MOST OVERRATED AIRCRAFT OF WWII (1 Viewer)

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

And that is what I am getting at. Udet claims the Stuka was the greatest but the Il-2 was complete crap. I am not a Il-2 fan and I think the Il-2 was overated however just as much as the Stuka. The Stuka was just as much of a sitting duck as the Il-2. I dont understand how you can not see the Udet.

Udet you also claim the Spit was overated however if you are going to claim this then you have to realize the 109 was just as overated and I would not put the 109 in the overated catagory and neither would I put the Spitfire in this cattagory. Both were great planes and did a great job.

I will concede now on the Zero and will rather classify it as outclassed and not overated.

However the Stuka was deffinatly overated. It did a great job in the beginning but just like the Il-2, Udet it was a sittind duck and an easy target.

 

[Kongo Otto]

Most overrated WW2 airplanes:
Brewster Buffalo
Fairey Battle
Boulton-Paul Defiant
Vultee Vengeance
SBU-2 Vindicator
Blackburn Roc

 

[cheddar cheese]

OVERrated?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yeah CC, you know, maybe we aren't giving the roc enough credit

 

[cheddar cheese]

No, Over rated means giving it too much credit

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

that's what i meant ............

 

[cheddar cheese]

Maybe saying it was the worst plane of the war just isnt hard enough...worst plane of all time?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but how can it be, it's not french..........

 

[BombTaxi]

Most overrated WW2 airplanes:
Brewster Buffalo
Fairey Battle
Boulton-Paul Defiant

These three weren't over-rated at all. If anything, they are under-rated!

Ok,ok I know that sounds totally crazy, but think of it this way. The Buffalo, although slaughtered in the hands of the RAF and NEIAF, was not just a sacrificial lamb. A number of kills were scored against the 'invincible' Zero by Buffalo pilots. The B-239 (a Buffalo derivative) was a successful fighter in the Baltic until 1943. In fact, a Finnish B-239 holds the record for the most air-to-air kills ever made by a single airframe - 73 with three different pilots IIRC. Considering that by the Continuation War, the Russians were introducing modern MiG and Yak fighters, this would seem to suggest that the Buffalo wasn't that bad an airframe.

The Battle was out-classed from the start. That makes it even more amazing that it did the damage it did in France. Im not going to pretend it saved the BEF or anything like that, because it didnt. However, the strikes which cost so many Battles did hold the Germans up - and any time bought for the BEF during the retreat to Dunkirk was precious.

The Defiant was actually quite a successful dayfighter until the Germans got over the novelty value of it. It snared a fair few 109s, and against the 110s and bombers, it functioned much as expected - the pilot maneuvered into position, and the four tightly spaced .303s shredded the hapless victim. In fact, the Defiants greatest advantage was that it didnt have to attack bombers from the two most dangerous angles, ahead and astern. It just snuggled up alongside and let rip...on most German bombers of the time, beam armament was non-existent, so there was nothing they could do to defend themselves.
After the jagdgeschwader got over the initial shock of meeting the Defiant, they were able to reassess the situation. They improved thier aircraft recognition, worked out new responses to the threat, and the Defiant died much the same kind of conceptual death as the Bf110 had over England.
Like the 110, the Defiant became a nightfighter. Being single-engined and having no radar, it wasnt as much of a success as its larger, radar equipped adversary. However, it was, with the Hurricane, a vitally important stopgap until the Beaufighter and Mossie arrived in signifiacant numbers to give the nightfighters the upper hand against the later episodes of the Blitz.

So, if anything, these three aircraft should, IMHO, be found in the 'Most UNDER-RATED Aircraft of WW2' thread 8)

 

[plan_D]

Modern MiG fighters? The MiG-3!?! That was a dump aircraft. Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Dont apologise, its true

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I think the Me-110 was a lousy aircraft until it was used as a night fighter. I think as a night fighter it did just fine.

 

[mosquitoman]

Yes, but when it got intercepted either day or night it was mincemeat 90% of the time

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

It was not very impressive in maneuaverability that is for sure and she was not very fast compared to her adversaries so yes she was pretty ate up most of the time.

 

[MildExplosion]

Me-262. While yes indeed, it was the first combat operational jet fighter, it had far too many technical flaws, and was too little too late to have any effect on the war.

 

[johnbr]

Me the Me-262 needed the he-30/oo6 engine in it.

 

[Peter Gunn]

Wow, did you guys really just resurrect an eleven year old thread?

 

[Shortround6]

it's not dead until it has a wooden stake through it's heart

 

[Peter Gunn]

it's not dead until it has a wooden stake through it's heart

Good point!

 

[grampi]

P-51 - I think the Corsair was superior. Just ask Capt. Fernando Soto of the HAF - He shot down a Mustang During the Soccer War, 1969

Put that same Corsair driver up against a P-51H and he would've gotten waxed...