what was the best fighter in the Pacific

[102first_hussars]

One thing I learned was,,

Hitlers intentions for the Me 262 was to be a light bomber,

the only reason the me 262 found itself against bombers is because the Luftwaffe was testing its intercepting possibility.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Not surprised the japanese are hardly considered contenders in here

There is a reason for that. The Japanese did not have a good track record against the US aircraft in the PTO. Even supposed "inferior" aircraft had much better kill ratios against the Jap aircraft. Plus it is hard to find aircraft that are better than the late Spitfire marks, Fw-190D's, P-38's and P-47's. It might just be my opinion but the Japanese did not aircraft that were better than those aircraft and dont tell me the Zero was. She is a myth.

the only reason the me 262 found itself against bombers is because the Luftwaffe was testing its intercepting possibility.

Dont know who told you that but the Me-262 intercepted bombers not becuase the Germans were testing it but because it had to. Dont know if you know that at the time they were bombing Germany with thousands of bombers day and night. Every fighter aircraft the Germans had including the Me-262 was used to intercept bombers. It was not a matter of "lets see how it does" but a matter of it needs to be done.

 

[fibus]

At Chino, they have their P38 do maneuvers that not even the Corsair will do. Nothing like seeing a P38 do some rolls at low altitude.

P38 ruled supreme in the Pacific. In good hand would beat anything German

 

[Barrett]

You seldom see internet polls that define the criteria for Best, Most, Greatest, etc. If "best" = the aircraft with the greatest influence on the outcome, there are two choices:
F6F
and
Everything else.

I thank you.

 

[ifor]

Forgive me as I read the forum everyday but I'm not knowledgeable enough to post. I think it's quite hard to say what the best fighter is for the whole Pacific War as lessons were learnt improvements made and new aircraft developed. The aircraft at the start of the war were nowhere near as good as the ones at the end. I far as I understand the P38 and A6M likewise we're roughly comparable. Just some thoughts