Admiral Beez
Captain
Of the straight wing jet fighters, which will beat them all? There's of course the Hawker Sea Hawk and McDonnell F2H Banshee.
Then there's the MiG-9.
Then there's the MiG-9.
Best straight wing jet fighter?
- Thread starter Admiral Beez
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F9F-5 Panther. Shot down 4 Russian Mig-15s in one day during Korean War. Pilot was never given credit as Russians were not in that war, supposedly.
theaviationgeekclub.com
Royce Williams epic dogfight: One F9F Vs Six MiG-15s
One F9F Vs Six MiG-15s: the legendary dogfight that made Royce Williams the top-scoring Naval Aviator of the Korean War
theaviationgeekclub.com
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Thumpalumpacus
Major
special ed
1st Sergeant
- 5,025
- May 13, 2018
Lockheed F-80C also downed MiG-15 and that was when USSR had their WW2 seasoned pilots flying them.
IIRC, one fully confirmed victory in 1951 and possibly another in 1950 - a MiG-15 was damaged in combat with an F-80 and crashed in an emergency landing at its airfield, the pilot was killed. Not very impressive, to be honest.
The Soviets admit two and on different days - November 9 and 18, 1950. And three more MiG-15s on November 18, 1952 - the MiGs were from the 781st IAP of the Pacific Fleet Air Arm, which did not participate in the war.
The MiG-9 suffered from a large number of serious deficiencies and was not improved to an acceptable level of reliability. Much more advanced were the Yak-23 (built in series, transferred to pro-Soviet states) and the Yak-25 (the first with this designation).
What's your basis for judging?
Don't forget the T-33, and besides its reputation as a dog fight trainer, was gunned up and used in many poorly documented brushfire conflicts around the world ... especially SEAsia, Latin America, and Africa.
In Bay of Pigs alone, it likely racked up more combat kills than F-80s, F3Ds, Meteors and especially the F-104 in all their wars, few as they were. (unfortunately, against CIA B-26s, C-46s and sinking two large transport ships.)
Don't forget the T-33, and besides its reputation as a dog fight trainer, was gunned up and used in many poorly documented brushfire conflicts around the world ... especially SEAsia, Latin America, and Africa.
In Bay of Pigs alone, it likely racked up more combat kills than F-80s, F3Ds, Meteors and especially the F-104 in all their wars, few as they were. (unfortunately, against CIA B-26s, C-46s and sinking two large transport ships.)
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buffnut453
Captain
Hawker Sea Hawk is definitely the prettiest. I also like the F3D-2…but not for its looks. Another that hasn't been mentioned yet is the F-89. The Banshee also gets an honourable mention.
TBH, without criteria, it's impossible to judge "best" of anything….so I'm sticking with ones that I like (and I like each for different reasons).
TBH, without criteria, it's impossible to judge "best" of anything….so I'm sticking with ones that I like (and I like each for different reasons).
The Yak-25 was far superior to the T-33 in basic flight characteristics with the exception of range.
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 39,391
- Mar 26, 2007
Dassault Ouragan - Wikipedia
The Ouragan was more of a bomber than a fighter and as a fighter, it was significantly inferior - even with a more powerful engine - to the Yak-25 in terms of flight performance.
Yakovlev Yak-25 (1947)
Yakovlev Yak-25 (1947)
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
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Yak 25 only 1 made. One cannot compare.
But the reason i posted this is that french models are overlooked. Thought i trow in a bit of flavour.
The condition of mass production was not required from the beginning. The Yak-25 is a very rare case for the Soviet aircraft industry, when the prototype in a single copy was much better than the production models (in particular, MiG-9 and Yak-23) in terms of perfection. It might be even better than the MiG-15 in terms of perfection, but significantly inferior to the latter in terms of performance. Serial production of the Yak-25 could have been deployed very quickly - instead of the Yak-23, but it was already clear that the finalization of the MiG-15 is fast, and there was no great sense in the production of the Yak.
I agree that the Ouragan was one of the best straight wing fighters, but not the best one.
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swampyankee
Chief Master Sergeant
- 3,971
- Jun 25, 2013
What is meant by "best?"
In any case, CF-100.
In any case, CF-100.
cammerjeff
Staff Sergeant
I was going to bring up the CF-100 and the Straight wing versions of the F-84 should also be considered IMO. Also the Dassault Ouragan should be on the list. Unlike the CF-100 (of which I am a fan of) both the F-84 and the Ouragan saw combat.
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Admiral Beez
Captain
Would the CF-100 have survived in the Korean War?
And who and why would need heavy interceptors in Korea? They had no chance against the MiGs/Sabres.
In general, it would be worth evaluating front-line fighters, fighter-bombers and air defense interceptors separately.
It is very difficult to evaluate straight-wing aircraft, as they rarely fought against each other, and were usually significantly inferior to more modern swept-wing aircraft. Even rare victories over the latter are in no way indicative of outstanding performance.
The Yak-25 (1947) probably had the highest flight performance among the front-line fighters. But in terms of equipment and armament it was inferior to the Sea Hawk.
The CF-100 was apparently the most advanced straight-wing interceptor.
I'm not sure I can specify the best straight-wing fighter-bomber.
An anecdote I posted way back:
ww2aircraft.net
Mock Combat - CF-100 vs. NATO
From Colonel E. G. 'Irish' Ireland, RCAF: Now the Clunk was never proclaimed to be a day fighter aircraft and its presence in NATO was only to fill the rather glaring gap in all-weather and night air defence capability. Working hours being, as they usually were, an 0800 to 1700 hours affair for...
ww2aircraft.net
