....of World War 2? After having seen a few "Best" fighters and bombers and so on showing on the Discovery and History and thinking......heeyyy, there's a few machines missing, I thought that could do our own list of best this and best that.....
Here we'll count EVERYTHING that flew in combat between September 1st 1939 and May 8th 1945. So, let's get together and make our own Top 20 list or whatever....put your thinking hats on fellows!

OK, I guess we need some categories. How about -

Single engined fighter
Multi engined fighter
Carrier based fighter
Ground attack aircraft
Single engined bomber
Twin engined bomber
Multi engined bomber
Carrier based bomber
Dive bomber
Anti shipping aircraft
Reccy aircraft
Jet/Rocket engined aircraft

My choices -

Fw190
Mosquito (My favourite aircraft of all time!)
Corsair
P-47
P-47 again
Do217
Lancaster
Avenger
Dauntless
Dauntless
Mosquito - so damn quick!
Me262

How's that for starters? I must confess to being not too clued up on carrier based aircraft.

Lee

Looks good Lee...think you nailed the categories spot on.
I'll just go and put my thinking hat on....

WAIT!.......I think you missed flying boat/amfibian

Hmm, I only really know of the Catalina, the Sunderland and the big German Blohm and Voss? effort.

Sod it, I'll go for the Catalina - after all, wasn't it one of those that spotted the Jap fleet in Midway?

Lee

And maybe we should add nightfighters as well....? lol!

This is totally useless

Speed and/or altitude and a well trained pilot

just my 2 ct

Steffen

Yep, can't deny that the biggest factor is the quality of pilot......

Yup....doesn't matter what you're flying if you're not a good pilot...

-------------------------------------------Land Based.------------------------Carrier Based.
Single Engined Fighter:
Twin Engined Fighter.
Ground Attack.
Single Engined Bomber.
Twin Engined Bomber.
Multi Engined Bomber.
Dive bomber
Anti shipping Aircraft
Reconnaissance Aircraft
Jet Engined Aircraft
Flying Boat/Amfibian
Nightfighter
Torpedo Bomber.

Just playing around here fellows.....

:-) :-) :-) :-)

In essence this is a popularity contest. It seems we all agree the pilot and his degree of training is probably the biggest factor. That said, these are my favorties in each catagory:

Single engined fighter........P-51
Multi engined fighter...........BF 110
Carrier based fighter.........Wildcat
Ground attack aircraft........P-47
Single engined bomber....Stuka Ju-87
Twin engined bomber......JU-88
Multi engined bomber.......B-17
Carrier based bomber.....Avenger
Dive bomber......................Stuka JU-87
Anti shipping aircraft........JU-88
Reccy aircraft.....................Spitfire
Jet/Rocket engined aircraft...ME-262


Cheers,
Charles

Those intended for specific roles, on their merits:

Single Engined Fighter: P-51D--could do everything well, everywhere, without running out of gas!.
Twin Engined Fighter. P-38--only successful fighter VS fighter twin
Carrier Fighter--Hellcat; comparable performance with Corsair without killing the pilots!
Ground Attack.--IL-2
Single Engined Bomber.--Aichi B7A "Grace": fast, manuverable, good warload
Twin Engined Bomber.--A-26 Invader or Mitsubishi Ki-67 'Peggy": fast, manuverable, good warload, strong and well defended.
Multi Engined Bomber.--Lancaster or B-29
Dive bomber--JU-87: huge warload, accurate
Anti shipping Aircraft--B-25: decimated Japanese war and merchant ships in low-level attacks
Reconnaissance Aircraft--Ki-46 Dinah or Do-217P
Jet Engined Aircraft--ME-262
Flying Boat/Amfibian--Kawasaki H8K "Emily": fast, long range, warload, tough nut to crack
Nightfighter--HE-219: performance and firepower
Torpedo Bomber.--TBF Avenger

:-) I always love the way Steffen tries to make us guess how he feels... :-)

But he's absolutely right! What are the parameters for "best"? You could argue that the best aircraft of WW2 was the type that was never shot down or even suffered an accident - if there was such an aircraft...

As has been said - it's a popularity contest - so I nominate the Spitfire in every role on behalf of Mal!

All the "best" (ouch!)

Rowan

Best is surely subjective. I think the best twin engined fighter was the P38, but others will argue the ME110 or mosquito - no one is right - except me of course :-) :-)

Andy

Don't very often come over to the darkside :-) but heres my choices...
Single engined fighter- Spitfire
Multi engined fighter-Mosquito
Carrier based fighter- Hellcat
Ground attack aircraft-Typhoon
Single engined bomber- can't decide
Twin engined bomber-JU88
Multi engined bomber- Lancaster
Carrier based bomber-Dauntless
Dive bomber- Stuka
Anti shipping aircraft- Beaufighter
Reccy aircraft- Lysander
Jet/Rocket engined aircraft- Gloster Meteor.

