Best WWII Fighter by Category

[Mike Main]

The Age Old Question

I am curious as to how people around the world answer this question. There a lot of room for debate when you look at a few angles never covered by the History Channel.
First I want to narrow it down a bit. Jets don't count. No jets. Otherwise the Me-262 would win hands down.
Also, lets not try to count the late model rare stuff. That would be like the Ta-152, F7F, F8F. If it really didn't play a part in the war, it doesn't count.
They were awesome machines, but to late.
Also when rating them, use the standard of equally matched pilots and in good working order.
Last, as I see it there are three categories:

Offensive
Defensive
Best Overall

I'll start things off. I won't bore you my reason until we get into this a bit. My list looks like this:

Offensive - P-51 Mustang (range and performance)
Defensive - Japanese KI-84 (performance and firepower)
Overall - Spitfire MkXIV (all of the above with less range)

 

[bushpig1998]

Mike - difficult to argue with that selection - for defensive, I have to say the Jet powered ME 262 (correct?) really had a better chance than most. It's single greatest flaw was no range - and that's why I say it is great as a defensive fighter - it can be scrambled fast and could easily outfly most other fighters of the day - IMO.

As far as best all round - I agree with the spitfure, but I really feel that the Mustang can fill this role. It was a Fighter, Escort and Ground attack platform towards the end of the war.

 

[03USMC]

Best Overall I'll say the F4U Corsair.

Offensive _ P-38 Lightening

Defensive - Hawker Hurricane

 

[Charge 7]

I can't find any better than those, 03. Complete agreement.

 

[Grimnar]

I know the Hurricane is underrated, but I would not say it was the best defensive fighter. Most of the Hurricanes was rebuilt to an attack version, mostly because the RAF realised that it was outclassed by the german fighters. Originally the Hurricane had fabric covered wings!!
Still it made the backbone of the RAF, only because of the amount of planes they had.

EDIT: Defensive vs offensive fighter? A dogfight is a dogfight no matter if you are defending of attacking??

Offensive: P-51 (firepower, speed and range)
Defensive: Fw-190 (not the same range as the P-51. Thats why I rank it as defensive)
Overall: Corsair (firepower, also designed as a overall fighter/attacker)

 

[chewie_nz]

tempest/typhoon; probably the best ground attack plane of the war. especially used for train busting

 

[Doppleganger]

Some good choices there. I'd also add the Focke Wulf 190D as being one of the best fighters of WW2. I too I'm not sold on the idea of offensive and defensive fighters. A fighter is a fighter and operational range does not restrict role.

 

[chewie_nz]

typhoon

tempest


and probably too late to have any effect on WWII, but used in korea

 

[03USMC]

I know the Hurricane is underrated, but I would not say it was the best defensive fighter. Most of the Hurricanes was rebuilt to an attack version, mostly because the RAF realised that it was outclassed by the german fighters. Originally the Hurricane had fabric covered wings!!
Still it made the backbone of the RAF, only because of the amount of planes they had.

EDIT: Defensive vs offensive fighter? A dogfight is a dogfight no matter if you are defending of attacking??

Offensive: P-51 (firepower, speed and range)
Defensive: Fw-190 (not the same range as the P-51. Thats why I rank it as defensive)
Overall: Corsair (firepower, also designed as a overall fighter/attacker)

I'm not saying the Hurricane wasn't outclassed by many other fighters. But it's role as a fighter in the Battle of Britian alone gives it my vote. The RAF made do with what they had and the Hurricane preformed admirably in perhaps the greatest Air Campgian in History. My .02. FWIW

 

[Mike Main]

I knew it wouldn't take long for the FW-190D to show up. Deserves honorable mention at least. In the top five fighters of WWII for sure.

Great feedback. I broke it down into categories to see what people come up with. A fighter is a fighter and it has to be flown aggressively. But it depends on the situation as to what I would want to be flying.
The P-51 has the range to practically run you out of gas over your home base. But it lacks the explosive shells to tackle heavy bombers.
The Ki-84 has a surprisingly large load of just that, cannon shells.
I think the Spit 14 has the best combination.
All three ( and the FW-190D ) can hold their own is a dogfight with any other fighter of the period. Boils down to the pilot at that point.

I didn't really think about ground attack. But if I had to pick something, it would have a radial engine.

 

[MadeInChina]

P 51 was the plane in fight role, it had long range and a pretty nifty firepower with good control and good visibility

 

[EagleZtrike]

Best Overall: Spitfire
Best Offensive: P51
Best Defensive: P47

 

[Charge 7]

That third pic you have there, Chewie, has D-Day markings on the plane. So I would assume from that it was used at least as early as June 6, 1944.

 

[chewie_nz]

That third pic you have there, Chewie, has D-Day markings on the plane. So I would assume from that it was used at least as early as June 6, 1944.

yeah i noticed that (it's a hawker sea fury BTW)...have been trying to look up it's first use in combat. deffinately was used in korea.

that particular aircraft is know as the "bagdahd" sea fury

 

[Kilgore]

In my opinion, the spitfire is one of the best planes in WW2. Through it got outclassed later in the war, it played a significant part at the defence of england and the defeat of the Nazi empire.


Does anyone know any good soviet planes? I know about the IL-2 sturmovik but not sure about the Yaks and Migs.

 

[chewie_nz]

YAK 9 was a very capable & modern fighter

also the Lavochkin LA-9

early in the war they had an outdated (but extremly tough & hard to spot)
little fighter...the polikarpov

The stubby, tubby and oh-so-noisy Polikarpovs proved to once again be a great crowd pleaser. Their engine noise has been described as a "sewing machine on steroids”. Here one of the I-16s gets into the air.

heres a line up of the aircraft that made up the bulk of the soviet airforce cira 1940

and here's one for fans of the corsair;

kiwi WWII markings [/img]

 

[Kilgore]

The Yak is quite a nice fighter, but it seems to look like a bit of a copy of the spitfire. A very nice plane though. The others look terrible in my opinion.

 

[EagleZtrike]

OMGG THE LITTLE CHUBBY PLANE IS SO COOL

 

[chewie_nz]

you should hear one....they sound like a tractor!

 

[Mike Main]

Think he's right about the Yak-9. A good fighter at the end of the war. High altitude performance is a question mark, but a good performer.
The Yak-3 was a good one too earlier in the war.