If you had an airforce...

[Catch22]

If you had your own airforce, what PROPELLER DRIVEN (because obviously we'd all use 262's) aircraft from WWII would you use in it for the different roles and why?

Fighter: Fw 190
Light/Attack Bomber: Fw 190
Medium Bomber: B-25 Mitchell
Heavy Bomber: B-29
Transport: C-47

Fighter/Light/Attack Bomber: It was a tough choice between the Würger and the Corsair, but I ended up going with the 190 because you could get so much out of one airframe: high altitude fighter, low to medium altitude fighter and ground attack frame, and from a production standpoint because of the many shared components the aircraft would be easy to produce.

Medium Bomber: Once again, the Mitchell is another good multi-role aircraft. Not a really vunerable machine that can deal out a fair amount of damage. Just a good all around plane.

Heavy Bomber: The B-29 could fly higher than anything else at the time as well as carry an enormous bombload. Just another must have.

Transport: C-47. Need I say anything else?

 

[Flyboy2]

Ok
Fighter -51D
Attack/Light Bomber: Mosquito
Medium Bomber: B-25 Mitchell
Heavy: B-29
Cargo: C-47

I think the Mosquito is a great choice for attack because it is extremely versatile and is lightning quick. The Mosquito could double for any other role. Other than that i pretty much agree on everything else.

 

[Kruska]

Well, let's forward the "perfect-dream" Luftwaffe 1944/45

Trainer: Ar396/Buecker181
Liaison: Fi156
Fighter: Ta152/Do335
Attack/Light Bomber: Ar240
Night Fighter: He219/Ta154
Ground Attack: Hs129/Ar240
Medium Bomber: Ju 288
Heavy Bomber: He 274 and shamelessly copy a B-29
Seaplane ASW: Bv222/Do24/Ar196
Cargo light: Ar232/Go244B
Cargo heavy: Ar232B/Ju290
Cargo Super heavy: Me323C/Bv238
Observation Helicopter Flettner Fi282
Transport Helicopter Fa223 Drache (Pave Low III)

Regards
Kruska

 

[drgondog]

If you had your own airforce, what PROPELLER DRIVEN (because obviously we'd all use 262's) aircraft from WWII would you use in it for the different roles and why?

Fighter: Fw 190
Light/Attack Bomber: Fw 190
Medium Bomber: B-25 Mitchell
Heavy Bomber: B-29
Transport: C-47

Fighter/Light/Attack Bomber: It was a tough choice between the Würger and the Corsair, but I ended up going with the 190 because you could get so much out of one airframe: high altitude fighter, low to medium altitude fighter and ground attack frame, and from a production standpoint because of the many shared components the aircraft would be easy to produce.

Too bad the other guy has the navy and can use the F4U for virtually every role - then pick either a high altitude interceptor like the Ta 152 as the Fighter' and the F4U as Light Bomber with extraordinary capability to do so many things

Medium Bomber: Once again, the Mitchell is another good multi-role aircraft. Not a really vunerable machine that can deal out a fair amount of damage. Just a good all around plane.

Heavy Bomber: The B-29 could fly higher than anything else at the time as well as carry an enormous bombload. Just another must have.

Transport: C-47. Need I say anything else?

I probably would have picked a B-26 Marauder or Mosquito or even Ju 88 over the B-25 but all great aircaft.

The ultimate reason for picking the B-26 and F4U would be for many common parts consideration for the R-2800 engine.

I would also pick the C-46 for same reason - R-2800 engines, plus it was so much more capable, despite being a fire hazard occasionally, than the C-47

 

[kool kitty89]

Here's a related thread: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/polls/pick-6-c-build-your-af-beginning-wwii-11731.html

 

[kool kitty89]

And I don't see anything wrong with the F4U compared to the 190, versitility was equal if not better, and altitude performance was a bit better on the F4U-1 on all production 190's up through the D-9 and A-9 with a critical altitude ~3,000 ft higher. (the F4U-4 being significantly better in this department as well)

 

[Soren]

Airsuperiority Fighter: Ta-152H
Fighter-bomber: F4U-4
Night fighter: Do-335A-1 (Do-435)
Ground attack: Hs-129
Reconnaissance: Ju-388L
Medium bomber: Ju-388K
Heavy bomber: He-277
Transport light: C-47
Transport medium: Ar-232B
Transport heavy: Ju-290
Transport super heavy: Me-323
Seaplane: BV-238

 

[Freebird]

If you had your own airforce, what PROPELLER DRIVEN (because obviously we'd all use 262's) aircraft from WWII would you use in it for the different roles and why?

