Best Aircraft in Many Different Roles Part II

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actually there was a day fighter varient, the F.II, which was considdered saparate from the NF.II, the F.II was used operationally and saw a lot of combat particularly with 23 sqn, and of course all the fighter bomber marks could dogfight, even downing the odd Fw-190........
 
I would have to say Mosiquito, with a proviso.
Lets be honest here one mosquito could not due every duty that mosquitos did. They were different aircraft.
However this is also true of many other types. Most photo recce aircraft for instance were unarmed unarmoured(?) versions of their forebarers.

This topic is an odd one to pick for my mind. When you pick a best, it is specialised in its field. Here you are picking an average best, this simply means that it is not going to be as good in any one roll as another more specialised aircraft.

Anyway my money is on the wooden wonder. Briefly on its construction, those of you who have played about with wood and know that while balsa is a hard wood it is incredibly soft and light. The mossy was built in the same way that yachts used to. They sandwiched the balsa with some layers of a thin ply. I've had a play about with this kind of construction and it is incredibly light and rigid. Doesn't much like puncturing though, fortunately wood does grow on trees.
 
back to the thread at hand i mean is between the two the mossie and the 38 i'll take the 38 for the allies yet for the axis i would have to say the 88 , and for both sides the 88 for it was in service for the whole war , from day one till the end and neither mossie or the 38 were and most other type that were in service that long were nothen more than targets
 
First of all I'd like to say hi to everyone as I am a new member on the site.

I'd like to say that I have enjoyed reading the thread about the best aircraft in different roles.

The P38 could be classed as a versatile heavy fighter, and the Mosquito could be classed as a versatile medium fighter/bomber.

The Mosquito was used to great effect as a pathfinder plane (flares dropped before bombing runs by Lancasters, Halifaxes, Stirlings etc.), and to the best of my knowledge P38's did not do this. This being said I think it was because the Mosquito had a crew of pilot and navigator, not just the pilot of the P38.

Also the Mosquito had a couple of big advantages over the P38, first it was relatively cheap to build being of wood/plywood/construction and following on from this it was very stealthy to Radar.

I would like to throw another aircraft into the mix for consideration if I may - the IL2 Sturmovik.

The Sturmovik was originally designed as ground attack, but had varients that included fighter, torpedo carrier, trainer, and could be used as a light transport. The production run was approx 32,000 aircraft.
 

Welcome.

Actually the P-38 did serve as a pathfinder, including radar guided bombing runs. As I see it the P-38 has an edge over the Mosquito (A fine aircraft in its own right) is that it took no special mods to go from toting 5200lbs bombs to a target 450 miles away to fighter escort the next day. If required a P-38M or F-5 could still drop 4000lbs of bombs any time it was asked. I don't know if the Mosquito towed gliders but the P-38 towed two from Wisconsin to Florida a flight of ~1200miles.

One thing that this subject doesn't cover is that versatility depends on several things
1. Need
2. Availability
3. Willingness
4. Ability of the aircraft
5. Ability of the mechanics/fabricators/designers
Need is first because a modification "Just because" means nothing. Availability is important because you need an aircraft suitable for the job (even if its not set up for it) AND the lack of an aircraft that is built for the job and/or unavailable. This one is probably the most important the British and Germans were more inclined to modify existing aircraft for a particular mission IE. Dam Busters, Tall Boy, Mossie, Ju-88 while the US would build a more suitable aircraft if the mission was worth the effort. The exceptions to that were the P-38 and B-25 which were competitive and available from the start of US involvement in the war.

wmaxt
 
the Mosquito was no more stealthy then a P 38 those big things that spin on either side of the airplane called propellors are huge radar reflectors and I'll wager the paint was partly lead based
 
pbfoot said:
the Mosquito was no more stealthy then a P 38 those big things that spin on either side of the airplane called propellors are huge radar reflectors and I'll wager the paint was partly lead based
Click to expand...

I have heard the Mossie did give a reduced radar return from many angles.

wmaxt
 
Well in my opinion it goes something like this:

1. Ju-88
2. P-38
3. Mossie

Everything after that is debatable.

The Ju-88 obviously was not the best aircraft in any given role but she successfully did the most roles and was the most versatile aircraft.
 
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