Where US fighters failed over Europe

[JDCAVE]

Snowygrouch scratched the surface on it, but there are several reports on US aircraft from British testing establishments that are littered with superlatives.

I'd like to point out that six of Eric Brown's all-time top 20 aircraft he'd ever flown were US aircraft;

• Boeing Superfortress
• Douglas Boston
• Grumman Bearcat
• Lockheed Constellation
• McDonnell Phantom II
• North American Sabre (particularly the E), he also specifically called out this as his favourite jet aircraft he ever flew

Only beat out in number by British aircraft by one;

• Avro Lancaster
• de Havilland Hornet
• Gloster Gladiator
• Hawker Hunter
• Martin-Baker M.B.5
• Supermarine Spitfire (particularly the XII)
• Vickers Viscount

For what it's worth -- rounding out the list:

• Bucker Jungmeister
• Fiesler Storch
• Focke-Wulf 190 (particularly the D9)
• Junkers 88
• Macchi 205
• -edit- Messerschmitt 262
• Nakajima 'Frank'

…and the RAF used the Mustang almost exclusively for fighter cover for Bomber Command for daylight operations later in the war. The Spitfire was quite frankly range-limited.

Jim

 

[SaparotRob]

Captain Brown had remarked that the Wildcat was his first love, within earshot of wife.

 

[Engineman]

Snowygrouch scratched the surface on it, but there are several reports on US aircraft from British testing establishments that are littered with superlatives.

I'd like to point out that six of Eric Brown's all-time top 20 aircraft he'd ever flown were US aircraft;

• Boeing Superfortress
• Douglas Boston
• Grumman Bearcat
• Lockheed Constellation
• McDonnell Phantom II
• North American Sabre (particularly the E), he also specifically called out this as his favourite jet aircraft he ever flew

Only beat out in number by British aircraft by one;

• Avro Lancaster
• de Havilland Hornet
• Gloster Gladiator
• Hawker Hunter
• Martin-Baker M.B.5
• Supermarine Spitfire (particularly the XII)
• Vickers Viscount

For what it's worth -- rounding out the list:

• Bucker Jungmeister
• Fiesler Storch
• Focke-Wulf 190 (particularly the D9)
• Junkers 88
• Macchi 205
• -edit- Messerschmitt 262
• Nakajima 'Frank'

It is worth adding that Captain Brown later noted that his excitement in flying the McDonnell Phantom II reminded him vividly of his flying the Me 262 twenty years earlier. He wrote that the later generation Phantom provided the same level of exhilaration. Mind you, he also described the DeHavilland Hornet as his favourite. So, top ratings for a Brit, a German and the USA!
Eng

 

[JDCAVE]

If I could ask Brown two questions they would be as follows:

How did the Halifax III's and VII's stack up against the 18-boost Lancasters (Merlin 224's) and what would he think the relative performance of the aircraft would be at all-up weight and in conditions of very heavy icing?

 

[GregP]

Any ?

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(Erhest Hives, head of RR, 17th Nov 1942)

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Rather obviously, I haven't read all British test reports, but I have also never heard a British pilot say he liked an AMerican aircraft except for Eric Brown saying he liked the Wildcat ... nee, Martlet.

It isn't a jab at the Brits at all, just what I've heard, including 20 years of museum visitors. Also, several former foreign fighter pilots seem to have liked the F-86. Not specifically as opposed to anything British, but in general. I'd view that as rather "normal" for most military pilots of any nation that produces it's own military aircraft.

As an aside, all who have flown the Folland Gnat like it a lot, but most wouldn't choose it for a mission because just when you start having fun, you run out of fuel. Without tanks on the wings, it is in a state of fuel emergency when you start the engine with full internal fuel. If you HAVE wing tanks, then you can at least take off and climb a bit before being in a state of fuel emergency. But, if you're flying a Gnat over an airport doing an airshow, it's marvelous fun, AND the fuel is right there on the ground to go do it again!

 

[JDCAVE]

Rather obviously, I haven't read all British test reports, but I have also never heard a British pilot say he liked an AMerican aircraft except for Eric Brown saying he liked the Wildcat ... nee, Martlet.

It isn't a jab at the Brits at all, just what I've heard, including 20 years of museum visitors. Also, several former foreign fighter pilots seem to have liked the F-86. Not specifically as opposed to anything British, but in general. I'd view that as rather "normal" for most military pilots of any nation that produces it's own military aircraft.

As an aside, all who have flown the Folland Gnat like it a lot, but most wouldn't choose it for a mission because just when you start having fun, you run out of fuel. Without tanks on the wings, it is in a state of fuel emergency when you start the engine with full internal fuel. If you HAVE wing tanks, then you can at least take off and climb a bit before being in a state of fuel emergency. But, if you're flying a Gnat over an airport doing an airshow, it's marvelous fun, AND the fuel is right there on the ground to go do it again!

Dad liked the North American Harvard. But then he was Canadian. To balance the equation, he didn't like the B-24. Flew like a cow.

Jim

 

[ThomasP]

I have read a few reports by the crews on the Hudson in RAF/CC & RAAF service, and it seemed to be well liked.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

In 1943 the Australians went looking for the next fighter and bomber to put into local production. What the British told them.