Best Naval Fighter

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Yay!
 
Well, the F8F Bearcat was a little late in WWII but still should be considered as one of the premier naval fighters with its speed and maneuverability.

If it wasn't for the Hellcat, our Navy wouldn't be able to compete with the Zero's.

Speaking of the Zero's, the A6M5 Reisen was, without a doubt, one of the best fighters in WWII...period. Thank heavens for the Corsair and Bearcat. Otherwise, where would we have been?
 
lesofprimus said:
The tactics didnt exist when the Wildcat was first flown into combat.... And the Wildcat held its own against the Japanese onslaught during the first parts of the war..... Joe Foss started out in them prior to going to the P-38....
Click to expand...

Sure the Wildcat did well...it had to since it was pretty much the only thing we had to compete. Those tactics that were learned, coupled with the Hellcat's power and better maneuverability, gave the Zero's all they could handle.
 
Best naval plane to see action was the F4U-4 Corsair. The F8F was the best of the era but it didn't see action so I am discounting it.

The idea of using speed, dive, and teamwork existed during the reign of the Wildcat. Look at what Thach was doing at Midway as an example.

And I don't think Joe Foss went to P-38s.
 
Thank you. The Wildcat was a good fighter and it "held the fort" quite capably for the first year and a half but it was clearly playing second fiddle to the other aircraft named.

On a side note, the minor (in terms of numbers) A6M8 was definitely a better plane than the A6M5.
 
some very good points there, a very nice discussion, sorry i wasn't on last night, seriously, vomit flying round everywhere....................
 
The Zero was beat as soon as the captured A6M2 was tested in San Diego. It had many flaws which were easily exploited. It reigned supreme early in the war before those flaws were discovered, but after that point, the F4F and P-40 could at least hold their own with it, against the F4U, F6F, P-38, P-51, or P-47 it barely stood a chance.

The Ki-100 was a decent plane but again too slow to fight effectively against the US planes. The best Japanese plane of WWII was pretty clearly the Ki-84 "Frank", followed by the N1K2 "George" and the J2M "Jack". All of these planes were competitive with the Hellcat, but not the P-38, P-51, or F4U - they simply were not fast enough.

=S=

Lunatic
 
The Ki-100 had a top speed of 360 mph at 20,000 feet. The Ki-61 was faster at 380 mph at 20,000 feet. This made them somewhat competative with the Hellcat which did 380 mph at 23,500 feet, but still left them quite outclassed by the 400+ mph class F4U, P-38, P-51, and P-47.

Climb rates were not impressive on this plane, it reached ~16,500 feet in about 7 minutes. The P-47D-RE1 (no water injection or paddle prop) reached 15,000 feet in 7 minutes.

Like most earlier war Japanese planes, it lacked any significant armor and was easily killed if hit. It was certainly a foe to be contended with in 1943, but by 1944 it was seriously outmatched.

=S=

Lunatic
 
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