Best Battle of Britain Aircraft

[cheddar cheese]

Which aircraft do you think was the best during the Battle of Britain?

I have a feeling the Hurricane and Spitfire will run away with this but it will still be interesting to see.

 

[cheddar cheese]

The Hurricane gets my vote BTW

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

hurricane, but i aint voted yet.....................

 

[rebel8303]

For me Spitfire. It ruled in te late versions

 

[Nonskimmer]

Spitfires have always been a favorite of mine. One of those all time great fighter planes!

I like how far it progressed during the war. I mean during the BoB, the old Mk.I II Spits were actually relatively crappy compared to later models.
They had float carburettors, 0.303in. machine guns (spread too far apart to be extremely effective) with no cannons. Mk.I's had fabric covered control surfaces which ballooned at high speeds, and manual landing gear.
Mk.II's were a bit of an improvement.

Compare these to the later war Spits!
Yet at the time of the BoB, the early ones were enough to counter the early German planes (with some help from the Hurricane ), so I guess it's rather a moot point.

So what I'm trying to say, in a rather long winded round about way, is that the Spitfire gets my vote. 8)

 

[cheddar cheese]

hurricane, but i aint voted yet.....................

If you have a clear answer why havent you voted....

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

because i very rarely vote in polls.........

the old Mk.I II Spits were actually relatively crappy compared to later models.

many pilots that flow both early and late models prefered the earlier marks, mainly because they were more manouverable, the later versions were much heavier.........

 

[Nonskimmer]

Come to think of it, I seem to remember reading that.

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

It's the same with 109's...



Anyway, Spitfeuer for me!

 

[cheddar cheese]

Didnt think you'd go with that for a second, expected you to be a 109 man...

 

[redcoat]

I voted Spitfire.
Though in truth the Spitfire and the Bf 109 are so close in performance that its difficult to choose.
But being British tipped the scales.

 

[Adolf Galland]

just by looking at my name and u can tell what i'm going to vote 4 - 109 rocks

 

[JCS]

I voted for the 109. (suprise, suprise )

It was kind of hard to chose though, with all my favorite German planes in one poll.

 

[Maestro]

Spitfire, of corse ! Everybody here know that I prefer the Spitfire.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Hurricane took out more planes 8)

Glad to see the 111 has a vote

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes perhaps the fact that the hurricane shot down 65% of all aircraft shot down during the entire battle (including ground defences) will turn a few votes towards the hurricane...............

 

[Maestro]

yes perhaps the fact that the hurricane shot down 65% of all aircraft shot down during the entire battle (including ground defences) will turn a few votes towards the hurricane...............

Yeah, but don't forget that there was much more Hurricane squadrons than Spitfire squadrons because the Spitfire was relatively new when the BoB began. So it's just normal that the Hurricane shot down more planes.

 

[cheddar cheese]

And the fact that most of the pilots preferred the Hurricane should err thigs the Hurricanes way too...

 

[BombTaxi]

The Hurricane (which got my vote) was also a superior gun platform to the Spit. Its eight guns were concentrated in two banks of four, rather than being spread along the wing as they were in the Spit, giving a better concentration of fire.

It's true that the Hurri got more kills, and was in more squadrons. However, it also found itself, more often than not, attacking bomber formations, which meant it had the defensive fire of these aircraft to face, as well as the danger of escort fighters and friendly flak, which, IMHO, was made thier task just as difficult, if not more so, than the dogfighting which Spits were often involved in. I think that the Spitfire gets the glamour because of its cleaner lines and the mystique which grew up around both the aircraft and RJ Mitchell. However, the Hurri was the true workhorse of the RAF both during the BoB and the Battle of France.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Yup. Its a shame it wasnt further developed really, it was kind of obsolete by 1941.