Worst aircraft of WW2? (3 Viewers)

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And the fact that 37 out of 41 were lost in one battle has got to say something about the quality of an aircraft. Every aviation historian I've read comment on the TBD comments that it was obsolete before the war started.

The thing about the speed means the aircraft takes longer to reach the target area. By the time the TBD reaches a point 250 miles away its target may have moved 60 miles! And even then with a top speed of 125mph it is extremely vulnerable even before it starts its run.
 
Lightning Guy said:
And the fact that 37 out of 41 were lost in one battle has got to say something about the quality of an aircraft. Every aviation historian I've read comment on the TBD comments that it was obsolete before the war started.
Click to expand...
and I'm not disagreeing with them
But there were lots of obsolete aircraft which flew in WW2.
The point which I keep attempting to explain is,
the TBD was indeed obsolete, but it wasn't bad enough to be put in the 'worst aircraft of WW2' thread
 
the reason y the traniers are s'pose 2 be the worst aircraft cuz if they are good, y not use them in combat? so the old junks are use 4 traniers(some of them are light planes w/ weak engines)
 
But some aircraft are specifically designed as trainers and were never designed for combat. That does not make them bad airplanes. The North American AT-6 is a great example. Over 20,000 of them were made and today, over 1,000 of them are still flying! They are durable and great to fly.
 
i also got a really bad plane to show u and here it is:
Boeing P-26 Peashooter
(s'pose to be a)fighter, 500HP, Range 300miles w/ fuel tanks, max speed 233mph, ceilig 27400, remained in sencond line duty in WWII.
picture:
<a href"http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/photos/p-26.jpg">http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/photos/p-26.jpg</a>
 
Okay, thanks for the clarification.

The P-26 was the very first all metal skinned fighter the Americans had, but was very obsolete by the time the war broke out. It first flew in March of 1932 and for it's day, was faster and could outclimb the biplanes. It was one of the first allied aircraft to shoot down a Japanese plane though.

Edit:
Most of those P-26s that had been stationed in the Philippines had been sold to the government of the Philippines by the time of the Japanese attack. The Philippine government acquired 12 P-26As beginning in July of 1941. Some of these P-26s were serving with the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Army Air Force based at Batangas Field at the time of the Japanese attack. Despite their total obsolescence, the Filipino P-26s succeeded in scoring some victories against the Mitsubishi A6M Zero during the first few days of the Japanese attack. One of the Philippine P-26s is credited with shooting down the first Japanese plane destroyed during the early attacks on the islands. The best-known action took place on December 12, 1942, then a group of six Philippine P-26s led by Capt. Jesus Villamor shot one bomber and two Zeros with the loss of three P-26s. However, the few P-26s operated by the Philippine Army Air Force were quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught of the Japanese Zero fighters, and the surviving P-26s were destroyed on the ground by Filipinos to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p26_6.html

It is amazing, or truly lucky that they managed to get Zeroes with the P-26, but they did.
 
The Stingbag would have been slaughtered if it had ever faced the situations that the TBD did.

So what constitutes a 'worst aircraft?' The TBD's performance stank. It was obsolete at the start of the war. Within 6 months of war virtually everyone produced had been destroyed. And the only thing it did was to earn a bunch of guys Purple Hearts . . . posthumously.
 
Yep. If it were not for the volatile fuel the Me-163 wouldnt have been so bad.

I also agree with that statement LG, but the Swordfish was behind its time and that had success. Still, I see what you're saying and am beginning to see what you're on about with the TBD.
 
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