Your favourite German WWII fighter?

[mineman65]

Choose your favourite German WWII fighter or name your own.

[Reloader]

The FW-190 - the 'Butcher Bird'. Although, had the ME 262 come along earlier, that would have been my choice.

[Capt. Cheatham]

Had to go with the Me-262. This was an aircraft that could have had as much impact on German air superiority in WWII as the machine gun interupter gear did during WWI when first installed in early bi-wing fighter aircraft. Not only was it the mother of all of todays jet fighters, but many of the early innovations are taken for granted and still used in today's jets, such as the ejection seat, swept wings, etc. It was over 100 mph faster than the P-51

Imagine flying a P-51 or a Spitfire, and seeing one of these things for the very first time in combat. The potential of the Me-262 was never really understood by Hitler or the Luftwaffe, resulting in misusing it as a defensive weapon, instead. From this point of view, the resources would have been better used if they had invested in producing more 190's or 109's, which could have been produced much more quickly, and produced in greater numbers than the 262.

I see the Me-262 much the same way that the Tiger I tank was viewed by the Allies. The very sight of it brought fear to those having to face it. But like the Tiger, it was a battlefield engineering nightmare, the jet engines only had a service life of 15-25 hours and then had to be replaced, and could not be produced in great numbers, due to a lack of skilled workers, to make an impact on the outcome of the war. Less than 400 Tigers were produced, and less than 400 of the Me-262 were produced. Armed with 4x30mm cannons and HVAR air-to-air tow guided missles, a 262 could bring down a bomber with only a few cannon hits, and the missiles, when fired in salvos, could bring down several bombers in only one pass.

The Me-262 was truly the "Tiger" of the air. Too bad the Gloster Meteor and the Me-262 were never able to have an aerial confrontation and prove which was the dominant aircraft.

[Hollis]

My favorite one, is the one that got shot down.


Sorry, GOOOOOO Allies.

[PanzerBob]

The Me262 has intrigued me since I was a kid, she always looked her role more so than other aircraft, of her day or even into the future.

Cheers, Bob sal;

[lynxcat]

Heinkel 219 !!!!