Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Most under-appreciated aircraft of WWII

YES!

A friend of mine's father flew them over the Hump to supply Chiang.

Under appreciated?

Those fighters that served the line early in the war against superior enemy aircraft. The P-40, the F4F, the P-39 all held their own until the aircraft Industry sprang ahead delivering the P-51, P-47, F6F that took the war to the enemy.

Certainly there are other less glamorous types that served well. The C-47 and other transports that fed the tail of the dragon to make sure beans and bullets made it forward.

Another personal favorite is the PBY who was the eyes, ears and sometimes the teeth of the fleet in far flung places. The Black Cats did amazing jobs.

Don't forget lighter than air! No convey protected by blimps were successfully attacked by U-Boats.

Read an interesting story years back about a serviceman who was shot down early in the war, and survived in the bush with natives for several years.

After he was reunited with US forces he was being transported on a ship when he looked up and saw planes approaching, which he believed were Japanese because of their silhouette. He took cover much to the amusement of his new ship mates.

Turned out they were P47's which he had never heard of, and obviously never seen, but had the same silhouette as an early Jap plane, can't remember which one.

Wish I could remember the name of the book, from what I remember it was a great read.

I'll go across the big pond and nominate the Hurricane.Spits always get the glory but Hawker put together a not so glamorous superb flying machine.

Now there's a statistic I wasn't aware of; very interesting.

IIRC the Hurricane was the only fighter fast enough to catch the V1's.

For doing an awful lot of hard work and always being in another's shadow, there is the B-24 quietly playing second fiddle to the B-17.

I think that you're thinking of the Hawker Tempest and Typhoon, rather than the older Hurricane.

Not the Hurricane. You're maybe thinking Typhoon/Tempest. But the later Spits did it, too.

Don't know how accurate it is but I've read that the P-47 Thunderbolt was the highest production WW2 U.S. aircraft. It certainly became quite well known and greatly appreciated around my area for the thousands of much needed jobs when Republic built a big plant to manufacture P-47 in Evansville, IN. My mother worked there during the war.

The P-40 was or was pretty close being the most produced Allied fighter of the war. And though considered even at the time to be more or less obsolete compared to the best Axis fighters, it soldiered on right up through the end of the war and provided invaluable service. In the right hand at low altitudes it could hold its own. And its use in some of the more out of the way theatres freed up the later fighters for use elsewhere.

We produced just a couple more P47's than we did Mustangs....15,660 vs. 15,586. There were more DC3's produced than anything else, but the link doesn't separate out DC3 vs. C47.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-produced_aircraft

The Bearcat was essentially a much lightened and shortened
Hellcat. By reducing it weight and bulk, but using the same engine top speed and climb rate was increased dramatically. It was also intended that the new lighter plane could operate off the smaller escort carriers, something the Hellcat could not..

However, the same design brief also meant it had serious limitations..Its armament was reduced to 4 .50cal, each with a reduced load of ammo, plus fuel was also reduced to save weight/space, meaning it had a much reduced range.

Indeed it became used primarily as a short range interceptor for fleet defence while the Hellcat was retained for longer range operations.

I think the Bearcat entered service too late to see combat in WW2, but did see combat with the French in Indochina shortly after..

Believe it had the highest kill ratio also, and the most air aces.

Not sure whether stats are from just Europe, or both Europe and the Pacific... but it was something like;

8,000 + aircraft destroyed
9,000 + locomotives destroyed
40,000 railroad cars destroyed
7,000 tanks and armored vehicles destroyed.
and an unbelievable number of trucks, cars, and soft targets.

Was the precursor to the wanting to retire A10


Phil

As for under appreciated aircraft, how about the P72 Super Thunderbolt?

Developed as a high speed interceptor based on the highly successful Thunderbolt airframe, it offered significant performance improvements in a number of areas.

Had it entered production, it would have been one of the very fastest piston fighters of the war with a top speed approaching 500mph, and with a max altitude well in excess of 40k feet..

Apparently only two prototypes ever flew, by which time the USAAF decided it did not need this particular type of aircraft!

Heard they really had to fight to keep them from breaking the sound barrier in a dive.

Phil

I'll offer the Northrop P-61 as an under appreciated aircraft.

Piper L-4 Grasshopper, used for observation/courier/ambulance/etc.

And both planes used the 2,000 HP Pratt & Whitney engine. Those planes had a distinct sound with that deep growl. When you heard it, you knew what it was; you didn't need to look up.


Jim

It seems you never hear as much about the F4U Corsair. Most experts agree it was a better handling craft than the F6F but could not be used aboard carriers in its original versions. The Marines put them to excellent use from land based strips. Even shot down a Mig-15 in Korea. 11.1-1 kill ratio in the Pacific plus they just looked sexy.

NoCAL