Best radial fighter of '42

[Vincenzo]

What's the best radial (with a radial engine) fighter of '42 and why?
Best in fighter vs fighter mission, only fighter actually fightning in '42.

for memory a list of radial fighters on '42, maybe incomplete. i exclude biplane.
P-35
P-36/Hawk 75
P-43
Vanguard (they flying 20 interception sorties in '42 with no claims)
Wildcat
Buffalo
IAR 80
La-5
Fw 190 (until A-4 variant)
Army Type 1 Fighter "Oscar" (I variant)
Army Type 2 Fighter "Tojo" (I variant)
Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter "Zeke" (until model 32)
Reggiane Re.2000
Fiat G.50
Macchi M.C.200

add
I-16
CW-21
were also some "transition" fighters with radial:
Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter "Claude"
Army Type 97 Fighter "Nate"
Fokker D XXI

 

[davebender]

The F4U doesn't quite make the cut off date as VMF-124 entered combat with the Corsair on 13 Feb 1943. That leaves the Butcher Bird without serious competition during 1942.

 

[HoHun]

Hi Dave,

>The F4U doesn't quite make the cut off date as VMF-124 entered combat with the Corsair on 13 Feb 1943. That leaves the Butcher Bird without serious competition during 1942.

You're probably right, but the Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki is a rather highly performing fighter too.

Might be #2 in 1942, I believe.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Amsel]

Fw-190 and the Macchi M.C.200. Though the M.C. 200 required a very good pilot to master it.

 

[Clay_Allison]

Fw-190 and La-5, IMO. The Lavochkin fighters were good, right up there with the Yaks.

 

[Glider]

Has to be the Fw190 for me.

 

[delcyros]

A6M2 Zeke for me. The Fw-190 was a rare bird by 1942 and still plagued from lots of engine overheating issues, which made it mechanically unreliable. The A6M was aviable in large numbers, mechanically reliable and made a significant impact in aerial warfare over the Pacific theatre.
Not technically better than a Fw-190 but quantity had it´s own quality.

 

[Marcel]

A6M2 Zeke for me. The Fw-190 was a rare bird by 1942 and still plagued from lots of engine overheating issues, which made it mechanically unreliable. The A6M was aviable in large numbers, mechanically reliable and made a significant impact in aerial warfare over the Pacific theatre.
Not technically better than a Fw-190 but quantity had it´s own quality.

I believe there weren't that many Zeke's either. But they made significant impact, so I agree with you.

 

[Vincenzo]

A6M2 Zeke for me. The Fw-190 was a rare bird by 1942 and still plagued from lots of engine overheating issues, which made it mechanically unreliable. The A6M was aviable in large numbers, mechanically reliable and made a significant impact in aerial warfare over the Pacific theatre.
Not technically better than a Fw-190 but quantity had it´s own quality.

1st julliet ~350 Fw 190 on strenght, not many but surely enough

 

[davebender]

A6M fighter production April 1942 to March 1943.
Mitsubishi A6M Reisen (Zero Fighter)
1,689. (this does not included the float version)

Fw-190 fighter production during 1942.
German aircraft production during World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1,850. (this does not include ground attack variants).

 

[HoHun]

Hi again,

>You're probably right, but the Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki is a rather highly performing fighter too.

>Might be #2 in 1942, I believe.

Hm, I hit the books, and the Ki-44-I which appears to have been the relevant version in 1942 did in fact have a less powerful engine with a single-speed supercharger that did not perform quite as well as the more advanced engine of the later Ki-44-II.

Additionally there seems to be some confusion about the flying weight of the Ki-44 variants - one usually finds 2993 kg "maximum take-off weight" for Ki-44-II, which is quite a bit more than the 2764 kg listed by the TAIC manual. Likewise, the Ki-44-I is listed with 2886 kg. This weight increase over my expectations (if I assume that the maximum take-off weight is in fact clean configuration, no exterior loads, full fuel and ammunition) does of course have a negative impact on performance.

Here is a comparison between the Ki-44-I, Ki-44-II and the Mitsubishi A6M3 (which I think is the proper 1943 variant of the Zero).

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[HoHun]

...

 

[Vincenzo]

if you talking of model 22 yes it's for '43 but model 32 was fightning in '42 (both are A6M3 with same sakae engine, with different airframe, the 22 back to old)

 

[Vincenzo]

maybe beautiful have your charts for the others, almost for more advanced models

 

[HoHun]

Hi Vincenzo,

>model 32 was fightning in '42 (both are A6M3 with same sakae engine, with different airframe, the 22 back to old)

You're right of course, I meant to write "the proper model for 1942" and made a typo there.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Vincenzo]

back to type 2 weight, the indicated maybe the weight with bombs?? i think they can laod a 250 kg bomb

 

[tomo pauk]

There were better or equal 'radial' fighters then early Fw-190s, but those appeared in 1943
So, the 190 wins the 1942 by a large margin; the La-5 lacked power and Shoki lacked weapons and power to compete. Other are nice for 1940, but not for 1942.

 

[Clay_Allison]

No love for the Lavochkin fighters at all?

 

[Vincenzo]

There were better or equal 'radial' fighters then early Fw-190s, but those appeared in 1943
So, the 190 wins the 1942 by a large margin; the La-5 lacked power and Shoki lacked weapons and power to compete. Other are nice for 1940, but not for 1942.

For me, but surprises, the competitors are Fw 190, La-5, Shoki and the Zero (it's not bad in HoHun graphs, on that i preferee it on Shoki I)

 

[HoHun]

Hi Vincenzo,

>For me, but surprises, the competitors are Fw 190, La-5, Shoki and the Zero (it's not bad in HoHun graphs, on that i preferee it on Shoki I)

I have now added the La-5 and the F4F-4. I'd say the P-35, P-36 and Buffalo probably are not worth considering for the "best radial in 1942".

Likewise, there is no doubt that the Fw 190A-4 with a speed advantage of more than 50 km/h over the rest is #1

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)