drgondog
Major
especially for ETO escort
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I feel the need for speed. I would take the P-47 for its speed if nothing else over the F6F.
especially for ETO escort
With my preliminary data I would select the P-47D-25 over the F6F-5, both contemporaries. At SL, both aircraft have similar airspeed and climb. As altitude increases, the P-47 exhibits an increasing advantage in both air speed and climb, at 10k, P-47 airspeed is 395 mph to 375 mph for the F6F, climb for the P-47 is 3260 ft/min to the F6F's 2800 ft/min. The advantage increases as the altitude goes up. Add to that a better diving speed and faster roll rate, and the P-47 just has more tools to work with.
I always found it interesting that the P-47 was so much faster at 10K than the F6F. The P-47 has the weight of the turbosupercharging system but I guess its bigger 4 bladed prop made the difference.
Gentlemen,
This is a tough call as both were war winning aircraft! The P-47 does not get it due for its early escort work in Europe as it is a fact that most of the skilled German pilots were killed by P-47s(and P-38s) before the Mustang came on the scene as the lead escort and air superiority aircraft.
Easy to say - hard to prove.
Facts/sources on experten and skilled pilots KIA by P-47 and P-38 prior to say March 1944? then afterwards to make your point? March BTW was the last decent month by P-47 groups in comparison with the very few P-51 Groups.
Only the 56th FG significantly distinguished itself in the P-47. Nobody else did particularly well with it. The P-38 record was far worse. The 354th/357th/355th/352nd/4th - all scored much more in the 51 and particularly in the Feb-May timeframe when the LW was seriously defeated in central and east germany.
The P-51s faced a less well trained German pilot many of which were easy kills.
Back to the 'proof thing - particularly when the LW was making massive transfers from Eastern Front in Winter/Spring 1944 to try to shore up luftflotte Reich. Your assumption is unfounded, primarily because only JG26 and JG2 was opposing the 8th AF in P-47 range (and Spit). You want to postulate that a.) the P-47s wiped out both of these great units and further wiped out all the experienced pilots coming in as replacements?
You are correct for the entire LW facing all Allied aircraft as the war progressed - but only the 51 was killing them in Central and Eastern Germany/Poland/CZ and Austria. That is where the big battles were.
The 38 was effective in the MTO but only marginal in ETO.
The Jug was the ultimate fighter bomber and could take hits that a Mustang would have crumbled under.
But somehow its effectiveness as an airfield strafer where the 20/40mm coverage peaked was less than the Mustang in context of number of German a/c destroyed on the ground versus the number lost while strafing. Why is that? Ditto P-38 with two engines.
If the P-47 M and N had been introduced in Europe in the same quantity as the Mustang the results would have been the same.
The only problem with that thesis is the war in Europe was over when they were coming out in numbers.
As for the F6F it won the war in the Pacific after the line was held by the F4F and P40. It was the top scorer period and that speaks for itself. Comparing the P-47 and F6F is like comparing two different types of Apples. Both were sturdy, powerful, well armed, and could climb and dive very well. Both represented what was best in US WW2 aviation design. The P-47 was better at high altitude and the F6F at lower. I have to give the edge to the P-47 simply because it was an excellent fighter like the Hellcat but had the edge as a multirole fighter bomber. Neither of these aircraft get their true due as the P-51 and Corsair were sexier and were later developments. The P-47 and F6F won the war and set the stage for the others to be successful. The
P-47N was the ultimate US Fighter of WW2 if both air superiority and ground attack roles are considered.
Back to the nagging proof thing- the F4U-4 and the 51H were great aircraft. Maybe a moderate percentage of increased losses would have occurred on ground support but the 354th FG jumped at the chance to get rid of the Jug and get back into Mustangs.
I answered this based off the question; P-47 vs F6F. And my answer was F6f. I take the question as meaning you vs the other guy. IF I had to choose one and then dogfight the other, I would take the F6F. I think my chances would be slightly better.
If I was supposed to answer as to which was the best aircraft based upon history and what it accomplished, then once again another tough argument, and I am not sure which to pick.
I personally like the P-47 better. But I wouldn't want to dogfight a Hellcat if I didn't have to while flying the Jug.
I have read previously that Turbochargers were outrageously expensive.F6F. Empty weight = 9,238 lbs.
$35,000 in 1945
A reasonably effective fighter aircraft for an inexpensive price. The USN equivalent to the Me-109.
P-47. Empty weight = 10,000 lbs (for P-47D).
$85,000 in 1945
The aircraft use similiar quantities of aluminum and have similiar engines. Even the machineguns are similiar. Either the P-47 turbocharger is outrageously expensive or the P-47 airframe is very expensive to manufacture.
"The Cat" was 1 ton lighter comparing all-up weight (15,400 vs 17,500) and had a larger wing. The difference in speed (380 vs 433) is obvious as the Jug was a cleaner machine.
That the P-47 was overshadowed by P-51 is exactly the same with the Hawker Hurricane which had shot down more enemy aircraft than the Spitfire during the Battle of Britain campaign. Spitfire, P-51 as well, just grew to people's hearts.
When it comes to these two aircraft, Hellcat and Thunderbolt, I would go for F-6F Hellcat when we talk about a fighter, while P-47 found its true role as a far-ranging hard-hitting ground-attack aircraft.
Cheers