ram3500-RCU

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The P-51 flew from carriers?

corch

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Yes
Once Iwo and Okinawa became operation, the project was no longer needed. The same problem as ETO, not long enough range fighters to cover the B-29s flying from China and the Marinas Islands. That naval paint scheme is pretty sharp though!

http://www.mustang.gaetanmarie.com/a...aval/naval.htm

Todd D

My Feedback: (51)

I voted for the P51, love it. I have a Byron and it flies so scale.

You missed a good one though - the P38 Lightening. That plane dominated the Pacific in WW2 and brought down the enemies No 1 general. (Yamamoto)

Experten109/40

My Feedback: (-1)

funny outta all that, there was no definite # for a2a losses during the campain. well I can give you a few #'s

Oblt. Hofmann

Maj. Weissenberger

Obstlt. Mayer

Maj. Meimberg

Obstlt. Bär

Maj. Eder

Obstlt. Bühligen

Ofw. Bartels

Oblt. Glunz

Oblt. Radener

Hptm. Lemke

Lt. Prager

Hptm. Hammer

Hptm. Krupinski

Maj. Harder

Lt. Kemethmüller

Maj. Steinmann

Lt. Söffing

Oblt. Rollwage

Lt. Wiegand

Maj. Hackl

Hptm. Lang

Maj. Mietusch

Hptm. Burkhardt

Lt. Becker

Maj. Galland

Lt. Mayer

Hptm. Meyer

Maj. Staiger

Oblt. Vogt

these gentlemen were resposible for 275 P-47's meeting a premature end.
I could list out hundreds of more pilotsthat shot down P-47sIn N.Africa, Europe but
its only 7:50 am and I'm lazy.

another thing too, the Luftwaffe was even more strict to aireal claims then
the Americans were, so you can consider these #'s golden.

again, not taking anything away from the P-47 as that was one tuff ship. but
facts are facts.

fcomer84

The B-17

Glyn R

Can't help feeling that voting has more to do with nationality than reality.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Oky doeky then. Sounds like the B-25 project. I know some will say they were carrier born as well. Technically speaking.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Agreed.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

"facts are facts."

Ah, not exactly. Have you ever studied the battle of Britain? The fight, not the movie. Wild claims were made on both sides. And Germany was notorious for this to maintain moral in a loosing effort, throughout the war.

I really think the truth lies somewhere in between, but the fact is, German pilots did not rotate out. There were fewer of them.

As I said before, numbers can be manipulated sometimes, but who won? It took a united effort by many different nationalities, in all sorts of planes, but pilots felt safer in the big Jug than any other plane in the fight, by the mouths of the very pilots who flew them.

edh13

My Feedback: (9)

I think RCU should make this emoticon available for ready use.

Experten109/40

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ahhh the BoB. that in my humble opinion was a draw. in the airwar anyways. if Germany continued to destroy the
Limey's early warning radar instalations they may have won.

If you look at it from a total descruction point of view, well hands down Germany won.

" I really think the truth lies somewhere in between "

well if you cross reference the Luftwaffe records against American claims, which any self
respective researcher would do, its not hard to determine what the "truth" was.

" As I said before, numbers can be manipulated sometimes, but who won? It took a united effort by many different nationalities,
in all sorts of planes, but pilots felt safer in the big Jug than any other plane in the fight, by the mouths of the very pilots who flew them. "

what won the war in Europe was a relentless pounding of German cities & factories by the USAAF. period. no fuel
means fewer planes in the air. #'s won the war (see below).

like I said before, when the USAAF launches 900-1000 heavy bombers & 1200-1300 P-51 escorts on a single mission, and the LW can only
manage to scamble 50-100 Me 109's, well thats a no win for Germany I would think. to put it into perspective on the amount of planes the allies
used againt the Luftwaffe,the Germans shot down over 40,000.. thats 40,000 allied aircraft. and if you look at the over all kill/loss, the
Germans still came out on top.

and once again, no doubt the P-47 was a very great/robust WarBird.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

OK, 'the Germans came out on top.' No use debating with this kind of statement. I will leave you to your 'wallies world' way of looking at things. Opinions vary, and always will. I have a couple planes to build, I'm out.

Experten109/40

My Feedback: (-1)

losses man, losses. the Germans LOST fewer aircraft then the Allies. dunno what you were thinking

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

The Zero and the Focke Wulf D-9.... great flying models.... the P-47 is a great model also. You have to be good to not tip the Mustang on landing every 10th flight, or more often.... and I only care about models, not how many people died flying the full size...

Experten109/40

My Feedback: (-1)

wait for my book to come out:

Defence of the Reich~ The True Story of The Luftwaffe

Freddy!

More than half of the pilots shot down in world two never saw there killer. To me i like the IR 80,or the Fiat G.55 Centauro.

vette_boy81

My Feedback: (43)

Hellcat...record speaks for itself.

Fish07

P-38[sm=shades_smile.gif]

NCIS

Everyone will disagree with me but our only plane to defend us at the beginning of our entry into WWII was the P-40 that first helped a little at Pearl Harbor so I vote for the old workhorse. They are great looking and great flying models if it's a Ziroli.

Speedy-Gonzales

My Feedback: (202)

Have you all forgotten "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" ( corrected from "Big Boy" in original post) ? These two bombs delivered by B-29's ended the war. All the aircraft and their pilots were simply a weapons delivery platform. At the close of WWII the last of the living Wright brothers publically commented that had they known their invention was to be refined and used to deliver such a powerful weapon they would not have persued it.

I know this is irrelevant to the "greatest ( piston ) fighter of all time" but consider the power these two weapons posessed and their impact to this day on the history of world conflict and affairs. The greatest fighter of all time is the human spirit and the belief that in the end good will always prevail over evil.

My personal favorite choices are the North American P-51 "Mustang", the Republic P-47 "Jug", and the Chance Vought F4U "Corsair" for their versatility as a multi-task fighter. They were the most adaptable platform of all the piston fighter aircraft of WWII in my opinion.

The fact is that we won and all others lost!

jessiej

Don't you all think that this thread (and the many similar threads that have preceded it) are a bit meaningless? Of all time? So post WWll aircraft such as the Bearcat are included? Non jet. Do we include turboprops? Greatest. Greatest at what mission ? Interceptor? Long range escort? High altitude air-to-air combat? Low altitude air-to-air? Rough field operation a factor? Carrier capable? How about ground attack? Ability to withstand damage a factor? Should we consider factors such as practicality of mass production? How about ease of training of air and ground crew?

Naturally if all opinions on the subject are laid end to end they will reach past the moon but never reach a conclusion.

TimT2000

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You have it summed up really well but you did not say what your best plane was, so......

Tim

Speedy-Gonzales

My Feedback: (202)

Is this your conclusion???????????

edh13

My Feedback: (9)

Hmmmm not so fast... Don't think Orville ever said that. He wasn't a bumpkin that left the industry and retired to the pasture only to be awakened by the 'horror' of the A bomb. He was very active throughout his life heavily involved in military projects, he knew exactly what they were capable of. Although He had always hoped the airplane would be considered such a lethal weapon as to deter war. Much like the success modern nuclear weapons have had. (see Cold War)

For the record it was "Little Boy and Fat Man".

jk464

LA7