which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Its that time of year again. Things have been just a bit to quiet around here. So lets stir it up a bit. Heres the question for the panel to examine and pontificate upon: Whiich country had the best fighters of WWII? Now this can mean a lot of things to alot of different people.Try as a hard as possible to be unbiased either for or against a country. Consider , speed, firepower, tactics, innovation, manuverability and availability.Please state your reasoning and flaming is rewarded.....:DHeck the military channel does it and I know we know more than THOSE guys......have fun

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

I guess i will start things off by saying my vote will go to Germany. My reasoning is that they were the trend setters in both airframes, tactics and innovation. I believe their problem was that they had the wrong people in charge and were also very short sided and didnt have the industry to support their vision. from the start of the war with the Me-109 thru the Me-262, their planes equaled or bettered anything that any country threw at them.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

^^^ what he said.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

THE GERMAN JET FIGHTER AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT WAS WAY AHEAD OF THE ALLIES IN WW2 FORTUNATE FOR THE ALLIES GERMANY WAS RUNNING
OUT OF MATERIALS AND PILOTS HAD THE ME262 AND OTHER JET FIGHTER AIRCRAFT BEEN MASS PRODUCED THEY WOULD HAVE CAUSED A LOT
OF PROBLEMS

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

No contest.

Germany.

Bf 109, Fw 190 D9, Ta-152, Me-262, He-162 and on and on. The had the best weapon systems (the Mk 108, MG 151/20 and MG 131 were more or less better and more reliable than the allied equivalents of said weapons), we won't even get into advanced weapon technologies like rockets, mortars and guidance systems. The only real place that Germany was not up to speed was the long range, high altitude bomber. It also took them a while to build an effective high altitude incerceptor. And radar systems for the Germans (air to air) were more limited than what the allies could offer at the same time.

The Germans were easily the technical leaders of the war up until the factories and development centres were (luckily for us) bombed into the stone age.


One of the only reason the allies won the war is the fact that Hitler was a loonie.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Germany its no contest. Although as far as piston engine "designs" go and if it had made it into service before the end of the war the Aussie CA-15 Kangaroo may of been a serious prop title contender. The FW-190 D9 had to be just about the ultimate piston engined fighter to see action during WW2 in my opinion.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Hi guys, Dont forget the russians were mucking about with rocket powerd planes as far back as the 1930s ,trouble was stalin came along and shot most of his design team. Dont foget our spitfire, it went right through the war with little change to the air frame. The engines just got bigger and bigger. When the german pilots got hold of the forka wolff they thought they were still up against the early spits. One german pilot being interviewd on tv said he couldnt believe it when he was in a steep climb and a spit overtook him. Great fighters were the mustang , jap zero was the most sophisticated plane of the tme , and thats a fact. Who needs war anyway , what a fantastic world this would be if we could all get along together. SEASONS GREETINGS TO ALL YOU GUYS OUT THERE. If you cant walk on water learn to swim[sm=drowning.gif]

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

My vote is for Germany, too.

I aggree with the above postings, but consider this, too: If Germany would've had the financial resourse similar to that of the United States, they would've easily won the war. If they could've produced their superior armaments in sufficient quantities to be victorious.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

ME-262: need I say more? Ready to fly in combat by 1942, cannon armed, innovative swept wings that took the allies YEARS to catch onto.
It didn't need no stinkin' manueverability. Go fast and pack a huge wollup. See ya!
Politics (A. Hitler) kept it from doing what it was truely capable of: ruling the skies above Germany, thus preventing the allied aerial bombardment which decimated it's industry. The ME-262 could have been annialating the allied bomber crews, if only Hitler would have given approval to mass production as a FIGHTER (as originally designed) in 1942.

If I were a figher pilot back then, and given to opportunity to choose from any available fighter from which to defend my country: the ME-262 would be my choice hands down, ESPECIALLY if I had to defend against large bomber formations. Four 20 mm cannon will take any enemy out of action almost before they even realize that they are being shot at.

