Top Ten Most Importent Workhorse Aircraft

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Nice lists guys but I wasn't clear enough I guess. Jabber is the closest to what I'm looking for because my thought was to delve into the planes that did not get the credit but really made a difference.

The Hurricane in the BoB
The P-40 in N. Africa
The P-39 in Russia

OR

The B-17s in drone/bomb mode vrs the Fw-190 in the piggy back bomb role. This concept turned into air launched guided wepons.

Little known planes or concepts that had a bigger impact on the war or the future than they got/get credit for.

We've beaten the main contenders to death but the planes that slugged through against the odds without the flash or publicity of planes like the Mustang, Lanc, Mossie etc. some of these planes made as much or more of a contrabution as the big names.

wmaxt
 
Do217.
You hardly ever hear about it but it was a good bomber with a number of firsts to its name. It certainly made a difference.
Walrus
It certainly made a difference if you were picked up by one
Blenhiem
Despite heavy losses it carried the load until better planes came along.
A20/Boston
As I stated earlier it served well in all areas but never really gets mentioned.
Yak 9
Not the fastest, most heavily armed, or robust fighter to any great extent, but Russia would have been in trouble without it.
FW 200
Made a great difference to the Germans in the Atlantic and could have been of substantial benefit to their airlift capacity if someone had thought about it.
P40
Many of you have mentioned this workhorse and no one could deny it a place on the list
Ki43
A flawed plane in many ways lacking speed, firepower and dive but it served the JAF well for the length of the war.
Hurricane
For its long service in many roles on all fronts on land and sea. What more can you ask.
Pe2
Tends to be overshadowed by the Il2 but an excellent bomber
 
Thats great. We discuss the later planes and some of the ones that made a difference never get mentioned.

wmaxt
 
kiwimac said:
Which ones did you have in mind?
Click to expand...

Planes that come right to mind are:

P-40 - it did so much in both the Mto and the PTO
Hurricane It to made a major impact
A-20/A-26
B-26 - did a lot in the ETO with no fanfare and I think the lowest loss rate of any bomber in WWII
Beaufighter - Did a lot, no credit
Typhoon against the V wepons
Condor - in the early recon/anti-shipping roll
P-39 - in Russia
C-46 - over the Hump

These and others won the war or their piece of it as much as the planes we talk about all the time. I just thought we'd give them some recognition.

wmaxt
 
Well I see P38 is not going to limit himself to 10 in the Top 10.....
Click to expand...
Oops....
P-38, The Bearcat was the F8F. The F7F was the Tigercat. Which are you using?
Click to expand...
Oops again. I always get those two mixed up. I meant it to be the Bearcat. Really good Carrier Aircraft and a great Marine aircraft until the F4U Corsair came into play.
 
C-47. The most successful cargo aircraft of WW II.
The De Haviland Mosquito. Fighter, fast bomber, and recon.. Execelled at all of them.
B-24. Maybe not as good a bomber as the B-17, but more versital. Great maritime patrol and cargo plane.
P-38. Heavy fighter, night fighter, light bomber, and a great recon. ship.
Spitfire. No comment necessary.
JU-88. Served the Luftwaffe well in a number of tasks.
B-25. Best medium bomber of WW II? Good ground attack and training ship, too.
TBF/TBM Avenger. Torpedo bomber, level bomber, patrol. In service long after the war ended.
Lancaster. Best low altitude heavy bomber of the war.
A6M Zero. In service long past it's prime, but still potent.
 
While the C-46 did serve over 'the hump' it was the C-47 that carried the most tonnage. The C-109 and C-84 served over 'the hump' ...
 
The primary fighters of the USN during World War II, 38, were the F4F 'Wildcat', FM-2 [Wilder] 'Wildcat', F6F 'Hellcat' and F4U 'Corsair'. The F7F 'Tigercat' and F8F 'Bearcat' were developments that were on their way into service near the end but never saw action due to the Japanese surrender.

While the Bearcat is impressive, I don't think it would have had a massive impact on the PTO - it's range is too short. The Tigercat on the other hand would have been remarkable, although it was actually over-armed for fighting the Japanese paper airplanes.
 
Agreed, d. The Bearcat is a great airplane, but it was too late. The range was and still is an issue with the Bearcat. I say still is because when we take it to air shows, it has to stop every hour and a half to 2 hours to fill up!

It was designed to get off the carrier and shoot down incoming kamikazes, then return. It probably would have been good for that, but more Bearcats on a carrier would mean less of other aircraft that could be more useful for longer range roles and ground attack.

NS is correct, the Corsair was in service well before the Bearcat, which was on it's way to the pacific when the war ended.
 
avro anson most commonwealth muti engined crews trained on them
at6 texan/harvard the step before combat
pby5 catalina /canso asw airsea rescue recce everywhere
dc3 c47 r4d li2 cc129 dakota l2d outlived every other ww2 a/c everywhere
p40 every theatre 25 airforces can't be wrong
wildcat most widely operated carrier fighter all theatres
 
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