Best tank killer aircraft of WW2 Part I

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes and mine is that i'd rather be in a hurricane Mk.IID, ntohing you can do about ym opinion, nothing i can do about yours..........

 

[cheddar cheese]

Like DerAdler, id have to go with the Fw-190A...

 

[lesofprimus]

So would i......

 

[cheddar cheese]

It makes more sense than a Hurri MkIID anyway...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the hurricane comments were just about what we'd rather be in for tank busting, it had little to do with the topic.............

 

[cheddar cheese]

There must be reasons why you'd rather be in it though...

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Its British thats why, correct Lanc? As I said I would want to be in a Fw-190A, pretty much for the same reasons as Lunatic would want to be in a Corsair. You have the ability to defend yourself after expending your tank ordinance. And hey Lanc when you go down in enemy territory, your first thought is not to die gloriously for queen and country, its to evade and survive.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Or take your cyanide pill if you get captured..

 

[Anonymous]

Its British thats why, correct Lanc? As I said I would want to be in a Fw-190A, pretty much for the same reasons as Lunatic would want to be in a Corsair. You have the ability to defend yourself after expending your tank ordinance. And hey Lanc when you go down in enemy territory, your first thought is not to die gloriously for queen and country, its to evade and survive.

Yep. Which I why I like the Corsair - it's the fastest plane with the best dogfighting ability and armor, and it could carry two large napalms. Napalm is clearly the weapon of choice if you're attacking tanks - nothing else (in the WWII/Korea timeframe) compares.

BTW: wouldn't you want the FW190F-8 for ground attack? The low altitude supercharger setup and additional armor makes it the better choice I think.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I would go with any Fw-190 except the pure fighter varients or the torpedo or pr varients. The Corsair is a good choice as well as the P-47 and the Typhoon I would think.

 

[Anonymous]

I would go with any Fw-190 except the pure fighter varients or the torpedo or pr varients. The Corsair is a good choice as well as the P-47 and the Typhoon I would think.

P-47 could only carry one napalm tank, and it was not as tough as the Corsair.

As far as I know, the British did not use Napalm.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[Medvedya]

This is from the Bomber Command campaign diary dated April and May 1945.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/apr45.html

18/19 April 1945

1 Mosquito of No 141 Squadron was lost while carrying out a napalm attack on an airfield in Northern Germany; this was a new form of weapon being used by the Mosquito squadrons of No 100 Group.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess the British did use Napalm.

Do you know if the Tempest or Typhoon delivered it?

Thanks,

=S=

Lunatic

 

[Medvedya]

Looks like just the Tempest and Mosquito did. I would think this was becuase the RAF only took up the use of napalm in the dog end of the war.

Heres the site I got the stats from - it's in French though.

http://www.histoiredumonde.net/article.php3?id_article=347

 

[lesofprimus]

Hmmmm, sounds like the beginnings of a new Poll question......

Best Tank-Busting Fighter/Bomber........ But true Platform Fighters, not the IL2.........

Options include?????
F4U-4 Napalm
Hurricane Mk IID 20mm vickers 'S'
Fw-190F-3/R3 with 30mm Gondola Mk103 cannon
Fw-190F-8 Panzerblitz I 88mm Launch Tubes

Any others to include in the poll?????

 

[Erich]

side note: P-61A's on the 422nd and 425th nfs used Napalm on crossroads in Germany during 1945

 

[Lightning Guy]

I had not heard of napalm being used in Europe. I know it received heavy use in the Pacific and vitually every fighter-bomber available was used to deliver it there.

 

[Anonymous]

I had not heard of napalm being used in Europe. I know it received heavy use in the Pacific and vitually every fighter-bomber available was used to deliver it there.

I posted earlier in this thread on this very topic. Napalm was actually used in the ETO first, and surprisingly more than people are aware. It was just not so publicized. It seems it was much more palatable to the American public to be roasting Japanese than Europeans with the stuff.

The first use of napalm, contrary to many sources, was on July 17, 1944 when US P-38s attacked a fuel depot at Coutances. Napalm was used for the first time in the PTO on July 23, 1944, against the Japanese on Tinian, which is often mis-reported as the first use of Napalm. On Sept 13 1944, P-47 Thunderbolts of the U.S. 406th Fighter-Bomber Group used napalm to destroy a good part of the German 12th Panzer Brigade near Dompaire France. P-47's of the 358th FG of the XIX TAC, 9th AAF, dropped napalm in the Driant area (one of 6 old forts near Metz, France?), on Oct 3, 1944.
Napalm was used in the Battle of the Bulge, on Dec. 24, 1944, by the 405 Fighter Group which flew 8 sorties that day.

Napalm was definitely used in the ETO. Patton's Third Army air support dropped 17,486 tons of bombs, 3,205 napalm tanks, and launched 4,599 rockets, all in the ETO. And they were not the only unit using napalm.

However, by far the biggest use of Napalm was by heavy bombers. The RAF especially used it to fire bomb Dresden and other German cities. On the night of March 9, 1945, 279 B-29's dropped 1665 tons of napalm on Tokyo killing an estimated ~84000 Japanese and seriously injuring another 41000, more than Hiroshima or Nagasaki!

It should also be noted that the Germans used "oil bombs" on Allied and Soviet troops, I believe starting in 1943, possibly earlier. They also dropped such bombs on London during the Blitz. These were not as nasty as napalm, but the intent was the same. They opened the door to the use of such a nasty weapon and reaped the whirlwind for doing so. Had they not used such weapons, I seriously doubt the Allies would have either.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like just the Tempest and Mosquito did. I would think this was becuase the RAF only took up the use of napalm in the dog end of the war.

Heres the site I got the stats from - it's in French though.

http://www.histoiredumonde.net/article.php3?id_article=347

That just says they could carry it. Tempests are often listed as having been able to carry rockets, but during WWII they were not equiped to do so. After the war they were modified to have rocket capability.

I'm not sure if there was anything special to be able to deliver napalm, I think there was some kind of special fuse puller involved.

We need some definative statement that napalm was really used by the Tempest in WWII.

The RAF, in particular Bomber Command, was a very heavy user of Napalm during WWII. They just favored dropping it on cities from heavy bombers at night. It was the primary "incendiary" bomb in 1944, and was used to obliterate Dresden and other German cities.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[plan_D]

I've never heard that the RAF used Napalm on Dresden. I heard incendriay, which generally doesn't refer to napalm.