Favourite or best 9-cylinder radial single-engine fighters of WW2? (1 Viewer)

[YavorD]

Loire 46 C1 powerplant is Gnôme et Rhône 14 Kfs
Notice descriptive et d'utilisation de l'avion Loire, type 46c1, moteur Gnôme-et-Rhône 880 CV, type 14 Kfs : Approuvée par D.M. n° 1703-2/M.A.M. 3 du 3 mai 1938

 

[MIflyer]

And good enough to mix it with the Luftwaffe over Norway in 1945.

And do CAS for Operation Dragoon over southern France in 1944.

 

[MIflyer]

Grumman F3F-2/-3 w/R-1820

Nice Picture!

Here is another one.

 

[J.D.]

Were there no Italian or German nine-cylinder applications beyond transports, recon and bombers?

Would you consider the Hs-123 a fighter?

 

[swampyankee]

Would you consider the Hs-123 a fighter?

I wouldn't.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Would you consider the Hs-123 a fighter?

I was thinking of adding it. The Hs-123 has a higher power to weight ratio than either the Gloster Gladiator and CR.42, and its divebomber origins would give it robust construction.

 

[J.D.]

I wouldn't.

CAS/GA is usually regarded as a fighter mission. The question is whether the OP meant that or whether he was talking about interception/air superiority/escort. In that case, it probably doesn't fit but it depends on your perspective.

 

[swampyankee]

CAS/GA is usually regarded as a fighter mission. The question is whether the OP meant that or whether he was talking about interception/air superiority/escort. In that case, it probably doesn't fit but it depends on your perspective.

It is done by fighter aircraft now. Historically, it was done by a different class of aircraft, e.g., A-10, Skyhawk, Ju87, Il.2. Of course, there was always overlap.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I wouldn't.

Perhaps not. Germany's best 9-cylinder fighter could have been the Arado Ar 68H with its supercharged BMW 132Da nine-cylinder, two additional machine guns in the upper wing and enclosed cockpit. The A6 68H never got past the protoytpe stage, but did lead to the also canceled Arado Ar 197 intended (initially) for the carrier Graf Zeppelin. Either of these 9-cylinder biplane fighters could have competing well against the Gloster Gladiator, CR.42, Avia B-534 or Polikarpov I-153.

Imagine Graf Zeppelin in the Norwegian with Ar. 197s facing off against Sea Gladiators.

 

[Shortround6]

"Favorite or Best"

These are different and I am not going to try to tell anybody what their favorite should be

Best is difficult. Different years with different pilots against different opposition.
JAAF did rather well with the Ki-27 but the Ki-27 was behind in firepower.
Fokker d XXI, Polish PZL P.11, Gladiator and others had moved to 4 guns.
Curtiss Hawk 75s with Wright engines had good paper specs. Wright engines had trouble in service (oil troubles?).

Hs-123, getting good numbers for this plane is hard.
Gross weight with or without bombs?
Top speed clean or with underwing or under fuselage load?
Top speed at what altitude? Green says 212mph at 3940ft (1201 meters?) which is rather strange for an engine that will give max power (aside from take-off) at 2500 meters.
Uses a variable pitch prop but what kind?
Is a Hs-123 really better than a Gladiator?

 

[J.D.]

It doesn't qualify as a favourite or the best (for me) but the Blackburn Skua was a fighter/dive bomber.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It doesn't qualify as a favourite or the best (for me) but the Blackburn Skua was a fighter/dive bomber.

I'd gladly have four squadrons of Skuas at Ceylon on April 9, 1942. That's the date when nine Royal Air Force Bristol Blenheim bombers launched a surprise attack on Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's Japanese carrier fleet near Ceylon. Nagumo seemingly had no lookouts or CAP ready. Throw in forty Skuas diving from above and the Kido Butai will need to postpone Midway.

 

[yulzari]

I'd gladly have four squadrons of Skuas at Ceylon on April 9, 1942. That's the date when nine Royal Air Force Bristol Blenheim bombers launched a surprise attack on Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's Japanese carrier fleet near Ceylon. Nagumo seemingly had no lookouts or CAP ready. Throw in forty Skuas diving from above and the Kido Butai will need to postpone Midway.

Just to be pedantic. The Blackburn Skua was a dive bomber to throw a 500lb Semi Amour Piercing bomb at a ship. Also 320lb of light bombs as well. It also had the range/endurance to see off long range shadowing bombers or recce so had 4 wing mounted .303" machine guns to poke holes in those. Not otherwise á fighter per se, although it acquitted itself honourably when driven to it. The Blackburn Roc was intended as a fighter but with the same guns in a powered turret. In addition it could carry 240lb of light bombs which were used (as were Skuas) against E Boats and land targets in the defence of Dunkirk.

However, to take the post seriously and more relevantly. Rocs were converted to target towers and many Skuas also. Plus being scattered about the world so it would take a few months to gather them up and send them and all their spares and tools etc. by sea to Ceylon but the timescale from the end of 1941 to late spring of 1942 is within reach if Their Lordships chose to do so. Quite possibly it could be a mixed set of Skuas and Rocs to make up the maximum numbers although many Rocs, and Skuas had been delivered finished as target tugs so would need guns and bomb racks, sights, bombs etc. added before being knocked down into crates for shipping on a Cape Horn convoy instead of whatever was actually loaded IOTL. Depending upon the speed of the relevant ships and convoy it is about a six weeks voyage at least and preceded by another four weeks to assemble, refit and deliver to the docks. Plus, say, another two weeks to rebuild them and another week for the aircrew to practice the task and accustom themselves to the types. So three months at best from the decision has to be taken pretty well as soon as Malaya is attacked.

So, it is doable, just, and the aim must be to suggest to the IJN that the western Indian Ocean is a place where they are vulnerable to both sea and air power and dissuade them from repeating closing with Ceylon. Perhaps suggesting the presence of several aircraft carriers. The types being normally carrier borne. Between all of them the damage would be survivable to almost all the ships with perhaps one or two smaller ones sinking. A 'feck off' attack rather than a 'gotcha'.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Just to be pedantic. The Blackburn Skua was a dive bomber. Not otherwise á fighter per se,

No one likes a pedant, but in this case we're all aware. I was expanding upon JD's qualified mention of the Skua above.

 

[FulmenTheFinn]

On the Hs 123 conversation: that aircraft was designed and regarded as a dive bomber (Sturzkampfflugzeug). Contrary to popular belief the German dive bomber doctrine was, to use modern NATO terminology, more in the BAI/AI realm than it was CAS. They did of course do CAS on request as well but that was not their main job. During Case White under 40 Hs 123s were assigned to the Schlachtflieger where they may have flown dedicated CAS sorties, but we do not know how much they did this as opposed to BAI/AI sorties because the records have been lost. I'm less familiar with the later phases of the aircraft, but they were operated by the Schlachtflieger on various fronts at least until 1943. If there was a niche the Hs 123 could've been good at even late in the war, it would've been anti-partisan operations. IIRC some were used in that capacity.



As for the OP's question, my favourite's not hard to guess; it's in my avatar.