Your favourite US WWII fighter?

[mineman65]

Choose your favourite US WWII fighter or name your own. knight;

[Reloader]

Tough choices there - although I went for the P-51 Mustang, just because it was a thoroughbred, in my opinion and for the difference it made to bomber protection on long-distance bombing runs.

[Capt. Cheatham]

http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/876/CIMG2704.jpg

P-47D, hands down. It was the A-10 Warthog of it times. Though lacking in long range capabilities, note the undercarriage fueltank, it was probably the most rugged of all fighters. When replaced by the P-51 for long range fighter escort missions, it readily adapted to its new mission of close ground support.

The Thunderbolt really made a difference during World War II. It was the first fighter that was a serious candidate for escort duties for the USAAF heavy bombers. Up till then the American heavies had to deal with the German fighters themselves, suffering unneccessary heavy losses in the process. This was reduced (but not really cured) with the long range version of the Thunderbolt.

Machine Guns = 8 × 0.50 inch Browning MG53-2 fixed forward-firing in the wing leading edge, 425 rounds each (max, typical 267 each).

Bomb Load = Up to 2,500 lb of disposable stores carried on three underwing hardpoints, one under fuselage rated at 500 lb and two underwing rated at 1,000 lb each.

Rocket Load = Up to 10 × 5 inch HVAR air-to-surface unguided rockets alternatively to bombs.

Some statistics about the P-47:

545,575 operational sorties made by 15,683 produced aircraft.
7,067 aircraft destroyed of which 3,572 in the air
3,499 aircraft lost, amongst which...
884 lost in the air for a kill/loss ratio of 4.6/1
9,000+ locomotives destroyed
86,000+ rail wagons destroyed
6,000+ armored vehicles destroyed
68,000+ motor vehicles destroyed
60,000 horse-drawn vehicles destroyedAs impressive as these destruction figures may be, the main feat was the protection of numerous bombers during their escort duties, enabling the USAAF 8th Air Force to continue it's strategic offensive against the economical targets of Germany.


Strengths:

Good speed
Excellent acceleration
Excellent diving speed
Good armament
Very rugged design, able to absorb a lot of damage
Excellent view (except some of earlier models/aircraft)
Good/Excellent range and enduranceWeaknesses:

None that I know of, except possibly its range, which was drastically increased with the P-47N model, from 1000 miles max, to 2350 miles max, at a top speed of 470 mph, by increasing wingspan square footage, which allowed for 2 more additional fuel tanks.The P-47 flew well into the 1960's as an operational fighter with numerous other air forces.

[PanzerBob]

box;I'm going for the Thunderbolt, because of it's true multi-role abilities and its toughness, and it looks the part. solthum

Cheers, Bob sal;

[Hollis]

I vote for the P38, probably more out memory of those things and a little bias, instead of thinking about the actual qualities of the planes.

I agree the Mustang was one exceptional plane.

[namvet]

ill go with the mustang. which the british named. it was under powered with the american allison engine. then the british dropped in the rolls royce merlin and it because a legend.