The airplane that did the most to turn the tide of the war.

[GrauGeist]

It's always been my understanding that the Japanese first invaded China in 1929, but then, their feud goes back farther than that.
...however...
My quote of WWII starting in 1939 is where the publication starts...with the invasion of Poland.

The Mukden Incident in 1931 saw the invasion of Manchuria, which was a Chinese territory.

Over the next six years, there were skirmishes between China and Japan, but the shooting war started in July 1937 with Japan's full-scale invasion of Chinese proper.

 

[NevadaK]

The Mukden Incident in 1931 saw the invasion of Manchuria, which was a Chinese territory.

Over the next six years, there were skirmishes between China and Japan, but the shooting war started in July 1937 with Japan's full-scale invasion of Chinese proper.

Agreed with 1937. The Eurocentric POV focuses on the German invasion of Poland but the large scale conflict starts in 1937 as others have stated. The emphasis on 1939 impacts how we statistically understand the war such as the underreporting of Chinese casualties from 1937-1939 which are often uncounted. There is a tendency to also overlook precursor conflicts in several theaters from 1927-1937 as GrauGeist has pointed out, such as Italy's invasion of Ethiopia.

 

[SaparotRob]

The invasion of Poland is a convenient point to tie up the four corners of destruction together. Up to that point it was Gondor v. Mordor setting up. Pretty much what's starting to happen now, IMHO.

 

[Elvis]

...thread drifters....every....time....

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

...thread drifters....every....time....

Once you release a thread into the wild ...

 

[Elvis]

Once you release a thread into the wild ...

So does this mean I've been officially Thumped ?

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

So does this mean I've been officially Thumped ?

Man, I used to get PO'ed when I'd put up what I thought was a Serious Thread® and then some clowns would crawl out of their car to take over. But I took to liking thread-drift. It feels a lot more like a conversation over a pint at the bar, which suffers much the same drift.

 

[Elvis]

Man, I used to get PO'ed when I'd put up what I thought was a Serious Thread® and then some clowns would crawl out of their car to take over. But I took to liking thread-drift. It feels a lot more like a conversation over a pint at the bar, which suffers much the same drift.

Yeah, but people can tend to get carried away, too.
Someone posts a question, looking for specific information and all people wanna do is drift the thread.
That can be rather un-nerving...sometimes, that's the point of thread drift.
I believe in respecting the thread and getting the work done first, then if you wanna go drift off into la-la land, go ahead.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yeah, but people can tend to get carried away, too.
Someone posts a question, looking for specific information and all people wanna do is drift the thread.
That can be rather un-nerving...sometimes, that's the point of thread drift.
I believe in respecting the thread and getting the work done first, then if you wanna go drift off into la-la land, go ahead.

To be fair, we are seventy-odd pages into the thread.

 

[NevadaK]

To be fair, we are seventy-odd pages into the thread.

and five years on in the debate.

Reminds me of a ten year debate some of my coworkers had about who was the greatest basketball player of all time. That one was never resolved either although I was pretty resolute in my support for Wilt.

 

[Elvis]

To be fair, we are seventy-odd pages into the thread.

Sorry, I was speaking generally......THUMPED AGAIN!!!!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Sorry, I was speaking generally......THUMPED AGAIN!!!!

Brotha ...

 

[MiTasol]

Sorry, I was speaking generally......THUMPED AGAIN!!!!

I thought you were Sorry, I was speaking Chief Master Sergeantly so you are forgiven.

 

[swampyankee]

One could argue the MPA variants of the B-24 were the most influential single type of aircraft, as these aircraft did quite a lot to defang the Kriegmarine's submarines, along with several dozen tactical and technological improvements by the Allies

 

[Domobran42]

Probably the Hurricane. While Spitfire was a better fighter, without Hurricane the RAF will have gotten destroyed in 1940 and never been able to get the Spitfire deployed effectively for lack of pilots. And that will have affected not just military but geopolitical situation as well.

 

[PAT303]

Man, I used to get PO'ed when I'd put up what I thought was a Serious Thread® and then some clowns would crawl out of their car to take over. But I took to liking thread-drift. It feels a lot more like a conversation over a pint at the bar, which suffers much the same drift.

Some of the best discussions start as thread drifts.

 

[NevadaK]

Exploring another line of thought here, but following my earlier argument that a plane should have impact across all theaters and affected the course of the war beyond the limits of air to air combat I am proposing the Lockheed F-4/F-5 Photo Recon Lightning. It served in the ETO, MTO, CBI, and PTO providing strategic and tactical reconnaissance.

 

[Ovod]

Probably the Hurricane. While Spitfire was a better fighter, without Hurricane the RAF will have gotten destroyed in 1940 and never been able to get the Spitfire deployed effectively for lack of pilots. And that will have affected not just military but geopolitical situation as well.

The Hurricane was the leading fighter, fighterbomber of the allies (including the Soviet Union) for the first three years of the war. It may well be the top scoring allied fighter plane of the entire war.

 

[WARSPITER]

The Hurricane was the leading fighter, fighterbomber of the allies (including the Soviet Union) for the first three years of the war. It may well be the top scoring allied fighter plane of the entire war.

From the lists made by comparing verified claims and known opposition loss reports the Hurricane is fourth on the allied list
after the Spitfire, Mustang, and I think the Hellcat.

 

[SaparotRob]

The Hellcat had a higher kill count than the P-51. I say this without any idea if it's true.