What's your favorite WW2 era piston engine fighter?

Question

Mine's a toss-up between the p47 and the fw 190d/kt series. Both were powerful, fast planes that were very versatile. What's yours? Why?

pinata: nur Englisch, bitte. Ich glaube dass keine leute hier verstehen Deutsch!

For Michael Kelly- I guess it's like Richtofen said- "it's not the crate, it's the man in the crate"- the STUKA was obsolescent by 1942, but you have guys like Heinz-Ulrich Rudel taking his crate and killing 500+ tanks, ...1 battleship, 2 cruisers and a destroyer with his obsolescent crate!

guitargadfly- the lightning was a piston driven (anything not jet) fighter, and a fine design. The only problem was that the superchargers used for the engine weren't the right ones, so it lacked performance at altitude. Probably the best fighter "on the deck". As an interesting sideline, at the end of the war, GM held a survey asking people in the US which fighter was their favorite,. The p38 came in 1st, so GM based the 1949 Cadillac on it, and we had a generation of tailfins on cars as a result. Cool, eh?

thanks (danke schoen) pinata! Ich habe keine umlaut, also ich werde ein "e" traegen!

Answer 1

"Der Geschwindigkeitsrekord für Kolbenmotorflugzeuge der Me 209 (Me 109R) stand dreißig Jahre lang auf 755,138 km/h, bis er vor zehn Jahren von einer Bearcat mit 776,45 km/h überboten wurde. Im letzten Herbst setzten die Amerikaner mit 800 km/h eine neue Marke."
C-right: Fug-Revue 1980
My translation from German : "The velocity world record of piston driven motor planes of the Me 209 ( Me 109R) was in the last 30 years at 755.138 km/h upto it was broken 10 years ago by a Bearcat with 777.45 km/h. In the last autumn the Amercans set a new mark with 800 km/h."

"Zweiten Weltkriegs und darüber hinaus wurde die Bf 109 in verschiedenen Versionen über 33.000 mal gebaut und ist damit das meist gebaute Jagdflugzeug der Welt." (Wikipeda Germany)
"In the 2. WW and later the Bf 109 ( Me 109) was
build in variable versions 33000 times and is with that the most build hunter in the world." ( translation from me)

You see for a German there are three important fighters the Spitfire, the Me 109 and the Me 262 but you want to forget it because it was not piston driven.

But you must understand another thing. Yes I am a German and proud of Me 109R and especially of Me 262 but I rather liked that we loose the war in 1939 and not in 1945 then my sister would be alive !!!
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany
Heinz



Hey Neil,
I have given the English translation just behind the German text.

Hey Michael,
sorry the JU 87 was out of date 1939. With that plane you could impress the people of Warschau not that of London.

Much more Greetings

Answer 2

The F4U Corsair.

I like the way it looks with its gull-shaped wings and mammoth propeller

Good armor and well armed. Good knock any plane thrown at it, suffer incredible damage and often still fly its mission

It was difficult to fly because of its quirks. It took a real pilot to fly it. I guess that's why at its beginning the Navy turned it over to the Marine Corps.

Able to land and takeoff from land and carriers.

Excellent ground support aircraft because of the weapons it was able to carry.

Probably would have been the premier aircraft of the Pacific if the Hellcat came along.

A great aircraft!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

Hello,

My favourite WWII fighter was the Focke-Wulf Fw-190. A like its appealing lines and shape.
It even outclassed the spitfire and the specs below speak for themselves:

http://www.aviation-history.com/focke-wulf/fw190.html


PS -Though more of a dive bomber than a fighter I don't want to neglect the Stuka jU-87. Just its menacing shape and bird of prey appearance would have given me the heebie jeebies had I had to face it in that era:

http://home.freeuk.com/johndillon/ju87.htm

Regards,

Michael Kelly,

Answer 4

The Tempest. It was the only piston engined plane fast enough to catch the ram jet powered V1 in level flight.

Answer 5

Er, my favorite WWII fighter is the P-38 Lightning, but I haven't a clue if it was piston engined or not. All I know is it had props, not jets, and was a devastating weapon.

Answer 6

ME109 for me. Have seen them in action at airshows and they are a James Bond among WW2 airplanes. German engineering, wow.

Answer 7

P - 38 aka " the Forked Tail Devil " airplane.