the best plane of ww2

[preb]

hi,
i am doing some research on peoples views on the best world war 2 plane

1) best fighter

2) best bomber

3) best recon

4) best reansport

5) best plane

i thought i should ask people who know about planes instead of random members of the public

[Corsarius]

No! Bad poster! Bad poster! *hits preb with rolled-up copy of warbirds international*

We've just done all these on various threads on the forum, if you cruise through you should find all your answers there. Otherwise, if you want to consolidate the answers in one thread, good luck to you!

edit:
Running through the various threads, I picked up this as (a fairly grudging) consensus. Nobody shoot me if I left something out. Please note that this is a general consensus, and not what I (or others) may entirely agree with.

Best Fighter seems to tie FW-190, P-47 and P-51
Best Bomber Mosquito or Lancaster
Best Recon (I couldnt find a thread, so I'll just put BV-141)
Best Transport opinion differs, but C-47 and Ju-52 are clear favourites. I personally like the Me-323 as an ultra-heavy transport
Best Plane Let's not touch this one, ok?

[simon]

*Looks on smiling whilst Corsarius beats Preb*

What about the oh-so-often-missed-out "Best Trainer"? Best divebomber? Best Torpedo Bomber? Best Ground Attack? You've missed out one or two very important categories there!

Well, my votes for what it's worth:

Best Fighter: I'd agree with Corsarius, but add Spitfire for a 4 way tie, my difinitive answer would be Spitfire MkXIV for a combat model.

Best Bomber: Disagree and go for B-29, for all my arguments over it it was best, but I still maintain it wasn't a whole generation ahead of the Lancaster and Lincoln.

Best Recon: Hmmmmmm.... Naval or Terrestrial? Well Naval I'd say Sunderland or Kawanishi H8K Mavis, Terrestrial, my vote goes for a 3 way tie over the Ju86, Mosquito and PR Spitfires.

Transport: 3 way between Ju52, C-46 and C-47, with the Bombay as a definite runner up.

Best Plane: too wide ranging a category, and far too many different characteristics to take into account!

Well you asked and no doubt you'll take issue with the fact the Me262 is nowhere to be seen ;)

[GregP]

Well you got the answers I expected from Corsarius and Simon.

Can't disagree with them greatly, except I doubt the BV-141 was the best.

For best recon, I'd have to agree with the Kawanishi Emily Flying Boat. A truly great plane for the intended use.

The jets were wonderful but had no impact on the war, so the piston fighters were and are the logical candidates.

Best plane, as both Corsarius and Simon said, is a tough nut to crack.

The B-29 WAS a generation ahead of any other heavy bomber.
B-29: 574 kph, 9072 kg bomb load, 5955 km range, ceiling 9707 m.
Lincoln: 499 kph, 6350 kg bomb load, 6900 km range, ceiling 8534m.
Lancaster: 452 kph, 6350 kg bomb load, 2735 km range, ceiling 6086 m.

3970 B-29's built. Lincolns entered RAF service in 1946, so they missed WWII. 7377 Lancaster aircraft built.


The B-29 was more than 100 kph faster than the Lancaster, hauled more the 2700 kg more bombs, and flew 3700 m higher. The Lincoln had a 1000 kn range advantage, but the B-29's range was sufficient for WWII targets and the Lincoln never saw service in WWII.

B-29's regularly throttled up to max speed for the bomb run and egress. If a fighter trying to intercept it missed on the first pass, forget it. There was simply no way to catch it.

Was it the best plane of WWII? I can't say since I doubt any two people in the world have the same view of THAT plane.

[simon]

Dammit Gregp, don't make me agree with you! It had better engines maybe and pressuristation (Which was used on the Wellington and Ju86R and no-one would suggest that they were the best), but was essentially no real advance on any WWII bomber, yeah it could reach faster speeds than any fighter over the Pacific, but that's no great achievement consider the standards of Japanese fighters by Summer 1944. Plus the Lancaster was available in 1942, the B-29 wasn't around for another two years!!!

I've said it was the best, but I still disagree on the whole "Generation" thing, for all my dislikes of Corsarius' favourite "Schnellbombers", the true leap in terms of the next generation, not just for speed, but for what it pushed the ceilings to was the Jet bombers, and they didn't happen till 1946 at the absolute earliest, post WWII.

[Corsarius]

Dammit Simon, now you're forcing me to agree with you!

As for the Blohm und Voss aircraft, I just sort of threw it in there. I know it's not really the best, but surely it's one of the most distincitive!