March until October of 1940: fighters' ranking

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

I nominate the Blackburn Roc as the best fighter of WW2!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I nominate the Blackburn Roc as the best fighter of WW2!

I think there's a Groundhog Expert who'd like a word with you ...

<grabs helmet, dives for slit-trench>

 

[Shortround6]

I'd certainly trade all of the Defiants and Blackburn Rocs, Vought Vindicators and Airacudas for a few more Whirlwinds.

well, since the only started making Whirlwinds after they stopped making Rocs, Vindicators and Airacudas (mostly) it wasn't going to change anything.

I am a Whirlwind fanboy and while I don't believe you were ever going to get a a pair of Merlins in it, any more than you could put a Pair of Allisons in a P-40 I sure think the Whirlwind got a bum deal and some not very good accounting.
"Nigel, that Whirlwind using two 12 cylinder engines and weighing 8,000lbs tare weight is too expensive, what can we replace it with?"
"Well, Algernon, how about we use one 24 cylinder engine in an 8,000lb tare weight aircraft, that should save oodles of money"

 

[SaparotRob]

I nominate the Blackburn Roc as the best fighter of WW2!

Buffalo.

 

[Shortround6]

Buffalo.

The Scourge of the Sudan.................The Gloster Gauntlet!

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

The most underrated BEAST in the French arsenal, the Caudron 714! I have it on good authority that one of these shot down six F-15s over the Bekaa Valley in Syria in 1983, but it was covered up. Definitely the best fighter of WW2... or any war.

 

[Shortround6]

You are confusing it with the Christmas Bullet

A sure contender for anybody's best/worst list.

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

You are confusing it with the Christmas Bullet
View attachment 664913
A sure contender for anybody's best/worst list.

Magnificent! Surely this is a contender to fly alongside France's greatest "escort fighter" - the graceful Amiot 143

These of course would love to escort their 'sister by another mister', the LWS-6 / PZL.30 "Zbur"

Separated at birth?

 

[SaparotRob]

I love the Amiot 143. The employee lounge downstairs was a great idea.

 

[pbehn]

I love the Amiot 143. The employee lounge downstairs was a great idea.

Part of it is upside down, but I cant figure out which part.

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

You laugh, but let me tell you, the English can't even conceive of a proper Salade and there are never any kind of fresh ingredients onboard a Halifax. The Germans with their crude schnitzels would be simply intimidated by the Foix Gras. The Italians have their pasta, and who can deny it's good? But there simply isn't room or facilities in a Savoia 79 to make a proper Daube Provençal. And we all know that after a taxing escort mission, you need to relax properly with a dish that yes has noodles but also a rich sauce that you can only cook in a daubière.

Everyone says their wine is "as good as" or "better than" the wine served in the employee lounge of the Amiot 143, but that's just like everybody claims they have more oil than Saudi Arabia. It's never true.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

You laugh, but let me tell you, the English can't even conceive of a proper Salade and there are never any kind of fresh ingredients onboard a Halifax. The Germans with their crude schnitzels would be simply intimidated by the Foix Gras. The Italians have their pasta, and who can deny it's good? But there simply isn't room or facilities in a Savoia 79 to make a proper Daube Provençal. And we all know that after a taxing escort mission, you need to relax properly with a dish that yes has noodles but also a rich sauce that you can only cook in a daubière.

Everyone says their wine is "as good as" or "better than" the wine served in the employee lounge of the Amiot 143, but that's just like everybody claims they have more oil than Saudi Arabia. It's never true.

It's like the upper deck of a 747, on the lower deck! All it needs is a sauna.

 

[Greg Boeser]

A bathing apparatus on a French plane?

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

There is a bidet in the bathroom, I can tell you that Mr. "pantalon puant"

 

[Greg Boeser]

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

Don't get me started on the 'food' in a B-17. They make the British look like gourmands....

 

[Greg Boeser]

Uhh. The covered basin in the aft fuselage is NOT a soup tureen.

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

I believe this the the interior view of the employee lounge inside the Amiot 143. You can talk all you like about horsepower and machine guns, fuel and bomb load, but how many michelin stars does your flying lounge rate?

 

[Jagdflieger]

I never read or heard form Luftwaffe veterans that they feared the Hurricane quite the contra actually - but the Spitfire was seen as equal to the Bf109 and offering a clear advantage
in regards to the loitering time.
Off course radar helped tremendously to enhance both the Hurricanes and Spitfires presence. Without it the RAF could never have managed to send appropriate numbers of their
own aircraft's to engage/concentrate towards any Luftwaffe conducted attack.
Due to being condemned to flying close escort in the 2nd stage of the BoB, it didn't matter for a Bf109 pilot by what RAF aircraft he was attacked by.
Same goes for the loitering time - once the Bf109 pilot had to turn back he couldn't engage what ever RAF aircraft he saw or ran into.

So the best air-fighter related system from March - October 1940 was the RAF's non engine Radar - with the Spitfire and Bf109 being overall on equal fighter terms.

Regards
Jagdflieger

 

[pbehn]

I never read or heard form Luftwaffe veterans that they feared the Hurricane quite the contra actually - but the Spitfire was seen as equal to the Bf109

Since the Hurricane shot down more than the Spitfire in the BoB maybe they were a little misguided in their belief.