Posted on 06/15/2018 7:14:01 AM PDT by Simon Green
Yes, ... Let’s try Ta-152 then (one of Prof. Tank’s last).
The Hellcat had the highest kill/loss ratio of any fighter in WWII. Hard to argue against it's inclusion on the list.
A specialty fighter model for high altitudes, the Ta-152 came late in the war and achieved little in the way of operational history. If you were trying to catch and kill a high-flying and fast Mosquito though, it was the best thing the Germans ever had.
It might be available used. It’s a thorough history of the P38.
The Buffalo is proof that the most important component of any fighter is the pilot. Put the Japanese pilots that dominated the skies over Southeast Asia in Buffalos, and their opponents in Zeros, and they still dominate. The Allied pilots just did not have the necessary experience to face Japanese pilots who had been fighting for years over China. Likewise the Finns dominated in Buffalos because they had more flying experience than the second rate Russian pilots sent off to a literal backwoods front.
Or just wait until those short range planes come in to land.
The SPAD certainly was the greatest fighter of the era. A case could probably be made that the Fokker D7 deserves a mention, but it arrived too late to make much difference (like the ME 262 in the next war) and was still flame bait for the faster SPAD.
I've had the pleasure of watching this one take off and land in person on more than one occasion:
It's basically airborne in 50 yards of runway field.
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