Originally posted by Noir
I do not care who wrote this site really, I've seen this site long ago when surfing these boards, so I'll assume its someone posting here....
Anyway the F4U4 is indeed a very good fighter-bomber, I can't think of anything that can beat it (Hellcat maybe ?), except on its flight time at military power wich is fairly low in AH. My point was no to argue about the conclusion of the article, but how the writer compared planes...
US planes.....what else ?
What else, in any air force, can claim parity with the F4U-4 in WWII?
A fighter bomber is multi-role aircraft. It must be able to deliver ordnance accurately on target, and excel in the role of air superiority.
The principle high end fighter-bombers of WWII would include the F4U-1D, F4U-4, F6F-5, P-51D, P-47D, Typhoon, Mosquito, P-38 and the Fw 190F/G. You could argue that the Tempest V would be in this group too, although it saw much less ground work than the Tiffie.
There's little point in looking at the earlier F4U as it is completely outclassed by the -4. The F6F-5 was very good, but it lacked the speed to deal with late war fighters as well as the F4U-4 could.
When we look at the P-47D, we see a very able attack platform, but it was out of its element at lower altitudes and inferior as a fighter to most of the competition down low.
In contrast, the P-38 was excellent. Adequate speed, good climb rate, agile and capable of hauling 4,000 lb of ordnance. Nonetheless, it was difficult to fly and maintain and had reached the end of practical development.
Hawker's Typhoon gave great service as a fighter-bomber. However, it was not much of a fighter, except down low. Even there, it was only marginal compared to the most of the group.
Much has been written about the Mosquito. It was the most versatile aircraft of the war. Unfortunately, it was generally over-matched against single-engine fighters. Mosquitoes were used mostly in the interdiction role, and often with some degree of fighter cover.
Focke Wulfs proved quite versatile as well, but the F and G models were usually at a disadvantage when opposed by pure fighter types.
While the Tempest proved very fast at low and medium altitudes, it was a relatively poor performer above 20,000 feet. It lacked the full range of versatility common to many US types.
Finally, we come to the P-51. Very fast, long range, good ordnance load and the ability to go from attack profile to top tier fighter at all altitudes. I rate it the 2nd best all around fighter of the war. Not THE best in many categories, but so well rounded that it is superior to all but the mighty F4U-4.
This is borne out by the fact that of all of the fighters listed above, only the F4U-4 and P-51D were still performing their multi-role missions 5 years later in Korea. Mustangs were withdrawn from combat before the Corsairs were due to one reason, survivability/attrition. The F4U was far more durable and resistant to ground fire.
As the premier fighter-bomber of WWII, no other aircraft could match the combination of versatility and performance offered by the F4U-4.
My regards,
Widewing
