Most Beautiful Aircraft of WW2?
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at6
1st Sergeant
The AT-6 is the most beautiful.
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Yep, they are real beauties.
BarnOwlLover
Staff Sergeant
I do have to admit that I like the Merlin Mustangs overall, the D model especially for appearance and success, the F-82 and P-51H for performance and making it into production, and the F/G models for performance potential and combining the lines of the D and H models.
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
By the way, the radar pod for the 1/48 Hobbycraft F-82G is much too small. I have a book on building Mustang kits that shows how to modify it to the correct size.
Donivanp
Major
Or TRASH THAT PoS "KIT" and start with the new Modelvista kit and live longer!
Elvis
Chief Master Sergeant
planespotting
Airman
- 31
- Apr 16, 2023
There is only one answer, and it's a Spitfire Mk.Vb.
Pretty much any early-model Spitfire is physically perfect - they're not as good once you start modifying the wings; but it's the two 20mm Hispanos that make this one the winner...
Pretty much any early-model Spitfire is physically perfect - they're not as good once you start modifying the wings; but it's the two 20mm Hispanos that make this one the winner...
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
That's the second T-6 to do that at our airport that I know of. They come over here on a winter day when the wind is gusting 20 plus knots at an angle of more than 45 degrees to the runway and say, "No Problemo! Hold My Beer and Watch This!"
And we had a Howard DGA do the same thing.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
That's why when I fly I leave it to the professionals. Don't spill my drink.
at6
1st Sergeant
I still love her even in this condition. A little T L C and she'll purr again.
Admiral Beez
Major
Is there any other aircraft made by Vickers-Supermarine that came close to the beauty of the Spitifre? This is the same firm that made the Nighthawk.
It's too bad Mitchell didn't live into the 1940s, where I'm sure his Attacker, Swift and Scimitar would have been prettier, if not faster.
planespotting
Airman
- 31
- Apr 16, 2023
The Schneider racers were gorgeous, though they're built for straight-and-low and the wing shape's much more straightforward...
Wasn't there a view at the time that they would have done better to just keep the existing wing?
I was going to say "at least we had the P.1"...
And then I remembered what they did to the fuselage to create the production Lightning...
Admiral Beez
Major
True. In March 2022 I visited the British Science Museum in London where I took this photo of the Schneider racer. The hall is a bit crowded with aircraft, though it's neat to see the Spitfire and Schneider racer together.
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Admiral Beez
Major
Who designs a fighter but forgets to include space for the fuel? I'll forgive Petter this one since his Whirlwind, Canberra and Gnat are good 'uns.
Admiral Beez
Major
When I visited the museum I also saw the Armstrong Siddeley Tiger engine. Had this engine concern remained part of Supermarine-Vickers I bet the money, talent and time could have been found to beef up the (or add the omitted) bearing surfaces and create Britain's first twin row, poppet-valve radial engine. That'll show Bristol where the future lays and maybe they'd give Fedden and his sleeve valve diversions the shove.
Though the pushrod tubs look a little dainty.
Though the pushrod tubs look a little dainty.
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planespotting
Airman
- 31
- Apr 16, 2023
No argument, is there?
Petter designed the P.1 for two slender Armstrong-Whitworth Sapphires, with which the prototypes could supercruise at something like Mach 1.5 and had a comparatively decent range, especially with the conformal belly-pod, which apparently (and I'm doing this from memory of something I read years ago) had the accidental area-rule effect of making it even more aerodynamic at transonic speeds than its drag-defying high-wing design already was, thus reducing the power (and fuel) it needed to get up through the sound barrier...
Whatever the precise details, the range issues came when other people insisted on giving the production Lightning afterburning Rolls Royce engines, which required a big draggy fuselage and hideous fuel-consumption; the resulting aircraft was even faster on reheat, but... well, neither so pretty nor as much of an all-rounder...?
Complete agreement on the earlier types, though!
Admiral Beez
Major
$360k will get you one of Petter's Gnats, aka the Sabre Slayer.
As for WW2, there's a dedicated group building from scratch Petter's Whirlwind.
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DBII
Senior Master Sergeant
Toss up between TA125 and the art deco P38 and P39
