Favorite WWII Aircraft

[tigercat]

Fairey Swordfish , obsolete but packing a punch tonnage sunk wise , an Anachronism that outlasted its successor and served the whole war pretty much unchanged.

 

[Errolwi]

Fairey Swordfish , obsolete but packing a punch tonnage sunk wise , an Anachronism that outlasted its successor and served the whole war pretty much unchanged.

Unchanged? Add cutting-edge sensors (radar), and a new weapon system (rockets). And its role changed from front-line strike to duties where it could avoid opposition. I like the observation that it is useful to think of it as equivalent to a ship's helicopter in modern use.

 

[deLanglade]

Polikarpov Po-2

With a three-way tie for second between the Westland Lysander, Fiesler Storch and the Stinson L-5.

Low and slow...

 

[Just a Rube]

Consolidated PBY Catalina. Because whether you needed recon, mining, or even attacking enemy shipping directly, it could do it and do it decently.

And they lasted forever.

 

[jahenders]

P-38 -- few things cooler and it was vital to allied success, both in the Pacific and in Europe (especially before the Mustang appeared).

 

[skettenhund]

P-47D-40 and later

The P47D-40. It was a high-altitude air superiority fighter equally at home strafing targets of opportunity. It could carry a decent bomb load for a fighter-bomber when mud needed to be moved as well.