There is a reason for that, few people if any remember the second place getter.

Besides I think the Me-262 was still the better aircraft especially given the conditions it was made and deployed under.

The Meteor power plants were far better than the German machines and the RR De went Engines formed the basis of Russian and American jet engines design. the Americans were given the engines and the Russians purchased a number of them and copied them

1. F4U Corsair
2. P-51 D Mustang
3. FW-190

Originally Posted by MontyB

I would counter your counter with the statement that the Me-262 is recognised worldwide as being the first jet fighter to enter operational service.

I would also question your comments on refueling it as it sounds like you are talking about Me-163 rocket interceptor rather than the Me-262.

Yes, but its an inaccurate designation. In fact I don't think the term interceptor was even used until after WWII. It was either fighter or bomber, although there were clearly Interceptor aircraft designed by most sides...

Your right about the fuel..though I was thinking the Me-163.

To all

Yes the Mosquito was faster, speed has always been the Mossies big advantage. The P-61A+B was slow even compared to other aircraft, Its biggest fault. Although the P-61C would have put it very slightly faster than the Mosquito XVI.

But I disagree with the Armament. Both Aircraft carried 4x20mm cannon. But the P-61 carried a 4-gun battery of 4x.50 cal in a turret. This turret was sometimes omitted in the ETO, but was kept and used in the PTO. Most P-61s built had the dorsal turret. Furthermore the Dorsal turret could be fired by anyone of the crew manually or linked to the main armament. The .303 of the Mossie being a small arms round didnt pack much punch.

The Mossie was the most successful, but it also got a much earlier start. Arriving over 2 years before the P-61.

1. Mosquito. Very innovative especially considering all De Haviland had to work with basically was wood, as the reserves for other metallic materials were running dry. I especially like it for being one of the first fighter bomber planes.

2. Spitfire (Any mk). Probably one of the most famous planes of the war, and a beautiful plane at that. It's easy to recognize wing was both an eye pleaser (and I'm pretty sure...) gave it great lift.

3. P51 Mustang. It's an iconic American plane and thanks to Britain's Rolls Royce engine, it made it a formidable fighter.

If I made any mistakes you'd like to point out, please do.

The Mosquito was an amazing aeroplane. Its main defence as an unarmed light bomber was its speed, which was faster then most fighters of the period. Even though she was a small bomber she could still carry a 4,000 pound bomb load. Not bad.

She had a multitude of roles low to medium altitude daytime tactical bomber, high altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike and photo reconnaissance aircraft.

The Mosquito inspired admiration from all quarters, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring. Göring was due to address a parade in Berlin in the morning of 30 January 1943, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Nazis' being voted into power. Three 105 Squadron Mosquito B Mk. IVs launched a low-level attack on the main Berlin broadcasting station, keeping Göring off the air for more than an hour.
The Reichsmarschall was not amused:
“
In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy.
The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that?
”

— Hermann Göring, January 1943,


Not content with this, Mosquitos from 139 Squadron also went to Berlin in the afternoon of the same day and tried to interrupt an important speech by Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich's Propaganda Minister. One Mosquito was lost on the afternoon raid.

One of the higher risk uses of the fighter-bomber Mosquito FB VI was by 21 Sqn., 464(RAAF) Squadron and 487(NZ) Squadron of No. 2 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force in Operation Jericho, a mission to destroy the walls and guards' quarters of Amiens prison to allow members of the French Resistance to escape. In the aftermath of the operation the Mosquito of Group Captain Percy Pickard was shot down.

On 11 April 1944, after a request by Dutch resistance workers, six Mosquito FB VIs of No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron made a pinpoint daylight attack at rooftop height on the Kunstzaal Kleizkamp Art Gallery in The Hague, Netherlands, which was being used by the Gestapo to store the Dutch Central Population Registry. The first two aircraft dropped high explosive bombs, to "open up" the building, their bombs going in through the doors and windows. The other crews then dropped incendiary bombs, and the records were destroyed. Only persons in the building were killed - nearby civilians in a bread queue were unharmed.

On 21 March 1945, another similar raid, Operation Carthage, again by 21 Sqn., 464(RAAF) Sqn. and 487(NZ) Sqn. involved a very low-level bombing attack on the Gestapo headquarters in the Shellhus, near the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. The attack had been requested several times by members of the Danish resistance, but was initially deemed too dangerous by the RAF. Twenty Mosquitos were involved, split into three attack waves. They were escorted by 30 RAF Mustangs. The main attack on the Gestapo headquarters caused the death of 55 German soldiers and 47 Danes working for the Gestapo, together with destruction of the Gestapo records in the headquarters. Eight Gestapo prisoners were killed while 18 prisoners escaped. A Mosquito flying in the first wave of the attack struck a tall lamp-post and crashed into a nearby Catholic school (the French school). Mosquitos of the third wave bombed this area by mistake, killing 86 children, 10 nuns, 8 teachers, and 21 other civilians; no civilians had been killed during the main attack. Four Mosquitos were lost and nine pilots/crew members died. The attack saved the lives of many resistance workers as the Gestapo archives and organisation were severely damaged.

The famous RAF 617 squadron (Dambusters), while mainly equipped with Lancaster bombers, also employed the Mosquito for precision target marking. According to "The Dam Busters", Group Captain Leonard Cheshire developed a dive-bombing method of marking targets in advance of the main squadron, to allow the main bombers to strike from high altitude. Cheshire initially used his own Lancaster for this approach, but switched to the Mosquito as being a more suitable aircraft. These Mosquito missions contributed to Cheshire winning the Victoria Cross in recognition of his sustained courage throughout the war.

In my opinion the finest version of the Spitfire was the Mk9 or the Mk16, the Mk16 was a Mk9 fitted with the Packard Merlin. The majority of Spitfires manufactured were the Mk9 and Mk16.

The Mustang was also another amazing aeroplane, she took over where the Spitfire left off.

I have heard that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are attempting to obtain a Mosquito to be included in their fleet. The Mosquito deserves to be included.

Originally Posted by perseus

Why? Surely the Luftwaffe's piston aircaft were lacking in performance towards the end of the war. The later versions of the Mustang had the best all round performance; range, speed, manoeuvrability, resistance to damage and was practical. However the Spitfire maintained competitive nearly throughout the war and was probably the most distinctive and aesthetically pleasing aircraft.

... but the question was not about "Favourite WWII PISTON Engine Fighter"...

The Me 262 had them above mentioned in the sack most of the time.

Rattler

I have a problem here, as much as I love the Mosquito was it really a fighter?

It was originally designated as a fast bomber.

It did have a night fighter variant but lots of aircraft not originally designated "fighters" filled that role, as I recall the "fighter" version of the Mosquito was the Hornet and that was not operational until 1946.

Also just for good measure I figured I would throw in a new contender, the Gloster Gladiator.
It served with distinction in many theaters of the war (Finland to Malta) and even had the distinction of being the primary aircraft of both sides in the Anglo-Iraqi war of 1941.

While I agree that the Gladiator was a good aeroplane, she was simply outclassed and outdated as early as 1936.

As said though it served in a lot of theaters of the war, the Finn's used it to good effect against the Russians, Iraqis against the British and British against the Italian and Germans even the Norwegians put it to good use against the cream of the Luftwaffe.

For an obsolete aircraft it had a better kill ratio than loss ratio against the best that just about everyone could throw at it and it earned eternal fame for its role in the battle of Malta.

It was the underdog in just about every fight and who doesn't like the underdog?