribution, and flexibility though the honour has to go to the British Supermarine Spitfire.

The Spitfire saw service from 1938 (just before the war) through to the Mk24 version well into the 1950's, including succesfully dogfighting jets in the Korean war.

It served as an air interceptor, escort, ground attack, photo recce, and even as a carrier fighter (Seafire).

It was highly agile, and everyone who has flown one has described it in emotional terms as just being a joy to fly.

It was fitted with the iconic Rolls Royce Merlin engine, which eventually gave way at the end of the war to the Rolls Royce Griffin engine.

Best known for its role in the Battle of Britain, even though the predominant fighter in that crucial period was the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire is an enduring symbol of world war two in Britain, and has been named as one of the British design icons of the 20th century.

When Herman Goering the head of the German Luftwaffe asked Adolph Galland, his top squadron leader during the battle of britain, what he would need to defeat the British, Galland famously replied "a Squadron of Spitfires"

Because of where I live I have the pleasure of seeing and hearing Spitfires quite regulary as we live on a flight path for historical and military aircraft, and only this weekend I watched the Battle of Britain memorial flight of a Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster Bomber fly over for the Queens birthday celebration.

The sound of 6 Merlin engines growling away is awesome.

In the 1950's Spitfires were sold to a number of airforces around the world including Spain, Egypt, Israel, Czeckoslovakia, Poland, India etc. During the war there were two U.S squadrons flying Spitfires

So, there were better fighters at moments in time and particular roles, but for overall contribution the Spitfire stands tall.

There is now a factory in Southern England where they will build you a new one from used parts and original plans for a cool million.

Answer 2

The P-38 lightning. The P-38 was the fastest prop. plane of the war and it had a new revolutionary design. Having its 5 guns on the nose ( 4 .50 cals, and a 37 millimeter cannon) the pilot did not have to worry about his bullets crossing to early because it's guns were not in the wing. This gave the P-38 the most accurate and deadly guns in the war, being the only one with a cannon too. The P-38 could carry more rounds and more bombs or rockets than any other fighter plane. Also the P-38 had the longest range of any of the allied fighters.

Answer 3

That is a very difficult to answer for the mission would dictate the plane. The P-51 Mustang had the speed and range and the firepower for many different missions. The P-38 Lightning with its twin-engined power plant could take it to higher altitudes than other planes. The F4U Cosair was also a great plane for fighting in the Pacific theater. The A6M2 Mistubishi Zero was also a awesome fighter the problem with that plane was the self-sealing tanks. The British also had a great plane in the Spitfire so without a certain mission for you describe all are certainlly to be thought of.

Answer 4

North American P-51 Mustang
(USA)
(S-USA-A-F-LN-N-IL1)
This best known US fighter of WWII was built to British requirements. The British reluctantly accepted North American's proposal to design a new fighter for them, instead of license-building P-40s, and the USAAF was at first not interested at all. The P-51 was a clean and very refined design, with a laminar flow wing and carefully positioned radiator bath. The early P-51, with Allison V-1710 engine, was an excellent low-altitude reconnaissance fighter, but had low performance above 15000ft. After reengining with the R.R. Merlin, the P-51B was one of the best fighters of WWII. It proved to be the ideal fighter to escort the bomber force on the long missions over Germany. The P-51D sacrificed some speed for the introduction of a 'bubble' hood, offering much better vision. The P-51F, G and J versions were lightweight developments, with only a superficial resemblance to the original Mustang; the P-51H was more directly related to the P-51D, but powered by the more powerful V-1650-9 engine. After WWII, the P-51D played a very important role as fighter-bomber in Korea. 14819 built.
Type: P-51A
Function: fighter
Year: 1943 Crew: 1 Engines: 1 * 1200hp Allison V-1710-81
Wing Span: 11.28m Length: 9.83m Height: 3.71m Wing Area: 21.65m2
Empty Weight: 3110kg Max.Weight: 4812kg
Speed: 628km/h Ceiling: Range: 2011km
Armament:


Type: P-51D
Function: fighter
Year: 1944 Crew: 1 Engines: 1 * 1100kW RR-Packard V-1650-7 Merlin
Wing Span: 11.28m Length: 9.83m Height: 4.16m Wing Area: 21.83m2
Empty Weight: 3466kg Max.Weight: 5493kg
Max. Speed: 703km/h Ceiling: 12800m Max. Range: 3350km
Armament: 6*mg12.7mm 2*b454kg

Answer 5

T'would'nt have been jet fighters anyhoo. The finest fighter aircraft a t the time was the Japanese "Zero" fighter. It was twice as maneuverable, faster, and simpler to maintain than anything the allies had. It's small size, made it more effective as a naval based fighter than anything in the world.
Some will say that our higher success than the japanese in air-air combat belies this. That's not right. Fact is, even though the zero was a better aircraft, our fighter pilots were of so much higher a caliber, that we put the smack down on the Empire's air force.
The zero, was 2x as good a fighter, but our pilots were 10 times better than theirs. Result,: We won.

