Best Fleet Air Arm (Royal Navy) Aircraft of WW2

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but then again it didn't come up against a huge ammount of ground fire either..............

 

[Lightning Guy]

No, but that is still a liability in the air-to-air role.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

how is ground fire a liability in a dogfight??

 

[Lightning Guy]

Ground fire isn't but an easily disabled engine is. A liquid-cooled engine wasn't nearly as robust as an air-cooled one.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but a liquid cooled generally gave better performance.................

 

[Lightning Guy]

That is difficult to say. Many of the fastest piston-engined fighters used radials (Bearcat, Sea Fury, P-47M, F4U-4). In general, the in-line weighted less and produced less drag but they also produced less horsepower.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but that's the thing, a radial wil produce more drag, which cancels out some of it's extra power......................

 

[Lightning Guy]

But not necessarily all. For example, the initial R-2800 was churning out 2,000hp. By the end of the war it was producing 2,850hp with water injection (equivalent to something like 1.75 Merlins) but without an increase in drag.

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

That is difficult to say. Many of the fastest piston-engined fighters used radials (Bearcat, Sea Fury, P-47M, F4U-4). In general, the in-line weighted less and produced less drag but they also produced less horsepower.

Fw-190 (not the Dora, that has an Inline with an annular radiator), Corsair, Japanese planes other than the Tony, Beau, Wildcat, Hellcat, many Ju-88 NF variants, La-5/7...

 

[Lightning Guy]

Well, I was pointing out just a few aircraft which were among the very fastest of the war. I never understood why the Germans used a for mounted radiator as it added drag and low-drag was the major advantage to a liquid-cooled engine.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

That is difficult to say. Many of the fastest piston-engined fighters used radials (Bearcat, Sea Fury, P-47M, F4U-4). In general, the in-line weighted less and produced less drag but they also produced less horsepower.

Fw-190 (not the Dora, that has an Inline with an annular radiator), Corsair, Japanese planes other than the Tony, Beau, Wildcat, Hellcat, many Ju-88 NF variants, La-5/7...

what point are you trying to make??

 

[plan_D]

Especially when you put the Wildcat in there.

The Spitfire, Lightning, Mustang all in-line and were some of the BEST planes of the war.

 

[Lightning Guy]

I don't deny that. But the common thought at the start of the war was that a radial-engined fighter couldn't compete with a inline-engined fighter. Clearly that wasn't the case.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

until the mid war years.....................

 

[Stu60H]

I think the best British Naval fighter used during the war was the Fairey Firefly

http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/firefly_wb271_preserved_flying_RNHF.jpg

First flew on December 22nd 1941 (soon after Pearl Harbour was bombed) and was a two-seater naval fighter - it was built under the understanding that (in the Royal Navys opinion at the time) all Navy fighters should have a navigator onboard to navigate for the pilot while at sea (several incidents of pilots becoming disorientated and lost while flying bombing missions and long-range partols in bad weather in combat conditions led to this decision) so the Firefly was no different.
The Firefly became fully operational in October 1943 on board the carrier HMS Indefatigable (the aircraft carrier my grandfather served on was the HMS Implacable - the Indefatigables sister ship) and escorted bombers during their attacks (most notably against the Tirpitz in 1944)
The fireflys were often used to 'scout ahead' to claer enemy fighters from the area before the bombers came through

It was used as a nightfighter in 1943 and often intercepted V1s and Heinkel He111s during raids

whilst stationed in the Pacific in 1945 Fireflys took part in the destruction of an Oil refinery in Sumutra - they had a tremendous operation record whilst fighting in the Pacific proving to be a versatile opponent for the Japanese - operating both day and night as a recon plane or fighter bomber

In June 1945 Fireflies of 1771 Squadron, operating from HMS Implacable, took part in attacks in the Carolinas, while in July 1772 squadron aircraft, from HMS Indefatigable, were flying strikes against shipping and ground targets in the Japanese home islands, becoming the first FAA aircraft to fly over the Japanese mainland. On 24 July, 1945 aircraft from 1772 Squadron became the first British aircraft to fly over Tokyo

They were also used to drop supplies to prisoners of war during these historic trips over Tokyo

It performed well in dogfights despite the Firefly's size and was armed with four 20mm cannons as well as rockets and mines (for the bomber role)

These are its stats:

Speed: 316mph
Ceiling: 28,000ft
Range: 1300miles
Wingspan: 44ft
Length: 37ft 7in
Weight: 14,020lb

It was so successful as a Naval fighter that it continued to be used on Royal Navy carriers during the Korean war

I think this plane was the best naval plane designed by Britain solely for use on carriers (i.e the American planes such as Hellcats and Corsairs don't count! )

My Father served on the HMS Indefatigable as an airframe fitter, before being transferred to Monab II HMS Nabberly in Australia to assemble Hellcats, Corsairs & Avengers for the Pacific fleet. He always said the old stringbags were good for cooling down the beer when crossing the Indian ocean. Apparently they would put a couple of crates of beer in the back of the Swordfish cockpit take off go up to 10 to 15,000 feet for a convoy observation flight and land with ice-cold beer. I have photos of him with Fireflys at Nabberly but he always said the Corsair was the better fighter & the Avenger the better torpedo bomber. There is a good photo of one Firefly that had an undercarriage failure on landing & bent the prop & underside up. The only reason the Royal Navy didn't continue to use the Corsairs & Avengers was that they were on 'Lend Lease' & had to be destroyed at the end of the War. My father said he nearly cried when dozens of aircraft he assembled were pushed of the end of the Carrier just off the Sydney Harbour.
Cheers.

 

[Kevin J]

bronzewhaler82 Wrote


Well lets put it this way , I think most aircraft that Fairey produced were not very good , they were all seriously underpowered , even the much vaunted Fairey Firefly considering it had a Rolls Royce Griffon as it's powerplant , was not quick off the mark , the only aircaft they produced which were any good was the Swordfish , followed by the Albcore which was basically a Swordfish with a bigger engine , and the height of luxury an enclosed cockpit .

If Fairey had built the Fulmar with a Vulture engine that worked and the Firefly with a Sabre engine that worked then both planes would have had a decent enough performance to compete with IJN single engine single seat fighters, but they didn't. Air frames great, engines under powered.

 

[Freebird]

If Fairey had built the Fulmar with a Vulture engine that worked and the Firefly with a Sabre engine that worked then both planes would have had a decent enough performance to compete with IJN single engine single seat fighters, but they didn't. Air frames great, engines under powered.

Neither Fulmar or Firefly was intended to compete with single engine fighters.
Firefly was a very capable dive bomber/attack aircraft, and a far better bomber interceptor than virtually any other DB aircraft.