ORIGINAL: speedster 1919
I like 3 blades and I love the ground clearence. Funny how us 3 bladers can always find an equal performing prop if they are so inefficent. WW2 was all about speed . Way too bad they didn't know 2 blade was so efficent. They were idiots to put 3 and 4 blades on their planes. LOL
WWII fighters were compromises in all directions. They were an engineered balance of cost, available construction material, range, payload, speed, turning ability, climb & ceiling. Few, if any of those parameters, were optimized.
Until the advent of the Tu 95 Bear, the world's fastest prop-driven aircraft was the Macchi-Castoldi MC.72 floatplane. With a fixed-pitch 2-bladed prop, it hit 440.7 MPH at sea level, in 1933. I believe that it still holds the world speed record for reciprocating-engine-powered aircraft (floats & all), & still holds the sea-level record for any prop-driven aircraft.