Answer 6

Here each country American, British, German, Japan, Italy and Russian.

Now for the German Focke Wulf Fw-190 is widely regarded as the Luftwaffe's best overall fighter. This small combat fighter comes equipped with 4 machine guns. Introduced in 1941, this fighter has quickly established dominance over Allied planes.

Japan Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero is the mainstay Japanese fighter, and comes equipped with 2 20mm cannon and 2 machine guns. Capable of operating from aircraft carriers or land bases, it is an extremely maneuverrable and fast aircraft.

Russian Jakovlev YAK-9 was a popular Soviet aircraft, designed with the intent to hunt down and destroy enemy bombers and soft ground targets.

American P-51D "Mustang" Heralded by many as the best American fighter plane in the war, North American's P-51 "Mustang" is built for use for RAF. After major upgrades to its canopy and fuselage, engine and armament, it is quickly emerging as the USAAF's main fighter over Europe. Its six .50cal machine guns are proving to be deadly effective against Luftwaffe fighters.

British Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V is powered by a Rolls-Royce engine, the Spitfire proved itself against the Bf-109 during the Battle of Britain.

Finally Italy MC205 Veltro the lightweight and agile aircraft that can match any fighter in the sky.

Answer 7

The P-51 Mustang. Before the U.S. entered the war in Europe, England came to Curtiss aircraft company seeking to buy P-40N Tomahawks. However, North American aircraft company offered them a brand-new fighter plane and promised the plane in record time. From drawing board to first flight was approximately 120 days.

The British bought the plane. But...the P-51A, B & C models did not perform well as high altitude fighters with the Allison 1710 engine. The British secured permission from North American to modify the aircraft. They eliminated the "razorback" fuselage from the canopy to the tail, replaced the "greenhouse" canopy with a teardrop design and replaced the Allison V-12 engine with the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine displacing 1650 cubic inches, with a two-stage supercharger; this gave the aircraft the needed power for high altitude performance. The engine was then manufactured by Packard under license to the Rolls-Royce company.

With drop tanks the Mustang could do deep escort duty for bombers flying over Nazi occupied countries, and (in conjuction with determined, ably-skilled pilots) were successful over Axis airforces.

n.b. There was a derivative of the Mustang called the Apache that was used for close air support of ground forces, strafing and bombing enemy forces.

Answer 8

The North American P-51 Mustang was a long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allied air forces in the middle years of World War II and became one of the conflict's most successful and recognizable aircraft.

The P-51 flew most of its missions as a bomber escort in raids over Germany, and helped ensure Allied air superiority after 1944. It also saw service against Japanese air forces in the Pacific War.

The Mustang began the Korean War as the United Nations' main fighter, but was supplanted by jets by the conflict's end. Nevertheless, it remained in service with some air forces until the early 1980s.

The definitive version of the single-seat fighter was powered by a single two-stage supercharged V-12 Merlin engine and armed with six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns.

Some privately owned P-51s are still flying, often associated with organizations such as the Commemorative Air Force (formerly the Confederate Air Force); a few have had a tight second seat added in the space formerly occupied by the military radio and fuselage fuel tank.

Answer 9

There where many great fighters in WW2. If I had to choose just one, I would choose the Lockheed P-38. It served from the start of the war till the last. It served in all theatres of war. From the Aleutians to Burma to Europe. It performed all missions from Recon to escort at all altittudes. It even served as a nightfighter, something most single engine types could not do. It's design also influenced other air craft designs such as the Sabb 21 & DeHaviland Vampire.

Answer 10

Boy, did you get some great answers! I particularly liked the answer of gbgbgb. The answer is mission dependent.

And most of the really great aircraft have been mentioned here. Your exclusion of jets removes the 262 from consideration. But I'll only say that if Hitler could have uynderstood the correct mission for a 262, and given just few more months to build them, the final months of the war would need to be rewritten.

Fortunately for us, Hitler was a military incompetent who saw himself as a great military leader. So he micro-managed the war all the way to defeat. Had he placed matters in competent hands (and there were some very competent hands in Germany), we might all be speaking German today. Misuse of the 262 was just one small example.