If "availability" is a criteria, then Germany wins again: no other fighter came even close to being produced in such large numbers as the ME-109/ bf109.

And then there are the many OTHER various German designs, which whole books cover.

As for the rocket powered ME-163: tho innovative and even faster, it was a single purpose fighter (interceptor) that was almost as great a danger to it's pilot as it was to his enemies

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

4 P-80s were sent to Europe but were only sent out in anticipation of a dog fight with Me 262s which never happened. If the the Me had become a factor we had a better plane. In general the Germans were the most inventive but in exicution they could never keep up. The US had the best mix of good planes that could be adapted to many roles in the right numbers. THe British and Japanese planes were more narrow focus than the US planes. THe British should have has a jet in combat but they removed all jet funding in the last two years of the war budget because they did not think it was needed.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

...:eek: Oh, not this again...:D

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

I gotta say the Winners. Allies A/C from the Swordfish,Spitfire,Hurricane,Mustang,Thunderbolt,H ellcat,Corsair, etc. all great as they WON the WAR. Sure the Me262 was one h*ll of an aircraft but like all Axis aircraft they are "What If ". If you can't get those A/C in the hands of pilots,(if you have them) for what ever reason, What good are they ? IMO They are only fuel for speculation & we in the free world should be glad that the ALLIES WON THE WAR .

Semper Fi
Joe

Flame suit on ,fire away

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

It wasn't those aircraft which won the war for the Allies, it was the ability to make and put pilots in said aircraft.


When I interviewed a Luftwaffe Squadron Commander a few years ago, he was telling me they finally were issued Fw 190 D9's. He got 14 planes. He had 4 pilots that could actually fly them and enough fuel for 8 of them.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Well said UJ, not to mention the fact that probably every pilot would say it's the guy at the stick that makes the differance. I say... They're the guys who actually KNOW!
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Wouda, Shouda, Couda...Blah, Blah,Blah...
FACT IS... THE ALLIES WON THE WAR! We had..HAVE, the best of EVERYTHING...Even today.

Got another suit on ya Joe, I could use it? :D
INCOMMING...DUCK[:@]

M51

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Um, not true (the Me-262 shooting them down before being seen). The MK 108, while a very effective weapon did not have a tremendous range and had a very nasty high trajectory round. Yes it was tremendously powerful, but not very accurate and a difficult weapon to aim.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

CorsairJock, The 262 use 30mm cannons, not those wimpy 20mm ones.

Some gun camera footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjlN49szFOc

Dave

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

I'm afraid you'll have to qualify your initial question, "Who built the best fighter planes in WWII?" with, "who built the best offensive and defensive fighter planes in WWII..."

If I had to defend a small region of airspace over my own country (with Expert pilots) I'd agree, give me a 262. If I had to fly 800 MILES to get to the fight and return for months on end (with an average collection of pilots) , you'd have to give the nod to the P-51Ds and P-47s (especially the Hot Rod M's and N's).

Just my $.01. I'm saving the other penny.;)

langerl

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

I stand (sit) corrected.


WOW, it appears that a number have voted for the good 'ol U.S.A.
Patriotism is great, but under-estimating the weopons and tactics of our enemies has gotten us into trouble time and time again. There were many Americans who firmly believed that our aircraft were far superior to anything the Japanese could produce, prior to Pearl Harbor.

The question WAS NOT which country had the best decision makers, NOR which country had the best pilot training program, NOR which country had the best industrial base. The U.S.A. and it's allies would win (and DID win the war) on ALL of those counts.

And about that industrial base: Germany had a pretty good industrail base also, until they 'allowed' us to bomb their factories to smithereens while Hitler demanded more bomber production ('we don't need no stinkin' fighters').

And back to pilot training: the best fighter in the world will lose the battle if it's pilot does not have the training to utilize the aircraft's strengths. Again: the question is which country produced the best fighter planes, NOT which one produced the best pilots.