Fighter: Fw 190
Light/Attack Bomber: Fw 190
Medium Bomber: B-25 Mitchell
Heavy Bomber: B-29
Transport: C-47

Fighter/Light/Attack Bomber: It was a tough choice between the Würger and the Corsair, but I ended up going with the 190 because you could get so much out of one airframe: high altitude fighter, low to medium altitude fighter and ground attack frame, and from a production standpoint because of the many shared components the aircraft would be easy to produce.

Medium Bomber: Once again, the Mitchell is another good multi-role aircraft. Not a really vunerable machine that can deal out a fair amount of damage. Just a good all around plane.

Heavy Bomber: The B-29 could fly higher than anything else at the time as well as carry an enormous bombload. Just another must have.

Transport: C-47. Need I say anything else?

Didn't we already have a "best of type" thread?

Anyways I would take the Typhoon over the 190, for its low-level performance and better payload. {depends what year and what version of the 190?}

You should also have a category for Dive bomber, TB and night fighter.

 

[KrazyKraut]

For a disussion like this man hours and materials consumed would be very helpful... something tells me the F4U was a rather expensive beast.

But anyways:

Multirole fighter: Fw-190 A
Ground support: Fw-190 F
High altitude fighter: Fw-190 D / Ta-152

Medium bomber: B-25
Heavy Bomber: B-24
Naval Patrol: PB4Y Privateer

Medium transport: C-47
Heavy Transport: B-24

Recon: Fw-189

That's 5 planes for a pretty broad spectrum.

 

[Kruska]

Airsuperiority Fighter: Ta-152H
Fighter-bomber: F4U-4
Night fighter: Do-335A-1 (Do-435)
Ground attack: Hs-129
Reconnaissance: Ju-388L
Medium bomber: Ju-388K
Heavy bomber: He-277
Transport light: C-47
Transport medium: Ar-232B
Transport heavy: Ju-290
Transport super heavy: Me-323
Seaplane: BV-238

Hello Soren,

sounds good as well - we are actually very close, but why would you place a C-47 instead of the Ar232/Go244B? (Rear Cargo Ramp).

Regards
Kruska

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Lets see:

Fighter - Focke Wulf Ta-152H
Interceptor - Focke Fulf Fw 190A-8
Heavy Bomber - Boeing B-29
Medium Bomber - Junkers Ju 88
Light Bomber - Heinkel He 215
Night Fighter - de Havilland Mosquito NF.30
Ground Attack - Henschel Hs-129
Dive Bomber - SBD Dauntless
Trainer - T-6 Texan
Transport - C-47 Skytrain
Carrier Fighter - F4U Corsair
Carrier Dive Bomber - SBD Dauntless
Carrier Torpedo Bomber - TBF Avenger
Recon - de Havilland Mosquito PR.XVI
Seaplane - Dornier Do-24

 

[Watanbe]

Fighter: Fw 190
Light/Attack Bomber: Mosquito
Medium Bomber: B25/JU88
Heavy Bomber: B-29
Transport: C-47
Night Fighter: Mosquito

 

[Watanbe]

How about this for a question?

If you had to base your airforce around one plane, what would it be?

When considering which planes I picked for which roles I thought of a few roles which the Mossie could of been considered for. Its versatility is amazing.

 

[Catch22]

I didn't even think of the navy for some reason...

I'd pick the Corsair for my fighter and Avenger for torpedo bomber.

 

[Glider]

Lets try

Fighter - Focke Wulf Ta-152H
Interceptor - Spitfire
Heavy Bomber - Boeing B-29
Medium Bomber - Do 217
Light Bomber - Mossie
Night Fighter - de Havilland Mosquito NF.30
Ground Attack - Fw 190 F
Dive Bomber - Yokosuka D4Y4
Trainer - T-6 Texan
Transport - C-47 Skytrain
Carrier Fighter - F4U Corsair
Carrier Dive Bomber - Yokosuka D4Y4
Carrier Torpedo Bomber - Aichi B7A
Recon - de Havilland Mosquito PR.XVI

 

[buzzard]

Fighter : P-51D (Cheap, capable, RANGE!!)
Nightfighter: Mosquito NF.30
Ground Attack: P-61
Dive Bomber: Yokasuka D4Y4 'Judy'
Medium Bomber: A-26
Heavy Bomber: B-29
Recon: Lockheed F-5 (Gotta have a Lightning!)
Liason: Fi156 Storch
Transport: C-54

