Brewster F2A Buffalo or P-39 Airacobra?

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Both these planes were considered bad dogfighters by our American pilots.

Maybe in our hands they were, but they still could fight and weren't just Obsolete, Natural Airborne Targets.

Imagine you were on some Pacific Island and the Radars tell you that there are Enemy Boggies aproaching to attack your base, and you were faced with the task of Dogfighting perhaps a Zero, Jack, Tony, Hayate, or Shiden and had no other planes on hand but the Buffalo and the Airacobra, which would you pick to intercept the incoming enemy in the air?

And if you want you could pick the plane would want to fly in the European Theater. There the planes and combat situations would be differant than in the Pacific. They did their best in Finland and Russia.



This is a secret ballot. So don't be scared to say what was the Best out of the Worst of WWII.

Though I am sure the Russians and Finns would disagree!

Me? I voted for the Buff. It's Victory Ratio of 26:1 was higher than the P-39's ratio in the Russian-Finnish war when they both fought each other.

The P-39 did have a good Kill/loss ratio but it still didn't match the amazing Brewster Buffalo which almost beats any WWII fighter kill ratio!

 

[lesofprimus]

U should be model specific in ur poll sw............

 

[book1182]

If your looking at American use then you would have to go with the P-39. It gave the pilots somewhat of a chance. It is also the better known of the two aircraft. If you look at foreign use then I think it becomes a toss up. The Soviets loved the P-39 but the Finish used with good effect the Buffalo. I would go with the P-39 just because I would have liked to have flown one in the ground attack role. That 37mm cannon would have been put to good use with me.

 

[MacArther]

Personally, I'd take a lightened P-39Q, strip it of some armor of course to increase the speed and maneuvering. Heh, I really doubt a Japanese aircraft is going to stand very long under four .50 cals AND a 37mm gun.

 

[loomaluftwaffe]

dude, the Finnish had a different version of the Buffalo, it was the B-239 export version, more agile and with a better power to weight ratio
specify the model

 

[Wildcat]

Lets not forget the Buffalo had a 2:1 kill ratio over the Japs at Singapore and Malaya when flown by the inexperianced pilots of the RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and NEIAF. Not a bad effort in my books!

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Looks like the P-39 is way ahead.

 

[loomaluftwaffe]

Lets not forget the Buffalo had a 2:1 kill ratio over the Japs at Singapore and Malaya when flown by the inexperianced pilots of the RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and NEIAF. Not a bad effort in my books!

the Finns had a (i think) 18:1 kill ratio, the highest kill ratio in the war
using B-239 Buffaloes

 

[elmilitaro]

Sweet.

 

[Wildcat]

Yes the Finns achieved an incredable kill rate with the Buffalo, it just seems to me that alot of people forget or don't know about the efforts and achievements made by the hopelessly outnumbered and out classed pilots at Singapore and Malaya. Not forgetting most of the Jap pilots were veteran's compared to the highly inexperianced defenders.

 

[pbfoot]

gotta vote for the bell aircraft it was built 10 miles away

 

[cheddar cheese]

the Finns had a (i think) 18:1 kill ratio, the highest kill ratio in the war
using B-239 Buffaloes

The kill rate was 26:1...

 

[elmilitaro]

Even sweeter.

 

[helmitsmit]

I vote for the p39 purely on speed, firepower and looks

 

[lonestarman63]

I do not know much history about the F2A except from reading the book from and i cannot spell his name right the ace from japan subor saki i think not sure sorry about the spelling but he recalls in one fight with the buff , fired in a turn took out the buff and said that was that the plane was help less , more less it has been 30 years ago when i read the book , so that is what i base my vote on

 

[PipsPriller]

Lets not forget the Buffalo had a 2:1 kill ratio over the Japs at Singapore and Malaya when flown by the inexperianced pilots of the RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and NEIAF. Not a bad effort in my books!

Where on earth did you get that outrageous figure from? Is it based on claims? In actual fact the F2A suffered a loss rate of 1:1.7 overall, and a 1:3 against the Japanese fighters Ki-27 and Ki-43.

 

[Wildcat]

From the book Buffaloes Over Singapore which includeds a list of enemy aircraft claims and credits as well as Buffalo loses. Plus I believe more Buffaloes were lost due to accidents and general inexperiance by the pilots then due to actual combat. Could you tell me where you got your figures from? This subject interests me and would love to find out more.

 

[PipsPriller]

I thought it may have been either Buffaloes or Bloody Shambles.

Either book are a good source for Buffaloe losses, but then need to be balanced against the loss list contained in the back of Hata and Izawa's 'Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units'.

By the by if you are a lover of the Vultee Vengeance you should get your hands on the book 'Vengeance', by Peter C Smith (if you ahven't already done so). It cover it's history very well, including the RAFF units.

 

[Wildcat]

Yeah I'am aware of the Vengeance book and hopefully will be getting my hands on it soon. Thanks for the added info.

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]