What was the best Fighter of world war 2 and why?

Answer 1

The best fighter of the war was arguabaly the supermarine spitfire,although it depends what type of mission.it started the war as the best fighter,it was better than the bf109 and stayed the best until the FW190 was encountered over france.The spitfire was quickly upgraded as it was numerous times during the war and comfortably dealt with the FW190. The speed alone of the spitfire had increased well over 100mph during the course of the war.the only drawback in the spitfire was its range,this is where the P51 mustang comes in,it was designed to british specs and given the rolls royce merlin engine(same as spitfire) and was used to escort the bombers deep into germany. so it depends what type of fighter you mean. for defence as in the battle of britain or missions in france spitfire is the best. for a longer range mission into germany P51 is better .Note both britain and germany had a jet plane in service by the wars end (meteor and me262)but none making a significant contribution as a fighter.

Answer 2

The American P-51 Mustang. Second is The British Spit Fire.
The P-51 has a really good engine. The British Spit fire has excellent wing design for doing loops and out manuvering the Massershmidt. The P-51 has the longest range of any WW2 fighter plane. It's like 1200 km or miles on a single tank of fuel compared to the spitfires 900 and the Masseshmidt is even less.

Answer 3

The Spitfire. It helped win the Battle of Britain.
The Messerschmidt was probably good too due to the quality of German engineering.

I guess the answer will depend on the nationality of the person who answers.
If you are talking about men and not planes, I would say the freedom fighters who kept up the resistance behind the lines were the bravest.
I read a very interesting book about the war by a Russian marshal who stated that the New Zealanders were the best fighters.
Poor Americans; they can't bear not to be the best.

Answer 4

P 51 Mustang. The greatest fighter in a war that produced excellent fighter planes.

Answer 5

FW-190
This plane was produced in mass numbers and could out fly and out perform anything the US, UK, or Soviet Union had in the European campaign.

This agile workhorse of the Germans was nicknamed the "Butcher Bird" by our own P-51 pilots.... it was said that an average German pilot could defeat an expert Allied pilot. Our own 'Aces' had a difficult time with this 'Butcher Bird" as well for often this plane was piloted by an expert as well. More of our planes were shot down by this plane than any other except the ME-109G and ME-262.

Light, highly maneuverable, with a fantastic rate of climb and a more powerful engine than our air-to-air superiority fighters had. It lacked the range of our P-51's, but since we were 'taking the fight to the Germans' they did not need extensive range.

These fighters were considered so dangerous that we "hunted them" and the ME-262's to extinction. We had to try to use our numerical superiority and catch them as they landed for refueling and rearming.

I have listed the ME-262 as well , but it was never as prominent a threat to allied pilots as the "Butcher Bird" became..

Answer 6

Messersm. Bf 109.... 6 of their aces had over 200 kills. One of them, Erich Hartmann, destroyed 352 Russian planes. They flew, and racked up staggeringly high scores over North Africa, France, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Poland, and, in the end, Germany itself. Two hundred aerial victories each. By comparison, the top U.S. aces of World War Two achieved twenty or more.

Answer 7

It was not only the best in WW II, it lived on for many years after that seeing service in Korea and Vietnam.

This pic was taken at Bien Hoa AB in 1964
note the S. Vietnamese markings
Grumman F8F Bearcat
http://www.hunt101.com/img/445923-big.jpg

"RairBear" is a pretty good pilon racer too

Answer 8

P-38J.

It had a very long range, had quite a bit of armament, and could cary rockets and bombs, and was extremely maneuverable in all regimes. It was so fast that it could catch up to the ME262, and had compressability issues in a dive, as the sound barriers shock waves would begin to build up. Yes, it was that fast, and the envy of most pilots.

Answer 9

American-p51 mustang
British-super marine spitfire
German-me262(17 out of 1000 survived who tested this plane)
My choice-go with the Germans

Answer 10

The P-51. It had incredible power with the Rolls Royce engine, very long range, was well armed and incredibly maneuverable.