world war 2 aircraft?

Question

what where the names of each country's fighter planes during world war 2 and i know each country loved and swore by their own planes but was there any superior to others?
Was it just after world war2 that the Russian's got copy's of the Rolls Royce engine for the Spitfire and put it in their planes that could go high altitude?

Answer 1

Long List but lets Play

Germany

Me109. Good single engined short range fighter developed up to the end of the war but somewhat inadequate after 1944



Me110. Twin Engined Longer range Heavy fighter. Incredibly well armed but not too manoeuvrable. Became easy prey for single engined fighters before being relegated to night fighting



FW190.single Radial Engined First Used in 1941 it was superior to the RAF`s Spitfire Vs. Constantly developed during the war. Still useful to the end including the TA152 versions with In line engines.



ME262. First operational Jet Fighter. Twin Jumo Engines. Very fast, incredibly well armed and because of Hitlers insistence on the bomber version being built first, not enough to materially effect the outcome of the war. That wasn`t known until after we won.



Great Britain.

Hawker Hurricane. Single engined short range fighter developed from the Fury biplane. Very durable. Shot down over half the German aircraft in the Battle of Britain. used later in the war in Burma and Africa and as a Ground attack weapon with 2 x 40 mm Cannon nailed under the wings. Also navalised as a Sea Hurricane with an arrester hook.



Supermarine Spitfire. Single engined short range fighter. Originally with the RR Merlin Engine later versions used the RR Griffon. Developed and used on the front line to the end of the war and beyond. Also used for reconnaissance loaded with fuel instead of weapons. The ultimate pure fighter. Also navalised as a Seafire with an arrester hook and folding wings.



Hawker Typhoon and Tempest. Replacements for the Hurricane using a Huge Napier 24 cylinder engine the weight penalty made them less useful above 12000 feet. Developed into a mud mover with bombs and rockets as well as an extremely useful low level fighter.



Bristol Beaufighter. Twin radial engined (some with inline Merlins) heavy fighter developed into a torpedo bomber and pure ground attack bomber mainly for anti shipping duties as well as night fighting. heavy armament of 4 x .303 and 4 x 20mm



Bolton paul Defiant. 4 gun turret fighter. used in combat as a bomber destroyer but a flawed concept. single engined fighters flew rings around it and blew them out of the sky.



U.S. in Europe

P-38 Lightning. Twin engined Twin Boom medium range Fighter. Manouevrable single seater with surprising agility for a twin. Only US fighter carrying cannons in Europe. Fought the early fighter battles for the 8th AF but hampered by engine problems with the turbocharged Allison engines at High altitude



P-47 Thunderbolt. The second fighter to come over with the early 8th AF. Big, Heavy single radial engined single seater. fought with distinction to the end of the War with the 56th FG when everyone else was flying Mustangs. Also very good Ground attack aircraft.



P-51 Mustang. Longe range single engined single seater. Originally ordered by the British with Allison Engines, Rolls Royce "borrowed" one and nailed a Merlin on the front instead of the Allison. This led to the best Long Range Fighter of the war. used by certain Central American countries until the 70`s as anti insurgency aircraft. Not so good as Ground attack due to vulnerability of Liquid cooled engines.



US in Pacific

P51 Mustang see above. Hampered by no naval version



F4F Wildcat. Single Engined single seat naval fighter. In Use at time of Pearl harbour. short styocky aircraft able to destroy bombers but limited in dogfighting with zeros due to manouvreability deficit. well built and rugged. Used by the fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy as the Martlett.



F6F Hellcat. Next step up from the F4F the hellcat was ordered off the drawing board almost. A vice free but heavy duty fighter they helped to turn the tide in the pacific. Also used by the FAA.



F4U Corsair. Take the most powerful engine you can find, hang a gas tank behind it with a pair of wings and squeeze the pilot where you can fit him. Originally known as the "Bent wing bastard from Stratford Connecticut" the Corsair was developed into an enormously successful carrier fighter. Used by the Marines as well as the US Navy, FAA and Dominion airforces of the British Empire



Russia.

Yak 7,9 and 3 Single inline engined single seaters. Designed by Yakolev they were designed and built after the german attack on the USSR. Similar in size to the Spitfire just not quite as advanced.



