Best Single Engine fighter-Bomber(Prop Driven)

[Saxman]

I got to hear a talk by pilots who flew Corsairs in the Korean war (and just last weekend ones who flew off the Bunker Hill and survived the kamikaze hits).

The ones in the Korean war carried a very heavy load of bombs on occasion.

I think I read somewhere the AU-1s were being loaded with as much as 8000lbs of ordinance.

[Brooke]

I think I read somewhere the AU-1s were being loaded with as much as 8000lbs of ordinance.

I don't remember the number, but it was at least 4000 lbs sometimes.  One of their missions was taking out a train tunnel, and so they flew along the tracks at treetop level toward the tunnel and skidded delayed-fuse bombs into it (pulling up very hard to avoid the mountain, of course).

The guys who flew off the Bunker Hill had some great stories as well.  They all loved the Corsair.

One of them was Dean Caswell, pilot depicted in this painting:

[Brooke]

One of the Corsair pilots (Raymond Swalley) also flew F8F's after the war.  He said "It was like flying a bumblebee."

[Tupac]

A1 - absolutely without a doubt. One of the guys at my old airport was telling my stories about flying it in Vietnam - apparently one day his plane got hit by 2 37mm rounds - one completely knocked off his left horizontal stabilizer and the other took out the outboard 5' of his left wing. He made an emergency landing at some army base. I didn't know if he was telling the truth or not because it seemed a little far fetched, but after I saw the A1 lose twice that much wing in the mid air at Duxford I believed every word he said.

The FW190 may have been good, but the germans lost and it's service length is incredibly short compared to the Sandy - an integral part of what would make something the "best ever" it also couldn't take a fraction of the punishment that the Sandy would.

[GScholz]

The Sandy is still not a fighter... An integral part of a fighter-bomber... ... ... And the Sandy lost its war too...

[GScholz]

The Sandy may have had a long career, but only 3,180 were made. The Fw 190 on the other hand may have had a short career, but it is one of the most produced aircraft of all time with more than 20,000 made. It also fought in the greatest conflict of all time (the Eastern Front) and not some UN police action or limited war against jungle insurgents in a small country in Southeast Asia.

[Puma44]

The Sandy is still not a fighter... An integral part of a fighter-bomber... ... ... And the Sandy lost its war too...

The Sandy didn't lose it's war, the powers to be lost it.  Just like the power to be lost it in WWII.

[GScholz]

Thank you.

[icepac]

I'll bet the body count of the skyraider is more than triple any other fighter/bomber.

[earl1937]

I'll bet the body count of the skyraider is more than triple any other fighter/bomber.

I assume you are talking about enemy body count, not A1 pilots! Again, I will say this again, the reason I include the A1 series of aircraft in the fighter category is simply this: It can do all the required ACM's by all three branches which used the aircraft, USAF, Navy and Marines. (I think the Marines used it, but not 100% sure.) Where are not it actually was a scheduled fighter is beside the point! It did see air to air combat and destroyed 4 aircraft that I know of in actual combat.

[GScholz]

I'll bet the body count of the skyraider is more than triple any other fighter/bomber.

I bet you're wrong.

[GScholz]

I assume you are talking about enemy body count, not A1 pilots! Again, I will say this again, the reason I include the A1 series of aircraft in the fighter category is simply this: It can do all the required ACM's by all three branches which used the aircraft, USAF, Navy and Marines. (I think the Marines used it, but not 100% sure.) Where are not it actually was a scheduled fighter is beside the point! It did see air to air combat and destroyed 4 aircraft that I know of in actual combat.

The B-17 destroyed a lot more aircraft than that. Wasn't a fighter either, and we don't call it a fighter-bomber. The Sandy could barely exceed 300 mph in level flight clean... It would even have been massacred in the Battle of Britain.

[Karnak]

Earl,

There are pretty good odds that the Il-2 shot down a few enemy fighters with its main guns, but I still wouldn't consider it a fighter.  Both the SBD and D3A were tasked with CAP missions when there weren't enough F4Fs or A6Ms to spare, yet neither ought to be considered a fighter.

The A-1 was a great attack aircraft, but it really cannot be considered a fighter-bomber.  It completely lacks credentials in the fighter part of that role.  Even if you give it the benefit of the doubt on that it would still not be the best fighter-bomber of all as while it does very well on the bomber part of the role it is very weak on the fighter part of the role.  To be considered the greatest fighter-bomber the winning unit needs to be able to do both roles effectively, not just sort of on an emergency basis when pressed into it.  The Spitfire LF.Mk IXe/Spitfire Mk XVI is probably a better balanced fighter-bomber than the A-1 is.

The Fw190, F6F, F4U, P-47, Typhoon and Sea Fury are examples of single engined aircraft that could do both roles, being competitive with their contemporaries in the fighter role while still being effective attack aircraft.  The A-1 was simply not remotely competitive with its contemporary fighters in the fighter role.

Realistically this means the best prop driven single engine fighter bomber is almost certainly going to be a late F4U or the Sea Fury simply due to the fact that they were the end of the line for prop fighters.  If were pick the best based on its capability related to its fighter and fighter bomber contemporaries the question is a lot more interesting.

[Lusche]

the reason I include the A1 series of aircraft in the fighter category is simply this: It can do all the required ACM's by all three branches which used the aircraft, USAF, Navy and Marines. (I think the Marines used it, but not 100% sure.) Where are not it actually was a scheduled fighter is beside the point! It did see air to air combat and destroyed 4 aircraft that I know of in actual combat.

Cool, the Ju-87 was a fighter then, too. 

[icepac]

Skyraider has the nuke.