Yes, we now have arguably the best fighters in the world, but too bad that our current enemies do not even have an air force (except for hi-jacked aircraft). Time for a change in tactics, do ya think?

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

"on paper" germany had the better planes, but, with the 262 germany had to pull fighters into "protect" it while taking off and landing, IMO, wayyy too much of a weak point, uses up too many resources, really outside of the 109's and 190's, germany didn't have much

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Not true my friend...

Number 1 battle tank - The German Leopard II - was the best still the best.

Best sub machine gun is the Heckler und Koch, the SWAT teams around the states would not miss this fire arm. Not to mention the G3.

Best all terrain vehicle the Unimog - hard to beat that puppy.

Not even starting on German engineering achievement...back then and today. Yes, the US - best of many things but NOT best of everything.

BTW: One thing is correct, the allies won the war

France
Yugoslavia
Russia
Sweden
Norway
Denmak
Holland
Spain
Greece
Hungary
Poland
Czech republic
Romania
England
Portugal
Lybia
Marroc
Tunesia

and the US

all that power needed to put the Germans on their knees (Germany is the half size of Texas). It's good it happened that way...



...and to answer the primary question - who build the best fighter planes in WWII? The Germans no doubt.


Happy landings
G-Pete

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

France...??? Was France in the war? Oh that's right... France was full of inovative ideas were'nt they, like the Maginot line. :D

Back to the subject.. The country with the best fighter planes was CHINA. WE GAVE them theirs (ours)(at no cost to them) and didn't we even provide the pilots? We Americans are a big group of kind hearted suckers even to this day. :)

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

The Me-262 was innovative but that was not your question, it was not the best fighter of WWII. The Me-109? It killed more pilots and more planes were lost in landing and take-off accidents than in enemy action. But we must not forget the Stuka or the German fighter/bomber idea that was a complete flop. The US had the best planes of WWII by far, but statistics don’t tell the whole story either, it comes down to pilot experience and training. Chuck Yeager or Robin Olds could have flown the Brewster Buffalo and shot down any German plane.

Add to pot then stir… :D

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

The BF-109- and FW-190- both had a very short range; no offense. You can't win if you're only playing defense.

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

OK I GUESS I BETTER CHIME IN AS WELL , IF YA LOOK AT FROM A PERSPECTIVE OF : INOVATION , PRODUCTION , FIREPOWER , ALL HANDS DOWN WERE GERMAN AIRCRAFT , YA CAN EVEN STRETCH IT IT SAY AXIS PLANES AS A WHOLE , THE JAPANESE HAS A PLANE THAT WAS SERIOUSLY UNDERESTAMATED BY THE ALLIES (ANYONE REMEMBER THE ZERO OR PEARL HARBOR ) THE ALLIES FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE WAR , WERE PLAYING CATCH UP , EVERYTHING THEY CAME OUT WITH WAS IN RESPONSE TO SOMETHING GERMANY OR THE JAPANESE WERE ALREADY FLYING , YES AT THE END THEY EITHER MATCHED THEM OR IN SOME CASES SURPASSED THE AXIS POWERS ( PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING ! ) WE DID WIN SO I GUESS WE COULD ARGUE BOTH SIDES ALL DAY LONG IN THE END I THINK ITS PERSONAL PREFRANCE FOR WHAT YOUR FAVORITE IS

RE: which country had the best fighter planes of WWII
 

Seems to me you have gotten your countries mixed.... Half of your list were a mixed bag of Free French,Free Poles,Free Czechs etc Those who were able to flee their countries before being invaded ,Some of those mentioned were Neutral. BTW Seems Japan might have even had something to do in WW2 .Hell their Island is smaller than Texas TOO .
All I know for sure is whatever a/c that got my ***** out of Harms way was the BEST.

Semper Fi
Joe