best fighter of ww II

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yet later the P-51 became the plane of choice................

 

[Lightning Guy]

In Europe yes. In made sense for Doolittle and the 8th to focus on one fighter to simplify logistics (note the P-47s were being passed to the 9th). It also made sense since the number of P-38s was limited and commanders in the Med. and the Pacific were litterally screaming for them.

This is from Art Heiden with time in both P-38s and P-51s . . .
" The 8th was, at last, being flooded with Mustangs and well trained pilots. The Mustang was a delight to fly, easier to maintain cheaper to build and train pilots for, and had long legs. In those respects you can rightfully call it better, but it could not do anything better than a P-38J-25 or L. Just remember who took the war to the enemy and held on under inconceivable odds. Enough of the crap."
In short, the P-38 was being replaced for economical reasons and not because the P-51 offered better performance.

 

[Gemhorse]

Although the advent of the Jet age had arrived, I'm so totally appalled at the decision of US Commanders to scrap the aircraft where they were, rather that take 'em home or hand them over or sell them -etc. - It was what we still see alot of from US Forces around the World...total unmitigated WASTE of basically good resources... - The Lockheed Lightning was a major sufferer of this policy, to the point where today LG, there are only about a half-dozen of these remarkable aircraft still flying Worldwide...that's bloody sad....

 

[Lightning Guy]

I think with the return of Glacier Girl to flight condition it is up to 7 but I'm not positive about that. I do know that post-war you could buy a surplus Lighting for $1,250 and that there were more than 500 brand news planes that were scrapped. It wasn't just the dawn of the jet age that did them in either. Countries always down-size the military right after a war and that cause a lot of planes to de destroyed before their time.

 

[Gemhorse]

I keep a close eye on the Warbird Restoration scene, and I just love it when they do something like 'Glacier Girl'...she's a beautiful restoration...You are quite right though, about down-sizing Postwar, it has seen so much awesome aviation lost forever...

 

[Lightning Guy]

I would have loved the chance to have bought a P-38 for $1,250. Now days, you could spend that much just gassing the plane up.

 

[Gemhorse]

Yeah, that was alot of money in those days...What excites me these days is this new idea of buying the plans and building your own, following some people's tried techniques, or using their basic plan with your own ideas for say, powerplants...There's an article in the current 'Classic Wings' down here, that has these different Spitfire 'replicas' that have been built ; a chap named Russ Harmuth, based at Calveras County Airport near San Francisco, CA, whose putting a 1,200 hp Allison in his one, is built from plans...There's obviously huge scope for these types of replicas, as most cannot afford an original, but The Movement in general support the addition of these aircraft, as they add flavour and interest to the Warbirds worldwide, over and above restorations...When you've only a coupla dozen Lightnings say, left worldwide, with restorations ongoing on some, it is a new option for those who just have to 'have one', and going by the modified late postwar versions of Lightnings, they could be real performers !...They had one enlarged model capable of 600 mph, didn't they, an XP something?....

 

[Lightning Guy]

I've never seen anything about any version of a Lightning getting anywhere near that fast. An Allison engine in a Spit? That's gotta look kinda weird. Like the DB engine fitted to a Spit.

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

This?

I think it looks better...

 

[Maestro]

This?

I think it looks better...

Personnaly, I prefer the "classic" British Spitfire. I don't like the nose of the captured version of the Spitfire.

 

[Lightning Guy]

Yeah, that nose just doesn't look right. It's like an airborne Frankenstein.

 

[dead parrot]

And that Swastika on the tail is just...wrong. Okay for the Stuka, surely not for the Spit.

 

[plan_D]

The nose looks too much like a 109s.

 

[ev0]

How well did the spitfire do in kill/death ratio and so on?

 

[plan_D]

I don't know, but ideally if anyone is going to say it should be for the different theatres of operation. Not all together. Since it served in Burma, Europe, Africa and Russia (with Soviet pilots).
And the many different marks of Sptifire, it varies a lot.

 

[Lightning Guy]

And it's only natural for the nose to look like a 109. The Merlin-engined 109 had a front end that looked a lot like a Spit after all.

 

[plan_D]

I was just making an obvious point.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the merlin engined spit looks allot better.......................

 

[Lightning Guy]

The Merlin-engined Spit looked even better than the Griffon-engined versions in my opinion.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

it's just those classic lines isn't it??