what fighter aircraft?

Question

lets say u were a combat pilot in ww2, and u had a choice of bird: corsair, hellcat, wildcat, p-40, p-38, p-47, or p-51...and what would make u pick this bird?

if u were able to pick the theater of op's: europe, pacific, mto. in ww2, fighters did more than air to air dogfights.

sorry charlie, the bearcat didnt make it to combat operations in ww2; it didnt make it into production until the war almost ended. and the french were the 1's using in nam. we used the skyraiders in vietnam.

Answer 1

i'd either take a p-47, corsair, or p-38. but out of the 3, i would much rather have the p-38. with 2 engines, u'd have extra reliability, counter-rotating props meant no torque to deal with. it could flick in either turn direction just as quick, just as easy.
p-38's also had an exceptional climb rate. could outturn, outclimb, and outrun alot of aircraft. diving was its achillies heel tho. it would get so much speed so fast, it would get close to actually going supersonic, and the pilot would lose complete elevator control if it got too much speed in a dive. this problem was corrected in the 'h' and later model.

this was a very dangerous bird to go up against. she carried 4x50 cal's and 1x20mm in the nose, and could put all this firepower in a 30" circle. they didnt have to worry about convergance range either, and could kill from 1,000 yards out.

contrary to what 1 said, there were p-38 losses in the pto. mcguire was just 1 of them...he attempted to go toe to toe with an expert oscar driver at the deck, stalled, and crashed.

the p-38 was a plane almost ahead of its time. it required alot more pilot skill to be a lethal predator than a p-51 or corsair, but corsair's killed its fair share of pilots...carrier landings in the corsair killed enough pilots at first for the navy to ban the corsair from carriers....until the british showed the navy what they were doing wrong and how to do it right.

Answer 2

I would have to say the P-51H Mustang for the European Theater . It had a power punch of 6 M2 .50 Cal Machine Guns and with the greatest engine of the war, the Merlin. It was the weapon to decide WWII in Europe. It could out turn and out run a Me 109, and Fw 190. The greatest thing was it was able to catch a Me 262 (Germany's jet Fighter) in a step dive! With its long range it could protect the bombers going in and attack trains, boats, tanks, and other targets on the way back home. Also by most historians it is conceited it the greatest fighter of all time! Hell, when Goering saw the Mustangs flying over Berlin, He turned to his aids and said, " That's it we lost the war."

If I could not get a Mustang, it would be a Spitfire XVI (the one with the Griffin Engine) the fighter could chase VI Buzz Bombs! It still had all of its great turning ability and had 2 20mm Cannons and 4 Browning .303 Machine Guns

If I was in the Pacific I would have to say the Hellcat, It was better than the Zero in most areas of dogfighting , hell it had a higher kill ratio than the P-38 and the F4U. It was built tough by Grumman, the Iron Works.

Answer 3

The P-51D Mustang for Europe. It had the most powerful engine, the highest speed (non-jet engined) and could escort bombers all the way to Germany and back to England.

In the Pacific it would be the Corsair, it was one of the most powerful aircraft the Marines used in that theater.

Answer 4

The F6F Hellcat had 6 .50 cal. and some heavy armor protection for the pilot make it appealing, but the F4U Corsair gets my vote. 11:1 kill ratio during WWII and if I was going to have to perform some close air support for troops the accurate bombing ability of the F4U Corsair was unequaled.

Answer 5

Me-262
http://www.vectorsite.net/avme262.html

Answer 6

Two answers: B-17, because of the punishment it could take and still fly...and that it's one damn graceful aircraft, the big-assed Boeing tail notwithstanding.

F4U Corsair....an engine with wings attached. It was so powerful for it's time that it continued into the Korean War era.

Answer 7

Easy choice for me - the P-38 Lightning. No P-38s were lost during the pacific campaign, they were multi-purpose (in a sense), they had a decent speed (2 1000HP turbocharged engines).

more on the P-38: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38

Answer 8

I would actually take one of those Luftwaffa Me-262 jet figher if i can have any choice, but out of those choices, i would take the P-51. It is by far the most efficient American figher in WW2.

Answer 9

LMAO
Of course I would pick the one you didn't mention.

http://www.hunt101.com/img/445923-big.jpg

The BEARcat was the most formidable prop driven fighter ever built (by anyone)
Go to Nevada and watch "RairBear" in action if you would like to see why.

We were still using the Bearcat in Vietnam (see pic above). All those you mentioned were long gone to the scrap heap;

Answer 10

P-51, fastest and greatest range of the fighters.