Best Heavy Fighter

[Tank-Ace]

Hands down in real use the P47 wins hands down.  It was proven during WWII.  Others may compete but the Jug did the job best.

In game....here....it's a popularity contest.  With  a loss to sorties rate of .07 the Jug was the most dependable and the most deadly to the enemy.

Nuff said.  Hell, the squadron leader of the 61stFS /56thFG flew one into a telegraph pole on a strafing run at Lille and flew home with

part of the telegraph pole imbedded in the aircraft.  That says it all.  51s and 38s were pretty but fragile.  47s rugged and dependable

and carried a bigger wallop.  Historically proven.

P-47 also had the greatest opportunity to do all that. The F4U's were mostly in the PTO, and the Allies were dominating the skies in the west, where the other heavy hitters were operating (so no direct comparison to German aircraft can accurately be made). So it would only be fair to say the P-47 is the best Allied JABO aircraft in the ETO.

The 190F racked up an impressive record on the eastern front, also sported a tough radial engine, was also heavily armored, and could also carry ordnance out the wazzu.

[Karnak]

I am not convinced the P-47 was better than the Mossie in the ETO.  Both were tough, good strike aircraft.

[J.A.W.]

P-47 went on tactical strike as a fall-back when it was dumped like a sweaty smurfy chick
-from all but one 8th AF fighter group - when the pretty hot P-51 showed up in numbers.

However, once palmed off with dozens of jug squadrons the 9th AF, had to put them to tactical use.
 
The turbo jug was best performing at high altitude, & kinda sluggish on the deck,
& the Soviets had P-47s but didn't use 'em as mud-movers..

Twins like the Mossie & P-38 proved to be large & expensive targets for LW flak,
& the high loss rates on ops curtailed their use in close support roles.

[Karnak]

I am unaware of Mosquito fighter-bomber efforts being curtailed.

[MiloMorai]

I am unaware of Mosquito fighter-bomber efforts being curtailed.

Was it ever used in the close support role?

[Karnak]

Was it ever used in the close support role?

Not sure.  I can't recall such a use, but it is possible.

[J.A.W.]

Check out 'Operation Clarion'
- which was a maximum effort ground attack /strafing of most of Germany
- in early `45, & too many Mosquitos got the chop..

Like-wise with P-38s, [as with P-47s] although turbo-powered & best performing at high altitude
- they had been relegated - displaced from the fighter role by P-51s.

& due to losses in strike/attack -ended up doing [ & not too well at that] a medium bomber job..

[MiloMorai]

Operation Clarion was an Allied campaign of Strategic bombing during World War II which attacked 200 Nazi Germany communication network targets to open Operation Veritable/Grenade.

[J.A.W.]

Op' Clarion involved the Allied Tactical AFs as well as Strategic..

Literally - thousands of sorties.

In his auto-biography Chuck Yeager describes his role in it as..[P.90]
'zapping farmers' & is unequivocal in his description of it as an 'atrocity'.

It was likely pay-back for being caught with their arse showing on 1-1-45,
-something kinda along the lines of..

 'You call that a JABO strike, this is a JABO strike'..

[Hajo]

One must remember the P51 arrived late on the scene.  In 1944 the LW had its' best fighter production of the war.

Problem was they had no pilots.  The 51s fought less experienced fighter pilots by in large..  The Jug fought the best of them

simply for the fact they were there first.  51 was a spectacular fighter to be sure.  But most of those 51 drivers were shooting

down LW pilots in Jugs or 38s before the P51 showed up.  51 was a late comer to the ETO. They made around 15,000 Jugs

for a reason you know

[Mister Fork]

In the AvA during late war setups with the Tempest - they are a beast. JABO - faster in and out than a Tiffie, and can then stick around and eat up FW's and Bf's as a dessert. Not much fun with them around unless you're in a Me-262 or Fw-190D9 or Bf-109K4.

I forgot about the Tempest, she's a beast for JABO but a complete fuel pig as she's also very thirsty. Good for short range jumps and patrols.

[Hajo]

P-47 went on tactical strike as a fall-back when it was dumped like a sweaty smurfy chick
-from all but one 8th AF fighter group - when the pretty hot P-51 showed up in numbers.

However, once palmed off with dozens of jug squadrons the 9th AF, had to put them to tactical use.
 
The turbo jug was best performing at high altitude, & kinda sluggish on the deck,
& the Soviets had P-47s but didn't use 'em as mud-movers..

Twins like the Mossie & P-38 proved to be large & expensive targets for LW flak,
& the high loss rates on ops curtailed their use in close support roles.

As for it being a less then stellar fighter.  The 56th who flew it continuously during the War

listed 42 aces.  That proves it was efficient in the right hands.  And as I stated in an earlier post,

when the pony entered service most of the best LW pilots were gone.  Only a few remained.

And the ones they fought at that point of the war were ill trained at best.  The LW killed

most of their experienced pilots instead of sending them back to train new ones.  They flew

until they couldn't fly anymore from injury or death.  The 51 had a tad easier road to hoe.

Oh....btw......what did the highest scoring ace in the ETO fly?  Yep...ya got it the P47.

Your honor I rest my case 

[J.A.W.]

Not as thirsty in reality as the fat hog `47, & the N-series was a virtual
flying gas tank.

& while they churned them `47s out like sausages, they still didn't cut the mustard with the Mustang results-wise, not in A2A - or JABO roles.

The 56th solely kept flying them in the 8th AF, for largely political reasons,
& ostensibly to test the 'hot-rod' M-type, which was supposedly built to catch
V1 cruise missiles - but in fact, again the `51 was the only US fighter to have
the speed on the deck to do that too..

The USAAF dropped the`47 & the`38 pretty quick-smart post-war,
since they were too expensive for results obtained..

[Hajo]

They sold the P47s to other countries and they flew for years afterwards.

51s were regarded as fragile even in the fighter role.  Their reliability in the JABO role

was significantly lower then the P47s.  History tells us that. 

[J.A.W.]

Here's some history then, as cited in 'Tank Buster Vs Combat Vehicle' P.68..

Tactical losses for `47s from invasion to VE day = 1,374 aircraft..

150 of those being lost in Feb alone..

& the USAF chose the P-51D for the GA role in Korea, not the P-47..