Top Fighter Planes

[wayword son]

i respectfully disagree on the tomcat status as the most beautiful.

one wonders where we would be, if the yf-12 was developed as a long range intercepter as was originaly planned?

 

[BritinBritain]

I think that selecting the “best fighter” is extremely subjective. None of the aircraft listed would have been operational in WWII, there was not the technology or infrastructure to support them, not to mention their weapons system.

Categories must be established, the best fighter of a certain period, the best single seat fighter, the best multi engine fighter, the best night fighter, the most versatile fighter, etc. No one aircraft did or does everything the "best".

I agree with this totally. In the UK I often heard the Spitfire v Hurricane debates. Without a doubt the Spitfire was the better dog-fighter against the BF109, the Spitfire Mk9 was more then a match for the FW 190 “Butcher bird,” yet the Hurricane airframe could take punishment that would down a Spitfire and still keep flying. I love the Spit, she in my opinion was the most beautiful aircraft ever to roll off any production line. One Luftwaffe senior officer visiting Fighter Command before 1939 was bragging about the ME/BF109, a young RAF officer mentioned the Spitfire, to which the Luftwaffe officer commented “Ah yes, a pretty little aeroplane.” She was more then pretty as Luftwaffe crews were to find out to their cost during 1940, she could also fight.

However, the Hurricane did her job and did it well, downing 2/3rds of all enemy aircraft shot down during the battle. She also earned a good reputation as a “Tank Buster” in North Africa, the Spitfire airframe could never have coped with the Tank Buster 40mm cannon without shaking itself to pieces. A South African Hurricane pilot mentioned to me that the Hurricane gave a good account of itself in North Africa and on many occasions got him back to base safe and sound more then once after being shot up by a BF109.

At RAF Wattisham back in 1970, we had a Mk23 Spitfire with clipped wings and contra-rotation props as the gate guardian. Hopefully she was saved and ended up in a hanger somewhere safe and sound.