BTW, sorry for the hijack, but the original topic wasnt all that interesting anyway.
Originally posted by dedalos
Did you confuse "fighter" with "Can fly really far?"
B17s could fly to Berlin too. Does that make them the best fighter?
Goering knew they lost the war the first time he saw P-51's escort the B-17's to Berlin. Buffs had gone there before, fighters had not. The Spitfire, for all its wonderful traits, and I dont deny that it was one of the top fighters of the war, was limited in its impact because of its short range.
Originally posted by Kev367th
Whether you realize it or not, one of the key moments of WW2 was the UK stopping the LW during the BoB.
Without the UK as a base to hit Europe the allies would have been right in the poopoo.
No doubt that was a turning poing in the war that had far reaching effects. The same could be said about the F4F at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal, yet I dont think it could make a claim for best fighter of the war.
Lots of planes could make a legitimate claim as best fighter of the war. Some of those would be in no particular order:
Spitfire/Seafire
Fw190
F4U
F6F
Bf109
P-51
P-38
P-47
I dont know for sure what the "best" fighter of WW2 was (who really does?) but I do have a few benchmarks a plane would have to pass to be considered. Again in no particular order:
High production numbers (no limited production wonderplanes)
Success in combat (but not necessarily a plane from the winning side)
Good at air to ground also. Yes, we are talking about best fighter of the war, but delivering ground ord was a huge part of the air war, and it can not be ignored.
The last criteria that some (many) will not agree with, but that I think is a make or break to be considered as "best" fighter of the war is, it MUST be a plane capable of Carrier Ops. Carrier Ops were so important to the war that I think any plane, no matter how good, if it was not a CV capable plane it can not be in the running for "best" of the war. P-51, P-38, P-47 and LW fans will hate me for that, but I just dont see how a plane cane make the claim of best of the war if they were not Carrier capable.
By my estimation (take that for what its work, which not much) that leaves the F6F, the F4U and the Seafire/Spitfire. Of those three, the Spitfire/Seafire has little effective bombload so that leaves the F6F and the F4U. I have no idea which one of those I would say is better, but probably the F4U if I had to pick one.
There, Ive said it, now flame away.