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The best piston engined fighter of the War was undoubtably the Ta 152H-1..
I'm going to have to say F4U-5 as well.
dreadnought said:Ever, dude, Ever
Are you like 12 years old and into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Something?
One confirmed credit for a MiG, specific confirmation from Communist side unknown. Anyway later that same day, Aug 9 '52, a Sea Fury was hit by a MiG's 37mm shell, belly landed on a UN held island off the Korean coast and was apparently a total loss.This it may be the best of the war, but the Sea Fury must be the best piston fighter ever...downed some Migs in the Korean war with no losses themselves.
The best piston engined fighter of the War was undoubtably the Ta 152H-1..
One confirmed credit for a MiG, specific confirmation from Communist side unknown. Anyway later that same day, Aug 9 '52, a Sea Fury was hit by a MiG's 37mm shell, belly landed on a UN held island off the Korean coast and was apparently a total loss.
The Corsair MiG kill in Korea was by an F4U-4B (BuNo. 62927 to be exact). It was immediately downed by another MiG; that incident is confirmed in a specific Communist account. The straight F4U-5 was little used in combat in Korea, -5N's and -5P's were the standard however for night fighters and recon Corsairs. The -5 had nice paper stats but bugs had crept into some "improvements" in the design and the paper advantages were not so relevant to the Korean War mission. And there weren't enough around to sustain any attrition; so after brief use of straight -5's by one Marine sdn in Korea early on, the USN and USMC standardized on -4/4B for straight fighters in Korea, until the Marines received some new AU-1's (F4U-6) close support planes in 1952.
Anyway I think fluke MiG killing is a weak basis on which to compare prop fighters.
Most of the planes mentioned were very impressive performers; I personally like the P-51H. However WWII showed that you need extensive realworld combat service to see the full value of a plane, all its intangibles. That mainly doesn't exist for the very late war/postwar prop fighters; they all had pretty scant air combat records, or very difficult circumstances (eg. Ta-152).
Joe
Wow! I kinda agree with all JoeB says. I don't have much data on some of these planes so I have to go by gut feelings.
The only data I have shows that the Sea Fury has a ceiling of only 36k ft. and climb rate of only 2777 ft./min at an unknown altitude. Not very impressive. Good speed though, 460 mph max. If it is like the Tempest, it has great low altitude performance.
Like I said earlier, the Ta-152 suffers a bit below 25k. I would hate to give up advantages over the airfields.
Bearcat is probably the best dogfihter in its element. However, it lags in airspeed and ceiling.
So, I have two choices. Both are very fast, with great climb from SL up to ceiling and a ceiling of over 41k ft. One is the P-51H (I'm sure all are surprised I selected this) and one is the F4U-4 (see JoeBs comments of why I did not pick the -5, which is also 300 lbs heavier than the -4). The P-51H is faster from SL to ceiling but the F4U-4 climbs better from SL to ceiling. So, its a toss up. Maybe the F4U-4 because of battlefield experience.
Classic Military Warnings
"Cluster bombing from a B-52 is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground." U.S.A.F literature
Alas, no more Classic Military Warnings!
Above 25k ft, the Ta 152H-1 would reign supreme. Below that there are several aircraft that appear superior to the Ta, F4U-4 or 5, P-51H, probably F8F, Sea Fury, and Tempest II. So, you might have a good time up there, but it could be sporty going up or coming down.
Classic Military Warnings
"If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up." Unkown