Who had the best air force in WW2?

Question

World War 2 was the first war when air power could win or lose a battle(even though planes were used in WWI) Who had the best of the five major powers(U.S., Germany,England,Russia,or Japan)

Answer 1

Germany at first, but as the US entered the war and necessity took over, they seized air superiority. Japan and Germany both had technological advances over the US but in terms of practicality and superiority, the US won out.....it wasn't long after the war started the the Luftwaffe all but died out due to the US raids and bombings

Answer 2

Early on the Germans had the best. in the sky. That might be said of Japan too at least with respect to the Zero.
However it didn't take all that long for the Allies to come up with better planes and/or superior numbers. Germany had lost all chance of Air superiority by the time of the Normandy invasion. So their ground forces were pretty much sitting ducks. Except possibly for the Battle of the Bulge when cloud cover prevented any reliable allied air support.

Arguably the ME 262 was probably the best designed most superior aircraft of the war but your question deals with "Airforce"

Answer 3

Some staggering ignorance on here, based on watching too many glossy Hollywood films.

The best airforce of WW2 was, by some distance, the RAF, both operationally and tactically

1.Won the Battle of Britain despite inferior numbers through better discipline and organisation.
2. Was instrumental in tipping the balance in the Battle of the Atlantic with advanced U-boat detection systems.
3. Played the major role in supporting the D-Day landings.
4. Dropped a greater tonnage of bombs on Germany than all other air forces combined.

The RAF, without doubt, was the best performing arm of the British forces in WW2 by some distance, and equally the most influential air force of the Allies by some margin too.

Answer 4

One detail to start, there was no US "Air Force" in WW2, it was the Naval and Army Air Corps. The first bombing raid on Japan, Doolittle's famous "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," was about the limit of what we could do and it was done more to shake up the Japanese and show then that they were NOT safe in their Home Islands. We were not bombing Japan with any regularity until we had secured a number of island bases closer in, such as Iwo Jima- which was one reason it was so important. As far as the fighters, it was dicey at the beginning, both because of the inexperience of our pilots in actual combat, and outmoded design. By the end of the war, we were flying the P-51 Mustang, possibly the deadliest propeller-driven fighter that ever flew. Japan never progressed much beyond the original Zeroes, though.

Answer 5

The Luftwaffe was pretty badas*. They were the dominant force pretty much wherever they went. The Japanese had the Kamikaze pilots and also had large volumes of pilots that overwhelmed the US forces in Pearl Harbor. Russia didnt have any air force that I know of, if they did they probably didnt last long against the German Messerschmidt's. England's RAF was decent, of course going against Germany proved to be a daunting task until the US brought in our planes and helped. So in my opinion, I think the Germans had the best Airforce. The Japanese are a close second, the US third and England 4th.

Answer 6

Initially, Germany and Japan, however as the war went on, the huge resources of the United states, tipped the air superiority to the Allied side.

Answer 7

The US had the best air force. They had the best aircraft, the best trained pilots and aircrews, and the most aircraft.

Germany at the start of the war had the best trained pilots, but as the war continued they where not able to keep up the level of training due to lack of fuel and spare parts. In the end they could do little to stop Allied bombers from destroying their cities.

The Soviet Air force was far behind in aircraft design, most of their fighters where biplanes at the start of the war. When the Germans launched their surprise attack most of the Soviet air force was destroyed. They were able to build it back up and wear down the Germans, but there where lots of German fighter pilots that shot down over 100 soviet aircraft with the leader having shot down over 250.

The British did the best with what they had. They put up a great fight during the Battle of Brittan, but they never had over wheeling numbers needed to be the best.

Japan had the same fate as the Germans, really good aircraft and pilots at the start of the war. They where unable to produce new types of aircraft in any great numbers. Their pilot training program was also the best at the start, but it was unable to replace their loses. When they shortened it down, the pilots where to under trained and where sitting ducks. In the end the could be counted on to be nothing but human bombs in kamikaze attacks.

Answer 8

In my Opinion for a while it was Germany (The Lufwaffe) and then they started losing more planes then they could produce, not to mention Russia, England, and America bearing down on em.

Answer 9

At the beginning of the war, probably Germany; by the end of the war, the USA

Answer 10

By 1945, the American Army Air Force was the premier air force in the world. It had more and better aircraft than any other. With the exception of the Messerschmitt Me.262, American aircraft were of superior technology.