Favorite WWII Aircraft

Scotty

wiking said:
Ki-83:
1076_rd.jpg


Mitsubishi_Ki-83.png

Mitsubishi-Ki-83-airplane-2.jpg
Click to expand...

spoilt only by those fugly radials

;-)
 

Deleted member 1487

Indeed; slap a couple DB603s on that bad boy and you're ready to roll.
 

Draconis

The Lockheed P38L

The Lightning. The airplane that was (despite the teething problems) so useful and highly valued that the U.S. war production board wouldn't interrupt production to introduce improvements.

The P38L was the best all-round piston engined fighter of WW2 requiring only well trained pilots who knew how to use its strengths to prevail against anything in the air.
 

fred1451

Banned
While I'll always have a soft spot for the P-38, I think my favorite is the A-26 Invader. How can you not love an aircraft that can put between 18 and 22 50 cals. on target, while carrying 8 rockets and 4000 lbs of bombs?
 

Just Leo

fred1451 said:
While I'll always have a soft spot for the P-38, I think my favorite is the A-26 Invader. How can you not love an aircraft that can put between 18 and 22 50 cals. on target, while carrying 8 rockets and 4000 lbs of bombs?
Click to expand...

And finally wear out over Vietnam.
 
100Fathoms

100Fathoms

P-51D for me :cool:, besides possessing a lethal grace and symmetry. It was such a big game changer for the USAAF in Europe, many Bomber crewmen owe their survival, to the introduction of this Aircraft.
 

usertron2020

Donor
Night fighters don't get enough love

wiking said:
I thought the cannon was so low velocity it was deemed too difficult to hit much with it?
Click to expand...

I saw one Soviet veteran who said what he loved about the P-39 was that anything you got in front of its nose was shot to pieces. Remember, the 37mm gun is meant as an Anti-Tank Gun in the early to mid-war. Just imagine that AT impact upon an airframe.

pzwicke said:
P-61, just looks menacing or B-25H with all of those extra guns
Click to expand...

Ninja'd.:eek: Cool plane, sleek black color, quadruple 50cal dorsal turret, and four 20mm low ventral nose cannon. And, if you were the dorsal gunner you can sneak off and grab some shuteye in the rear during missions.:D Hey, who's going to notice for the first hour?:p
 
oldironside

oldironside

wiking said:
Had that lived up to projected performance, which is seemingly would have without the project being sabotaged in a political pissing match, it would have been one of the greatest warbirds of all time. Reading out the production planning for it there was vast engineering efforts put into every aspect of the project, which would have paid off handsomely had it gone into production. The Ju288A version with the original engine was doing 350mph cruise in testing.
Click to expand...

I'm not convinced that a ser ice version would have been quite so awesome. There hasn't been a military aircraft i history that didn't gain weight during development, and I would guess that any early service version would dispense with remote controlled guns in favour of low drag turrets like that on the Ju188.

It's difficult to.see it having much effect in the west from 1942 onwards. It would have been difficult to build enough to make a dent in British defences, but it could have caused the Russians great problems in the east since they weren't set up to defend against such an offensive.
 

tallthinkev

If you wish to use favourite as in best looking, or should I say just look right for their job. Here's a list of mine.

Grumman F3F
Grumman F8F
Vought F4U
P-51 D/K
Douglas A-26
Curtiss P-40
Northrop P61

Spitfire Mk XIV
Gloster Gladiator
Mossie
Hawker Tempest Mk II
Short Sunderland


FW-190D
He-112
Ju-87G
Ju-88G
Bf-109G
Me-262
Arado Ar 234
Blohm und Voss Bv 222
Dornier Do 24
Fw-200

Ki-100
Mitsubishi A6M
Nakajima Ki-43
Ki-84
Kawanishi N1
Polikarpov I-16
LaGG-1
Yak-1

Macchi MC.205V


If you want real crap, anything French and just about any bombers from Japan.
 

Deleted member 1487

usertron2020 said:
I saw one Soviet veteran who said what he loved about the P-39 was that anything you got in front of its nose was shot to pieces. Remember, the 37mm gun is meant as an Anti-Tank Gun in the early to mid-war. Just imagine that AT impact upon an airframe.
Click to expand...
No it was not, that's a old myth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_cannon
Designed primarily as an anti-aircraft weapon

The 37mm cannon was disliked by pilots for its drooping trajectory. In a filmed interview, Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager likened it to "throwing a grapefruit".
Click to expand...
 

Deleted member 1487

oldironside said:
I'm not convinced that a ser ice version would have been quite so awesome. There hasn't been a military aircraft i history that didn't gain weight during development, and I would guess that any early service version would dispense with remote controlled guns in favour of low drag turrets like that on the Ju188.

It's difficult to.see it having much effect in the west from 1942 onwards. It would have been difficult to build enough to make a dent in British defences, but it could have caused the Russians great problems in the east since they weren't set up to defend against such an offensive.
Click to expand...
At altitude it would have been a Mosquito before the Mosquito became what it did, but with heavier payload.
 

Lindseyman

From (VERY!) left field the Folland Fo. 108 (aka the 43/37, aka the "Frightener") An Engine test bed. 5 out of 12 were lost but its the sort of unglamorous unsung plane that all countries need to test new engines in flight.
 

Dan Reilly The Great

Banned
I'm a sucker for dual boom aircraft. Been that way ever since I saw Talespin as a kid. So I vote the P-38, though the P-61 is interesting, it just isn't quite as cool. It does hold the disdinction of looking like the lovechild of a P-38 and an Mi-24.

On a related note, I'm wishing that the XP-52 had gotten produced, it would have been a pretty sweet design.
 

E-Man

Gotta advocate for the Westland Whirlwind, with a little luck (not being saddled with Peregrine engines) it could of been a contender, and can't believe it's not getting any kudos as a "looker". Not sure if I would call it a "beauty" more of a handsome/studly machine. If I had the time I would post a few pics to demonstrate...
 

usertron2020

Donor
You want some flapjacks with that?

The XF-5U. Potential Stealth fighter 50 years ahead of its time.:p Silliest looking plane in WWII. And any pilot who wanted to fly it should have gotten an immediate Section 8 Medical Discharge.
 

RedDogGaz

Where to start?
British
Westland Whirlwind - I just love the look of the thing, despite it never doing much operationally
Special mention to the Hurricane

German
FW190
Special mention to Me262/Stuka

Italian
Macchi 202/205 - So sleek.
Special Mention to Fiat CR42

US
P51D
Special mention to Corsair

But there are so many great planes....
 

viewcode

Hawker Typhoon/Hawker Tempest

I like ground-attack planes with big wings you can hang things off and drop on the bad guys when needed. I also like the A10 for the same reason. They're not romantic and nobody ever loves them, but they are handy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top