MOST UNDERRATED AIRCRAFT OF WWII?

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No such luck (88 mm stopping armoured breakthroughs) in Poland, in Scandinavia, in Low Countries, in Balkans, even in Russia. In Arras, the 105 mm was also used against British tanks.
 
Well, I believe they were used in France and, they certainly did in North Africa and in Normandy a couple of times. Halfaya Pass? Faid? 1st El Alamein? Goodwood?

I think a few times in Russia too right? The famous KV-1 that broke through at Raseiniai in 1941 was disabled by an 88, though finished off with grenades.

I do think the Ju-87 was more valuable overall though.
 
GregP said:
For generally underrated, how about the FFVS J-22?

Everything I've read says it was basically a Swedish FM-2.
Click to expand...

Great little aircraft. Probably one of the cleanest airframe designs of the war. I've always thought of it as an 80% scale FW-190.

Reports from pilots were that it was very easy to fly, although cockpit instrumentation was minimal making poor weather flying rather difficult.

Controls were well light and harmonized through the speed range, although control forces built up in a dive (potentially reducing rate of roll??). It was known as a neutral and stable gun platform without control oscillations.

It wasn't without its quirks though. Pilots also reported that stall characteristics varied markedly between aircraft. Some had a gentle stall while others were more severe. Several accounts note a tendency towards a snap stall in tight turns, with the J 22 flipping onto its back.

Comparative testing against P-35s and Re 2000s (during the war) and P-51Ds (post war) showed it was an effective little dogfighter below about 13-15,000 feet.
 
GregP said:
For generally underrated, how about the FFVS J-22?

Everything I've read says it was basically a Swedish FM-2.
Click to expand...
The version of the R-1830 we lent the Swede's used the two-speed single stage version of the supercharger, so that plane worked best only around 15000 ft.
But it was about as fast as a -109E, plenty manuverable, and the "B" version had 4 big machiine guns (13.2mm), so it hit plenty hard, too.
Great little plane that took advantage of their abundant natural resources to make construction quicker and easier, at a time when Sweden needed an indigenous fighter plane.
 
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