Best Naval Fighter

[Lightning Guy]

Glad to see an actual discussion about WWII aircraft going on. If we are going to allow aircraft designed during WWII but not seeing action (like the F7F) then the winner is the F8F no contest. The A7M might have been a possibility but it still lacked the speed at climb of the F8F.

 

[lesofprimus]

Glad to see u back postin again LG... There have been some good discussions while u were absent/unaccounted for/MIA......

 

[evangilder]

Welcome back, LG. The F8F is a real climber. It will go from a full brake stop to 10,000 feet in 96 seconds! We have one in our museum and it is quite a sight to see it take off and climb. It is quick too. The drawback is that it only carries 2 hours of fuel, so you have to stop often. On ferry flights to air shows, you can land, fuel and just give it some military power to catch up with the rest of the group.

 

[lesofprimus]

LOL.... Too bad our Navy boys didnt have that in Late 1944....

 

[evangilder]

It would have been a real killer, that's for sure. It was designed to get off the deck and go after the Kamikaze's before they got to the ships. I guess that role kind of went out at the end of the war. But it did adapt well in Korea.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Im extremely glad you're back LG - I kinda need your help on convincing the lanc about some things...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

nice new siggy les..........

 

[The Jug Rules!]

OK, lets retry this topic in a different manner..... Lets list the possible Top 5....

Whos got a list???

F6F-5 Hellcat
F4U-4 Corsair
A6M5 Zero
F4F-4 Wildcat
Seafire MkIII

Ummmmm.... Any others that deserve mention???

I still think the F4U-4 Corsair was the Best Naval Fighter....

I've read about one jap plane. I think it was called the Ki-100. It was an improved model of the Hien. It supposedly gave the hellcat and corsair a run for their money.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i fell she shiden deserves a mention.............

 

[lesofprimus]

We are talking about Naval aircraft......

And thanks Lanc..... Seein how my Grandpa was a Black Sheep, it only seems fitting...

 

[cheddar cheese]

I still think the Zero was the best. At least in the early years of the war, it was pretty much untouchable.

 

[lesofprimus]

Yea because tactics and competition were almost non-existant.... The Corsair was a much better aircraft on the whole...

 

[cheddar cheese]

Yeah but I still say Zero...

 

[lesofprimus]

Ok..... Ur with the minority, but then again, someone has to be, for it to be called "The Minority" in the first place...

 

[cheddar cheese]

Good point

I think I been saying the Zero since the beginning anyway aint I...

 

[lesofprimus]

Yea....

 

[Lightning Guy]

Ki-100 was strickly land-based. And so was the Shiden. Yeah I know there was a carrier-based fighter in the works, but it never flew. The list of naval fighters that actually saw service is remarkably short to post a top five list since there were only three countries in the world with carriers . . . and one couldn't develop a true carrier aircraft to save its life.

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

OK, lets retry this topic in a different manner..... Lets list the possible Top 5....

Whos got a list???

F6F-5 Hellcat
F4U-4 Corsair
A6M5 Zero
F4F-4 Wildcat
Seafire MkIII

Ummmmm.... Any others that deserve mention???

I still think the F4U-4 Corsair was the Best Naval Fighter....

I've read about one jap plane. I think it was called the Ki-100. It was an improved model of the Hien. It supposedly gave the hellcat and corsair a run for their money.

Ki-100 - late-war radial engined development of the Ki-61, which is soon to become flyable in PF...

 

[lesofprimus]

LG, for the newer posters, could u re-post which plane u feel is the Bst naval Fighter.....

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

soory, my mistake with the shiden, i've done that before, i just automatically think of naval aircraft when thinking of the japs........