Hypothetical -- You are the ruler of a third world country

[Sal Monella]

You are the ruler of a land locked third world country in the modern world. For unknown reasons, you can only outfit your air force with prop driven aircraft that actually saw combat in WWII. (That means no matter how few aircraft were deployed, it actually engaged the enemy.)

Which top three aircraft would you choose in the following categories and why?:

Heavy Bomber

Light / Attack Bomber

Fighter-Bomber

Dedicated Air to Air Fighter

 

[mosquitoman]

Lanc, Mossie, Beau and Mustang (for it's range)

 

[plan_D]

Personally, I wouldn't waste money on combat aircraft if I was a Third World Country ruler. They can't feed themselves, let alone fight any kind of dedicated conflict.

If I had to choose though, it would be the Lancaster, Mosquito, P-47 and Spitfire.

Lancaster because it delivers a large load in one trip, much larger than any other bomber of the war besides the B-29. It also takes less crew.

Mosquito because it's fast and effective. Had the lowest sortie:loss ratio of the war, for bombers, (I think) and is cheap and easy to build.

P-47 because it's rugged and deadly. Can deliver a large payload and is cheaper than the P-38.

Spitfire because I don't care for range. Taking a purely defensive stance I'd rather have an interceptor. Plus, being the ruler, I'd want one for myself.

 

[DAVIDICUS]

Heavy Bomber - B-29 Superfortress (Because TLSLA)

Light Bomber / Attack - A-26 Invader (It had a payload of 6,000lbs and could muster 16 forward firing .50 cal.s)

Fighter Bomber - P-47N or F4U-4 (Clearly the best heavy fighters IMHO)

Dedicated Fighter - Not sure ... I'll get back to you.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

The Dominican Republic operated P-51s for years, sounds familiar.

I would go with F4Us, B-26s(Douglas), P-47s and B-17s. Although I think the B-29 would be better, because I am in a third world country, I think something like a 29' would be beyond the capacity of my pilots and maintainers.

Has anyone ever read or subscribed to SAFO?

 

[mosquitoman]

SAFO?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Small Air Forces Observer. They specialize in publishing articles and photos of small and obscure air forces ex. Peruvian SU-22s, Angolan Mig-17s, Botswanian F-5s etc. They also have lots of WWII stories (Philippine P26s, Mexican P-47s, etc.) I think their subscription is $14.00 us a year.

 

[Nonskimmer]

I've seen it before, but never subscribed to it. I've looked through the odd one.

 

[DAVIDICUS]

That's pretty steep. $14.00 a year for a third world air force observer?

Does it come with a basket of chickens?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I think that's 4 or 5 issues. They're usually about 25 pages per issue. Sometimes they have some good stuff if you're into seaplanes of the Estonian Air Force

 

[Glider]

B29 for range, bombload and protection
Mossie for range bombload and flexibility. (PR) that often forgotten role.
Mossie for flexibilty (I like 1000lb internal bomb load)
Meteor III as a fighter. Speed, armament 4 x 20 mkV in the nose and a decent range

 

[Glider]

Apologies, replace the Meteor with a TA152H

 

[cheddar cheese]

Heavy Bomber - B-29

Attack - A-26

Fighter-Bomber - Fw-190F-8

Fighter - P-38L


8)

 

[kiwimac]

Bomber: Piaggio p-108
Attack: Henschel Hs 129
Fighter-Bomber, Fw 190 A8 0r F series
Interceptor, Ta152 / Reggiane Re 2005

Kiwimac

 

[Smokey]

Heavy Bomber: B-29

Light / Attack Bomber: Ju 388

Fighter-Bomber: P-47

Dedicated Air to Air Fighter: Spitfire XIV

 

[BombTaxi]

Heavy Bomber: Lancaster B.III

Light / Attack Bomber: Ar234 Blitz

Fighter - Bomber: Typhoon

Inteceptor: Tempest

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

ok just for the recdord they no longer like to be refered to as "third world countries", they prefer "LEDCs" or "Less Economically Developed Countries".........

but.......

Heavy Bomber- Avro Lancaster Mk.I

light/attack bomber- Mosquito

Fighter bomber- Corsair

Interceptor- Spitfire

 

[evangilder]

Nice list Lanc. I am surprised that you actually selected a non-English made airplane. Impressive!

For me
Bomber: Lancaster (FBJ made a good point about the B-29 being difficult and costly to repair) The load carrying capability is the main reason

Light Attack/Bomber: B-25 Mitchell

Fighter Bomber: Tough call, either the P-47 or the Corsair

Interceptor: F8F Bearcat

 

[Jank]

Don't think the Bearcat ever saw combat.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Bomber: Piaggio p-108
Attack: Henschel Hs 129
Fighter-Bomber, Fw 190 A8 0r F series
Interceptor, Ta152 / Reggiane Re 2005

Kiwimac

Nice! 8)