Best WW2 Aircraft Manufacturer/Designer

• Feb 18, 2007

• #21

Civettone

Tech Sergeant

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Oct 7, 2005

London, UK

civettone.wordpress.com

How much during WW2 was Willi Messerschmitt still a designer? I have the impression he was most of all a manager running a big company and more interested in becoming the biggest aircraft designer in Germany than in actually building aircraft to win the war.
It seems as if he only put effort in acquiring new orders. "A new bomber needed? I'll build one! A new high altitude interceptor? Just give me more engineers and I'll have one ready next week! Get the Me 262 in production? Well ... then I need more resources and more engineers ... and perhaps you want to consider the Bf 209? Or the Bf 309? Or maybe the Bf 109H I'm working on? Or hey, I've also got a nice single jet design, the P.1095."

And I simply cannot understand why Tank needed over a year to get the Fw 190D in service (and even then it didn't have the necessary MW 50 system.)

Kris

 

• Feb 19, 2007

• #22

B

bigZ

Senior Airman

545

5

Jan 18, 2007

Civettone said:

And I simply cannot understand why Tank needed over a year to get the Fw 190D in service (and even then it didn't have the necessary MW 50 system.)

Kris

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Neither could Tank. He was held back by the powers that be.

 

• Feb 19, 2007

• #23

Civettone

Tech Sergeant

1,787

39

Oct 7, 2005

London, UK

civettone.wordpress.com

bigZ said:

Neither could Tank. He was held back by the powers that be.

Click to expand...

Care to elaborate?



Kris

 

• Jul 31, 2016

• #24

pinehilljoe

Staff Sergeant

756

594

May 1, 2016

In the US we were lucky to have many legendary Chief Engineers, Heineman, Kelly Johnson, Edgar Schmued, Ed Wells, Rex Beisel, add Sydney Camm from the UK.

From the Biographies I've read of him, Willy was more an entrepenuer than Chief Engineer, more like "Dutch" Kindelberger than Sydney Camm

 

• Jul 31, 2016

• #25

michaelmaltby

Colonel

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Jan 22, 2009

Toronto

Donavan 'Don' Berlin

 

• Jul 31, 2016

• #26

drgondog

Major

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6,291

Jun 28, 2006

Scurry, Texas

Best based on what list of attributes? Spread of excellent (type/multi purpose) aircraft designs and contribution to the war? Best at pivoting design teams to new concepts and combine with world class manufacturing and production?

Absent objective criteria, I 'Like", Messerschmitt, Focke Wulf, North American and Douglas.

Designers? Willy, Tank, Mitchell, Heinemann, Schmeud and Johnson

I am leaving the Russian candidates because I don't have real grasp on the relative innovation contributions as well as I should.

 

• Jul 31, 2016

• #27

S

stona

Major

9,380

3,186

Mar 28, 2009

All good aircraft are designed and built by good teams. Good designers lead those teams. Some of them, like Mitchell, gave credit where it was due; others not so much.
Cheers
Steve

 

• Jul 31, 2016

• #28

pinehilljoe

Staff Sergeant

756

594

May 1, 2016

drgondog said:

I am leaving the Russian candidates because I don't have real grasp on the relative innovation contributions as well as I should.

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I've traveled to Moscow often for business, its hard to discern who the great designers were from the Closed Society of the former Soviet Union. The people I interfaced with held Tupolev in very high respect. Keep in mind he was sent to the Gulag for a period, and designed the Tu-2 while in prison.

 

• Aug 1, 2016

• #29

GregP

Major

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Jul 28, 2003

Chino, California, U.S.A.

I'd have to include Jiro Horikoshi of Mitsubishi, not only for the A6M Zero but also for the J2M Raiden and others.

Might also have to include Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev and Semyon Lavochkin. Their designs seriously helped to win the war. Mikoyan and Gurevich designed some planes, but not with the WW2 impact of Yakovlev's and Lavochkin's design. Their major impact was post-WWII.

 

• Aug 8, 2016

• #30

V

V-1710

Airman 1st Class

185

5

Nov 8, 2005

So many very good designers (has anyone mentioned Alexander Kartveli yet?) but one does stand out, particularly considering his later accomplishments. Kelly Johnson.

The question of manufacturer is a little more difficult, as many organizations only produced one really outstanding aircraft. Those that consistently produced exceptional designs would include (in no particular order) Lockheed, Boeing, Douglas, North American, Avro, Hawker, MiG, Tupelov, Messerschmitt......

 

Last edited: Aug 8, 2016