Best Fighter

[cheddar cheese]

no, im not on about that particular mark, but it was highly over-rated, everyone forgets it was the hurricane that shot down more planes in the BoB 8)

 

[plan_D]

Yes, the Hurricane did shoot down more, and the Hurricane was in higher numbers (32 Squadrons of Hurricanes to 11 Squadrons of Spitfire) but the Spitfire Mk. IX was not in BoB and secondly every mark of Spitfire outclassed the Hurricane.

 

[cheddar cheese]

not in my eyes 8)

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

it terms of performance, it did.......................

 

[Maestro]

Yes, the Hurricane did shoot down more, and the Hurricane was in higher numbers (32 Squadrons of Hurricanes to 11 Squadrons of Spitfire) but the Spitfire Mk. IX was not in BoB and secondly every mark of Spitfire outclassed the Hurricane.

This time, I have to agree with Plan_D. The Mk. IX wasn't in the BoB. As I said when I posted the database about the Mk. IX on this site, the Mark IX was created in 1942, in order to surpass the German FW-190. (And it did it well!) 8)

Here is the link (read the "Remark" section):
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/?p=info&airinfo=150

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

by the endof the warr all fighters could beat the FW-190..................

 

[plan_D]

The FW-190 was a threat and was comparable to most fighters throughout the war, it was a brilliant fighter. And in 1942 it was scary for the RAF.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

until the first time it was engaged in combat, when the RAF realised it wasn't all it cracked up to be....................

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

actually it was MORE than they cracked it up to be, mate.... dont let your Birtish pride confuse you, make no mistake, the "Butcher Bird" as indeed better than most spits (excluding the beautiful bubble canopied ones of course...---were those post war only?)

 

[plan_D]

The Mk. XIV Spitfire was better than the FW-190 but that's not to say it had an easy time with it. The FW-190 was everything and more it was cracked up to be.
When it was reported in 1942 the RAF began sending out patrols to stop them probing British airspace, it is recorded that out of all the sorties FW-190s did over Britain the RAF sent out 6 patrols, this is some idea of how scary the 190 was.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i read an account of the first pilot to engage a 190 and he said he shot him down quite easily.......................

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

i doubt that and thats why i said "most" models of the spitfire. there are two reasons i doubt that statement Lanc, the first is that these werent junior pilots that got the Fw190 in early '42, this was Jg26, the highest scoring squadron of any country, of any war with planes!!! the other reason is that the Mk.V (all models of it) was inferior to the Fw190 in almost every aspect! sure, I'll admit it had some great features, better climb rate than the Fw190 being one of them, but for the most part, the Fw190 was superior.

 

[plan_D]

I have to agree with Germans. And in any case I doubt they would class any combat, let alone one against a superior plane easy.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i'm just quoting what the man saud, if i can i'll get the book out the library and get the whole quote....................

 

[ahanswurst]

I am adding a Japanese fighter plane, The Ki-44 Shoki code named Tojo to the list. The Ki-44 IIc model had (4) 40 mm cannons firing a 1/2 kilogram bullet. On Feb 19th of 1945 a small number of Ki-44's shot down 10 B-29s out of 120 B-29's in that mission. The Ki-44 in all of it variants was one of the Japanese better fighter planes.

 

[ahanswurst]

This is the 40 millimeter cannon used on the Ki-44. One of its features was the round was caseless. I have not been able to determine how the powder was ignited. In researching the various cannons used by the allies I found out that the Germans were starting to use the gatling style cannons to their aircraft along with a 2 barrel gast type cannon. The Germans used electrical primed shells in their cannons. I am guessing that General Electric copied the German designs for their Vulcan 20 mm cannons. The Germans designed some of the better armament of WW2 and the Japanese were a close second. THe Japanese also had a 57mm and a 75 mm cannons mounted on some of their aircraft.

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

the problem with Japanese heavy aviation arms is that they were rare ( ) they usually kept the maximum size to 20mm. anyway, going with the bomber destroyers, the Ki-84C had two 20mm Ho 5 cannons in the nose (replacing the 12.7mm mgs in the Ki-84a: the Ki-84b also had twin 20mm's in the nose and two more in the wings like the Ki-84a) and two 30mm Ho 105 cannons in the wings (one to each wing). (yes, crazy, i DID get this info from aep )

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the shiden was pretty good too................

 

[plan_D]

The Henschel 129 had a 75mm cannon on it, one variant anyway. The anti-shipping Mosquito had a 57mm cannon on it.

And one thing, 40mm isn't a bullet, it's a shell.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

some P-108's were armed with 102mm cannon for anti-shipping (i must give credit to C.C. for that information............)