Originally posted by Hangtime:
It was quite simply the finest combat prop fighter of the war. Period. And every other prop fighter in it's field of view was a target.
How can you say that? Anyone who believes that he can satisfactorily demonstrate which fighter was the "finest" out of the whole bunch that appeared from 1940 to 1945 is incredibly naive. There are so many performance variables and kinds of missions, that arguing them to all to a solid conclusion that would convince everyone is virtually impossible. The P-51 might have been the best escort fighter for the 8th Air Force, but that doesn't mean everything else is a target. It was not such a good ground attack airplane due to vulnerable radiator.
In a close-in, hard turning dogfight the 109 can out-maneuver the P-51 because the 109s roll rate and low speed characteristics are superior. I never got into one of these because as the name suggest's "runstang".
I guess the Yak 3/9, La7, Re 2005/Fiat G55,
F4U, Temp, 190D9 are bad compared to P-51.
