Which fighter scored the most kills in history of air combat?

[GRUNHERZ]

Anyone know?

[hblair]

one oh nine?

[Spatula]

Dont know for sure but it must be either the 109 or spitfire assumming you only which plane and not which plane/model.

[Voss]

P51, but if you include ground kills, P47. That's from memory and I could be mistaken.

You got some kind of WWII triva book?

 

[GRUNHERZ]

Air to air kills.

This isnt a triva thing really, Im just not sure which one it is.

[Karnak]

I would guess the Bf109.

The Spitfire can't compete. It was never used against hordes of semi trained pilots like the Bf109 was on the eastern front.

P-51 and P-47 have the same problem the Spitfire does.

[Dowding]

I reckon the 109, for the reasons Karnak gave.

Those Russian I-planes were in plentiful supply early on.

[Fester']

has to be the 109.

they built 35,000 of the damn things and used them from the 1937 spanish civil war onwards and on every front the germans fought right up till the end of the war in europe.

[Asmodan]

Bf 109 - for sure
andthebest pilot was Erich Hartmann with he`s 352 confirmed kills.

[NineZ]

One-OH-Nine....    
 www.historynet.com/AviationHistory/articles/1999/0599_text.htm

"Although Allied bombing made it difficult to calculate an exact figure, it has been estimated that as many as 33,000 Me-109s of all models were built, making it second only to the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik as the most mass-produced warplane in history. Moreover, the ubiquitous Me-109 was credited with shooting down more enemy aircraft and producing more aces than any single fighter in the annals of aerial warfare. Although not the most aesthetically pleasing airplane ever built, the Messerschmitt earned its place among the aviation classics--and, if not affection, at least respect. "


  NeunZ......

[ 09-29-2001: Message edited by: NineZ ]

[Boozer]

Some plane had to shoot em all down  

 P-51

[NineZ]

Roger that, Boozer.  

Everything moves on and even the German pilots that swore by the 109 realized it was being out paced by superior Allied aircraft.  Of course the FW190D and the ME262 were also superior aircraft.  If the Luftwaffe would have focused on the 262 as a fighter a wee bit sooner, we would have had our hands full.

I would say that it was mainly a matter of numbers.  Men, Equipment, Fuel, etc...

Thank goodness, because they had some really good pilots. hehee  

[Hooligan]

Has to be the 109.

Of course the 109 also wins the distinction of being the fighter that was most frequently shot down...

Hooligan

[Sorrow[S=A]]

No it doesn't.

That would belong to the Il-2, I-16.
Only 1 out of every 5 Il-2's survived the war. And I-16's were frequently shot down 3 or 4 times in a row and still patched up and reflown. Niether was retired but rather flown until they crashed or were shot down. The 109's took losses, but each new generation saw the older ones scrapped and replaced. Thus statistacilly it probably lost nowhere near as many planes.

[LtHans]

This is damn near a trick question.  I hear some of you guys saying the P-51.  Yes, it is a good fighter, but it only served in the tail end of the war so it didn't get as much combat as other planes.

In terms of the most enemy planes shot down by one single aircraft design, that honor is bestowed upon the B-17 bomber.

For the most fighter vs fighter kills, that is the Me109.

For the highest kill to death ratio, that is the Corsair.

[ 09-29-2001: Message edited by: LtHans ]