WWII Airplanes

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Who had best, who had worst. I'm just asking for you guys to discuss, so I can gain some knowledge

[Seamus Fermanagh]

By country?

By theater of ops?

By year?

By primary mission?

By personal fave?

There are hundreds of models and variants to consider, so a matrix or something might help you get more coherent answers. Can you give us more of a lead for the discussion?

[Kraxis]

It is not so easy to determine.

The Zero would not have been a very good plane in Europe, meanwhile most of the European planes wouldn't have done well outside of defending airfields in the Pacific.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Personally I've always liked the German fighters. They're fast, fairly durable, and very well-armed. But they were often hobbled by their generally short range.

EDIT: I play too much IL-2...

But the Germans did have an edge in speed for quite a while, and they definately held an edge over the allies in firepower, which is very important when facing lots of big bombers.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Just give me information

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Okay, check out the Mk 108 cannon. You can wiki it. The Luftwaffe claimed it could take down a fighter with one hit and a heavy bomber with four, IL-2 supports this for what it is worth. The gun was extremely powerful and proved its worth against bombers, it could also be mounted on everything from an Me-109 to an Me-163.

[screwtype]

Edit.......

[English assassin]

I guess in the beginning Germany was better prepared and the German planes were best.

?? Bombers, possibly, but fancy a Spitfire, anyone??

German fighter tactics were superior in the earlier part of the war, due to the lessons learned from Spain, that's true. But IMHO the planes were no better.

[Franconicus]

I think the Me109 and the Spit were equal, at least in the beginning.If I had had the choice, I would have taken the Messerschmidt. It was a bit faster and could climb and dive faster, if my memory serves. It could not turn that fast and the range was always an issue.

And the Spit was the only other plane you could compare at the beginning of the war. No Polish, French or Italy plane could mess with it.

The Me 110 was an excellent plane, too. However, during the Battle of E it had no chance against the Spits and Hurricanes.

The Russians had had an excellent and big air force and they had experience from Spain, too. However, when the war began, the air force was very bad with outdated planes.


Who had the best planes at the end of the war?

[King Kurt]

I think the Me109 and the Spit were equal, at least in the beginning.If I had had the choice, I would have taken the Messerschmidt. It was a bit faster and could climb and dive faster, if my memory serves. It could not turn that fast and the range was always an issue.

Franc - how come Galland asked Goering for a squadron of Spitfires during the Battle of Britian then?
The Spit takes some beating - and later war the Mustang.
I disagree about the Stuka as well - it was only any good when there was complete airsuperiority - like wise the Me110 - in the battle of Britian it ended up being escorted by 109s. The Ju 88 was a nice plane, but the Germans never really had a heavy bomber worth the name.
As for others - the Il2 is an excellent ground attack plane which set the standard for all ground attack planes.
For its impact on the war I don't think a plane can out do the SPD Dauntless - the plane that tore the heart out off the Japanese navy - in the face of stiff fighter opposition.
As for worst - well where do you start? - The Boulton Paul Defiant was a complete failure, the Fairey Battle was a death trap as was the Devastator. However you could argue that such aircraft - and you could name many more - were just old designs facing the next generation of designs. Looking for new designs that failed what about the Me 163 Komet - virtually a single shot weapon, limited range, in practice limited in its effectivness and a lottery to land. The best planes had a degree of flexability, could adapt to other roles, were good all round weapon platforms while being a master of their particular trade such as fighter, bomber, ground attack etc.
Finally - a personal favorite - the Fairey Swordfish - a plane looking like it came from WW1 - it was instrumental in sinking the Bismark, it savaged the Italian navy at Taranto (and inspired Pearl Harbour) then later in the war was the scourge of the U Boats operating from escort carriers and using a crude ASV radar - now that is a plane!!!!

[Kraxis]

Actually the Me109 could outturn a Spitfire in the BoB. But becasue of a structural weakness the pilots seldomly dared to press the plane that hard. But a few notable cases happened, for instance I once read of an encounter between two aces where the German pilot, being such an experiecned and natural pilot that he pushed his plane as far as it could go and got onto the tail of the Spitfire, despite it being a pure turnfest. Also, the 109 had a better armament.
But it had several deficiencies, such as the weak landinggear (in itself it wasn't that weak but too close together), the mentioned weak structure of the wings and a worse canopy in regards to visibility.
The main advantage the Spit had was that it was somewhat less dangerous to learn to fly.

Most scholars actually put the two planes on an equal footing.