Hydro Junkie

And you could very well be right. What must be remembered is that, when combat actually started, all fighter pilots were taught to fight the same kind of fight that was, in many ways, like a WWI dogfight. That was the kind of fight the A6M, Spitfire, Hurricane, P-40 and BF-109 were designed to fight. All were designed with maneuver first, followed by climb, top speed and then dive. It was quickly learned, over Europe, that this type of fight was not possible at the speeds the planes were capable of and the tactics evolved to compensate for it. Over Asia and the Pacific, a few "visionaries" realized this as well. Claire Chennault and "Jimmy" Thach came up with the "Dive and Zoom and "Thach Weave" to combat the highly maneuverable A6M. The "Vic" formation was also quickly dropped in favor of the "Finger Four" with it's lead/wing positions. Up until that point, the Japanese pilots pretty much had their way with all opposition. This ended with Chennault and the AVG over China and the carrier battles in the Coral Sea and at Midway.
Over China, the AVG destroyed 296 planes while losing 14 pilots due to Chennault's doctrine between December 20, 1941 and July 4, 1942. The P-40s were, initially, facing the obsolete Ki-27 fighters along with Ki-21 and Ki-30 bombers and later front line Ki-43 fighters. They were assisted by Hurricanes and Buffaloes from the RAF, based in Burma, that is until the RAF withdrew to India as the British ground forces were pushed back by the Japanese army.
Over the Pacific, two formations of G4M Betty bombers from Rabaul were destroyed by Wildcats from the carrier Lexington in an aborted mission against that base. At Coral Sea, the Japanese carrier Shoho was sunk and Shokaku was seriously damaged while the Zuikaku had it's air group decimated by Wildcats and Dauntlesses from the carriers Lexington and Yorktown. A few weeks later, the Japanese navy lost four more carriers and 127 aviators at Midway due to Wildcats and Buffaloes from Midway's air wing as well as Wildcats from the Yorktown and Enterprise. In exchange, the Yorktown and Lexington were damaged at Coral Sea with Lexington being lost to faulty damage control after the battle and Yorktown going down after taking a total of four bombs(three penetrating into the lower decks) and four torpedoes between the two engagements. As far as aircraft, after Midway, the American torpedo squadrons were almost totally destroyed with only three Devastators still flyable out of 44(two were damaged beyond repair when they returned to Enterprise while others went down with the Yorktown) with only one out of six Avengers returning to Midway. More Dauntless dive bombers were lost due to operational failures than enemy action(especially with the Hornet's inexperienced air group that lost many of it's aircraft due to running out of fuel) while Midways green Vindicators were savaged by the A6Ms of the Kido Butai. All told, the US lost 145 aircraft, the destroyer Hammann, the previously mentioned Yorktown and 307 men when compared to four carriers(with all of their aircraft) one cruiser and 2500 men.

Hydro Junkie

And you could very well be right. What must be remembered is that, when combat actually started, all fighter pilots were taught to fight the same kind of fight that was, in many ways, like a WWI dogfight. That was the kind of fight the A6M, Spitfire, Hurricane, P-40 and BF-109 were designed to fight. All were designed with maneuver first, followed by climb, top speed and then dive. It was quickly learned, over Europe, that this type of fight was not possible at the speeds the planes were capable of and the tactics evolved to compensate for it. Over Asia and the Pacific, a few "visionaries" realized this as well. Claire Chennault and "Jimmy" Thach came up with the "Dive and Zoom and "Thach Weave" to combat the highly maneuverable A6M. The "Vic" formation was also quickly dropped in favor of the "Finger Four" with it's lead/wing positions. Up until that point, the Japanese pilots pretty much had their way with all opposition. This pretty much ended with Chennault and the AVG over China and the carrier battles in the Coral Sea and at Midway.
Over China, the AVG destroyed 296 planes while losing 14 pilots due to Chennault's doctrine between December 20, 1941 and July 4, 1942. The P-40s were facing the obsolete Ki-27 fighters along with Ki-21 and Ki-30 bombers for the first part of that time and later front line Ki-43 fighters. They were assisted by Hurricanes and Buffaloes from the RAF, based in Burma, that is until the RAF withdrew to India as the British ground forces were pushed back by the Japanese army.
Over the Pacific, two formations of G4M Betty bombers from Rabaul were destroyed by Wildcats from the carrier Lexington in an aborted mission against the base. At Coral Sea, the Japanese carrier Shoho was sunk and Shokaku was seriously damaged while the Zuikaku had it's air group decimated by Wildcats and Dauntlesses from the carriers Lexington and Yorktown. A few weeks later, the Japanese navy lost four more carriers and 127 aviators at Midway due to Wildcats and Buffaloes from Midway's air wing as well as Wildcats from the Yorktown and Enterprise. In exchange, the Yorktown and Lexington were damaged at Coral Sea with Lexington being lost to faulty damage control after the battle and Yorktown going down after taking a total of four bomb and four torpedoes between the two engagements. As far as aircraft, after Midway, the American torpedo squadrons were almost totally destroyed with only three Devastators still flyable out of 44(two were damaged beyond repair when they returned to Enterprise while others went down with the Yorktown) with only one out of six Avengers returning to Midway. More Dauntless dive bombers were lost due to operational failures than enemy action(especially with the Hornet's inexperienced air group that lost many of it's aircraft due to running out of fuel while Torpedo 8 was wiped out with only one pilot surviving it's attack on the Japanese carriers)while Midways green Vindicators were savaged by the A6Ms of the Kido Butai. All told, the US lost 145 aircraft, the destroyer Hammann, the previously mentioned Yorktown and 307 men to four carriers(with all of their aircraft) one cruiser and 2500 men.

rcmichael

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According to Gunther Raul Germanys 3rd leading ace it was the P51D Mustang. He was asked this question at Oshkosh many years ago and without hesitation he said the Mustang. The best German fighter was the Focke Wolf, but it had some weaknesses the mustang could exploit. So as an overall fighter the Mustang

a2jacket

In 1939 and early 1940 Germany were most successful in Close Air Support and short range fighters, but if we talk about best fighter jacket USA have the best fighter jets