P-51 vs. Hellcat

[nimrod.michaeli]

if the two were to fight who do you think would win

 

[drgondog]

if the two were to fight who do you think would win

depends on best pilot and to a degree the tactical situation - meet at 30,000 feet or on the deck?

 

[renrich]

Below 25000 feet it would be pretty even with the Mustang having the ability to seperate out of the fight if needed. Above 25000 feet the P51 B,C or D would have a bigger advantage. The Hellcat would be able to absorb more damage and still be in the fight.

 

[Amsel]

Hellcat. It was a great fighter.

 

[koutsivtom]

hellcat!!!!!!!!P 51 was a great plane but F 6 was better and more stable in middle hights with a better engine and greater design.F-6 and F-8 was to my opinion the best designs of the american industry,the last before the jets.Us navy had earlier jet planes in service so these two great planes din't had the opportunity to proove their worth,because when they went to service,Japan was allready defeated and allmost all her good pilots were dead.

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

The Hellcat was a great plane. It could have taken on the FW 190A like the P-51 did.

 

[twoeagles]

My Dad flew the Hellcat in the Pacific, and had his own P-51 as a hobby in the late 1960's. His opinion is he would take the Hellcat into a fight with the 'Stang.

 

[fly boy]

i think the hellcat would win but if going against a few mustangs it would die

 

[timshatz]

I am a huge fan of the Hellcat. Favorite fighter plane. Would want to fly it, if I got the chance.

That being said, I'd give the advantage to the Mustang. This is not based on any technical details other than speed. The Mustang can leave the fight when it wants, has the Hellcat in terms of level speed. Possible climb too. Add those two together and it's the better bird.

Probably go give it a shot in IL2 and see what the results are. Not that it proves anything but I'd do a boom and zoom on the Mustang and see what happens.

 

[Colin1]

i think the hellcat would win but if going against a few mustangs it would die

What do you call that in your country?
Over here, it's called 'stating the bleedin' obvious...'

 

[fly boy]

What do you call that in your country?
Over here, it's called 'stating the bleedin' obvious...'

i wouldn't know i have never been to england i want to

 

[Njaco]

 

[dragonandhistail]

The Hellcat was top scorer during the war and much more rugged with its radial engine. It was a better ground attack aircraft by virtue of its ruggedness. I'd take it in any fight under 25,000 feet and in any ground attack or interdiction role. I'd take the P-51 as an escort and above 25K in altitude. Overall give me the F6F.

 

[drgondog]

The Hellcat was top scorer during the war and much more rugged with its radial engine. It was a better ground attack aircraft by virtue of its ruggedness. I'd take it in any fight under 25,000 feet and in any ground attack or interdiction role. I'd take the P-51 as an escort and above 25K in altitude. Overall give me the F6F.

The F6F barely topped the 51 in air combat scores, was far behind in the toughest strafing of all - German aircraft destroyed on German airfields - and got its scores against much more formidable opponents - 109s/190s and even 262s

Different war against non-common opponents, different missions

 

[Amsel]

I think I would much rather be in a Hellcat then a Mustang due to the ruggedness of the Hellcat. When you went down in the ETO over the continent due to overheating you became a POW. The Hellcats radial engine saved countless pilots lives by taking abuse that woud force a Mustang pilot to ditch. Ditching in the Pacific was not a good thing.

 

[ONE_HELLCAT]

Two 109s and a 190 probably thought they were more formidable when they went up against the FAA's Hellcats over Norway. but that's one little incident. I'm not saying the Hellcat did stellar, but I think it could hold its own against German aircraft.

My problem with the Hellcat is simply it's poor visibility. Maybe that's just an issue I have in IL-2.

 

[Vincenzo]

I'm not a fans of mustang, for true neither helcatt, but i take mustang can take the initiative it's too fast on climb and level for helcatt.

 

[dragonandhistail]

DRGONDOG,

But the F6F still topped the P-51 and that is what counts. As for your comment on strafing; different geography, different war. Lots of water in the Pacific and lots of land in Europe. The F6F would have been a much better strafer in the ETO as it was much more rugged. F6Fs tore up the Japanese aircraft and airfields when they found them. Just look at the carrier raids on Japan in the summer of 45 by F6Fs, they were deadly. P-51s were great strafers in 1944-45 because they were the predominant aircraft, not because they were better ground attack aircraft than the P-47, there were just more of them. ask most ETO pilots and I'll bet they'd prefer to do ground attack in the Jug than the Mustang due to the ruggedness and engine toughness issues. That was a big lesson from Korea. Mustangs went down in droves from single hits. I would also contend your comment about non-common opponents. German and Japanese pilots in 1944-45 were merely fodder for either opponent because of their lack of training, whether an F6F or P-51. It is hard to say that a 109 / 190 was superior to a Ki-84, J2M, or George. In fact the 109 would probably pale in comparison to any of these. The pilot would make all the difference and at that late date when the Mustang ran up its scores they were flying against pilots and planes that were hardly a match for them, much like the F6F against and Japanese opponents in the same timeframe.

 

[Amsel]

"A man with a rifle" could shoot down a Mustang. At least that was a saying in the 8th Airforce.

 

[Colin1]

"A man with a rifle" could shoot down a Mustang

The Hellcat was undoubtedly generally more resiliant to ground fire
but 'a man with a rifle' could equally put one through the canopy of the Hellcat and kill the pilot; would one be considered a lack of resiliance to small-arms fire and the other pure luck?