Navy

Fighter: F4U-4
Torpedo Bomber/ASW: TBF
Dive-Bomber: Judy again
Long Range Patrol/ASW : PB4Y

If I was going to build my airforce around one plane, I'd go for the P-38 or the Do335. As for a one type Navy: F4U-4

JL

 

[tomo pauk]

let's avoid mixing apples oranges, so I'd divide the dream airforce in 2: those that are available in 1940, and ones from 1st jan. 1943.
So, the earlies:

-fighter: Spitfire
-ground attack: A-20
-medium bomber: Ju-88
-heavy bomber: ??
-transport: C-47
-night fighter: Bristol Blenheim

and the 'late' ones:
-fighter: F-4U
-ground attack: A-20G
-medium bomber: Mosquito (also the NF)
-heavy bomber: Avro Lancaster
-transport: Curtiss Commando

 

[Soren]

Hello Soren,

sounds good as well - we are actually very close, but why would you place a C-47 instead of the Ar232/Go244B? (Rear Cargo Ramp).

Regards
Kruska

The Ar-232B is a medium transport a/c, that's why.

Now if I had to choose between the two I'd always choose the Ar-232B ofcourse, as it was revolutionary for its time.

As for why I didn't choose the Go244, well it was far too slow for its role and it couldn't handle near as large a load as the Ar-232B.

Anyway let me reason all my choices:

Airsuperiority fighter: Focke Wulf Ta-152H (Reason: The best piston engined fighter of WW2, easily outperforms any Allied fighter)
Fighter bomber: Vought F4U-4 Corsair (Reason: Is similar to the Fw190 in capability but has the added benefit of being carrier capable)
Night fighter: Do-335A-1 (Do-435) (Reason: Fastest flying best armed nightfighter)
Recon: Junkers Ju-388L (Reason: Highest flying reconnaissance prop job of WW2)
Ground attack: Henschel Hs-129 (Reason: Most stable, best armoured armed ground attack a/c of the war)
Medium bomber: Junkers Ju-388K (Reason: Highest fastest flying medium bomber of WW2 with a bomb load of 3,000 kg)
Heavy bomber: Heinkel He-277 (Reason: Highest flying heavy bomber of WW2)
Light transport: Curtiss C-47 (Reason: One of the most dependable light transport a/c of the war and faster than the Ju-52)
Medium transport: Arado Ar-232B (Reason: Most advanced, most capable and best transport a/c of WW2)
Heavy transport: Junkers Ju-290 390 (Reason: One of the largest load carrying capabilities of any transport a/c of WW2, high speed, loading ramp.)
Super heavy transport: Messerschmitt Me-323 (Reason: Absolute highest load carrying capability of any a/c of WW2)

 

[kool kitty89]

buzzard,

The B-17 would fit for the "earlies" maiden flight of the prototype in mid 1935. The pre-production a/c (YB-17's) were delivered in 1938, and the turbocharged B-17A in Jan 1939. And the first operational production a/c, B-17B, began deliveries in mid '39.

In late 1937, the Air Corps ordered ten more aircraft, designated B-17B and, soon after, another 29.[26] Improved with larger flaps, rudder and Plexiglas nose, the B-17Bs were delivered between July 1939 and March 1940. They equipped two bombardment groups, one on each U.S. coast.

Early production:

Model 299 (1) 28 July 1935

YB-17 (13) 2 December 1936

YB-17A (1) 29 April 1938. (later redesignated B-17A)

B-17B (39) 27 June 1939

B-17C (38 ) 21 July 1940

B-17D (42) 3 February 1941

B-17E (512) 5 September 1941

And that time period concept is a point I've been meaning to make on this subject.
It's not really fair to pick a/c for the entire war that weren't, or couldnt have been, there until near the end, which is also why progressively developing a/c that remain competitive are particularly attractive, moreso with versitility. (Spitfire, 109, and particularly 190)

And you could get by with a "what if" as long as the a/c prototype flew early enough to be available in time if more pressure/priorety/attention had been given, F4U for example. It could have been in service before the US entered the war, particularly if adapted as a land based version.

 

[buzzard]

KK89,

Geeez...waddaya pickin' on me for? It's cuz I'm Canadian, isn't it? I did throw in the P-61 as my ground attack choice just to stir things up, but otherwise I was only doin' what everyone else was doing. How come I gotta be the one stuck with the old stuff?

Just kiddin', Kool Kitty...I'm happy to play by yer rules, but I gotta think about it a bit first.

JL