So much easier to decide on favourite tanks
:-)

My favourites:

Single engined fighter........Spitfire Mk IX
Multi engined fighter...........Mosquito FB Mk VI
Carrier based fighter.........Corsair F4U
Ground attack aircraft........P-47 D
Single engined bomber....FW 190 F3
Twin engined bomber......Mosquito B Mk IV
Multi engined bomber.......Avro Lancaster
Carrier based bomber.....Avenger
Dive bomber......................Stuka JU-87
Anti shipping aircraft........Mosquito Fb Mk XVIII
Reccy aircraft.....................Mosquito PR Mk IV
Jet/Rocket engined aircraft...ME-262

Hi Andy, you are right. The P-38 would blast either of those out of the sky. They could not compete in a dogfight.

Now, if soley by personal favorites:

Single engined fighter- P-40B
Multi engined fighter-Westland Whirlwind
Carrier based fighter- A6M2
Ground attack aircraft-Typhoon
Single engined bomber- Vultee Vengence
Twin engined bomber-B-26
Multi engined bomber- Halifax
Carrier based bomber-Kate
Dive bomber- P-40N
Anti shipping aircraft- SBD
Reccy aircraft- Dinah
Jet/Rocket engined aircraft- YP-80

How about "BEST" up to mid-1944--before the ultimate marks of each, and the jets?

Here are a few entries into this inane conversation.
Day fighters; Germany, the TA-152, the ultimate version of the Focke-Wulf design.
U.S. The P-47D, due to it almost by itself breaking the back of the
German air force.
Russia, the Lavochkin -5/7 series
Night fighters; the Northrop P-61. It was equal in my opinion to the He-219 it
would of been interesting to see the two in combat against one
another.
Recon: how about the Arado "Blitz" jet, a great airplane in its own right
sometimes eclipsed by the Me 262.
Flying Boat
Amphibian: the Short Sunderland, known as the "flying porcupine, it had
great range and a fair amount of armament..
Jets; probably the P-80 shooting star, I like the Meteor and the
Swallow, but I think the P-80 would of bettered both.
A note about British vs. American fighters, the British often ran out of gas not long after takeoff. Whereas, the American fighters, with drop tanks had more legs.
This is not meant as a slap at British designs, oftern innovative and quite beautiful, just an observation that many aircraft designed in Britain where for point defense.
A word about the Italians as well. Not seen much mention of them, the Macchi 202/205 were superlative in performance. Even having one wing shorter than the other to give differential lift to offset engine torque!
The S.M. 79 was a pretty good anti-shipping platform as well.
Going back to Great Britain a moment, the Westland Whirlwind, had it had better engines might of been close to an equal player with the P-38. Alas, engine problems kept this from being so. So the P-38, a truly unique design has my vote as best twin engine fighter. The Me110/210/410 series couldn't dogfight with a P-38. I would also note the B-26 Marauder, having a very low loss rate in the ETO among medium bombers.
Thanks for reading. Take care, Russell.

Well put Siderius! With and without drop tanks! An old axiom is a fighter is emergencey fuel the moment it leaves the ground. One has to stay to play

aha! another tanker who has wandered off from the flock! thank you karl for mentioning the hellcat. i was beginning to think no one would. it's one of my all-time favorites. hey, and for ground attack, my choice would be the "flying tank ", the il-2 sturmovik. (sorry, i play the flight sim)

My thought

Wow! lots of categories I feel a headache coming on just considering all the possibilities. For my own sake I'm going to throw out a single aircraft that comes to mind. It was a good performer and lasted in the US Inventory until early 60's far beyond most WWII prop driven aircraft.

Vought F4U Corsair

Mosquito - 30% greater range
Mosquito - Faster
Mosquito - 4x20mm cannon, 4x7.7mm guns (P-38 1x20mm and 4x12.7mm)

Me thinks it would all come down to the pilot again but at least this time its the brits that wouldn't go Bingo!

I like this quote from Goering -

During much of the war the Mosquito was one of the fastest aircraft in the sky on either side, and one of the most manoeuvrable - in mock combats it could climb faster and turn more quickly than a Spitfire. The Mosquito inspired admiration from all quarters:(Wikipedia)

"In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy.

The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that?

There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked."

Hermann Göring, January 1943



Lee Oct 2006

Lee

I did say someome would say the Mossie was better and yes it was a mighty fine aircraft - it may have been faster, more range etc, but in my opinion i think the P-38 is the best twin engined fighter of the war.

Every one is entitled to their opinion - so long as they accept they are wrong :-) :-) :-)

Best torpedo bomber - fairey swordfish - i'm sure someone will disagree with me on that.

Enjoy

Andy

hello, here are my choices! only based on how awful/good/weird/lousy they LOOK!!

Single engined fighter........Polikarpov I 16
Carrier based fighter.........Wildcat
Twin engined bomber......heinkel 177
Multi engined bomber.......Tupolev TB4
Carrier based bomber.....Nakajima B5N
Dive bomber......................Stuka JU-87
Anti shipping aircraft........Fairey Barracuda
Reccy aircraft.....................polikarpov PO2
Jet/Rocket engined aircraft...Me163 Komet
seaplane.......CANT Z 501 GABBIANO