Lavochkin LA5/7. Single radial engine Single seat soviet fighter with high speed and manouevrability





Japan.



Mitsubishi Zero or Zeke. The all conquering Hero at the start of the pacific war it soon began to sustain losses due to its incredibly flimsy construction and the fact it was underpowered. Little used late on except in desperation and Kamikaze attacks



Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien. Single seater using a licence built version of Germany`s DB 601/3 series of engines. Similar in size to a Me109 it also spawned a radial engined version called the Ki-100.



The Russians used Spitfires and Hurricanes during the war and therefore had copies of the Merlin long before the end. After the war they asked for and were given an example of the early Rolls Royce Jet engine for "evaluation. They then copied this and used it in many early soviet jet aircraft. This is nothing new from the Russians they also built and used illegally copied versions of the DC3 and B29



Ray.

Answer 2

British: Hawker Hurricane, *Supermarine Spitfire



Germany : *ME Bf109 ME Bf110 Focke Wolfe 190 ME 262 (jet)



US: *P51 Mustang F4F Wildcat F4U Corsair F6F Hellcat P-38 Lightning P-39 Airacobra P-40 Warhawk P-47 Thunderbolt P-51 Mustang P-61 Black Widow



Japan: *A6M Zero Ki-43 Oscar



Russia: MIg-1, Mig-3, Yak-1, -3, -7, *-9



Many of these were produced in several variants. There were many other planes as well, but these were the principle ones. The best (IMHO) in each countries inventory are marked with an asterisk.



The best fighter plane in the Pacific theater was the Zero.



The best fighter plane of the European theater, and of the war, IMO was the Mustang p51B and later models. The addition of the Packard -built supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin engine gave the plane additional speed and ceiling. The plane had the range to escort bombers all the way to Berlin.



When Herman Goering looked up and saw the Mustangs in the sky over Berlin he turned to a colleague and said " The war is over. We have lost"



If Hitler hadn't insisted that the ME 262 be configured for ground support, instead of as a pure fighter, this would have been the dominaant fighter of the war. By the time development was complete, and deployment had started, daily bombing of the industrial sector prevented the massive production which would have been necessary to affect the course of the war.



And yes, the Russians got the Merlin after the war.

Answer 3

There were many fighters throughout the war. Six years is a long time in a real war. Remember wartime procurement is different than peacetime. The current several year process did not reign in WWII. Listing all the fighters of all the belligerents is the work of a book. Some of the superior ones are: early war German ME-109, Japanese Zero, British Spitfire. Mid to late war we see the US Hellcat (carrier based), P-51D Mustang, German ME-262 jet fighter.

Answer 4

UK:

Supermarine Spitfire - Britain's best all around fighter from the beginning to end of the war. Versions served in practically all theaters and in several Allied air forces including Russia and the US.



US:

P-51 Mustang - The US's best all around fighter of the war. It's excellent range and capabilities helped swing the balance to the Allies in the daylight bombing campaign against Germany. It served with the US and UK. After the war, Mustangs went on to serve as fighter bombers in Korea.



F4U Corsair - One of the best naval fighter aircraft of the war. Tough, heavily armed, and powerful. It served with the US and UK. The Corsair not only survived the war. It did sterling service in the Korean War as well.



Germany:

Bf-109 - A strong rival to the Spitfire, it served Germany throughout the war and formed the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter strength.



Fw-190 - An excellent all around fighter, which helped to demonstrate the value of radial engines in the European theater, where liquid cooled engines dominated.



Japan:

A6M Zero - The backbone of Japan's naval fighter strength throughout the war. It dominated the Pacific in the war's early days.



Russia:

La-5 / La-7 - A highly effective fighter equal to any western fighter available, and the mount of several of Russia's top aces. It represented a major portion of Russia's fighter strenghth by 1943.

Answer 5

I believe that most planes used in world war II were the ultimate in design for their time.....each country had great aircraft and each was in competition with each other for competance.

Answer 6

Don't know all of them; but there was the Hurricane as well as the spitfire. Germany had Messerscmitts, U.S. had Typhoons and Mustangs, and Japan had the Zero.

Answer 7

for the us it was the P-51d mustang the japanese their main fighter was the zero the nazis the bf109 the british the supermarine spitfire