WW II aircraft trivia

buckaroo

buckaroo

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Its no secret that the darling aircraft of WW II is the P51 Mustang and with good reason. It has been called the best American fighter of all time, including today's fighters. Another favorite from WW II is the F4U Corsair, that is said to be the fastest WW II aircraft of them all. But how many people know that the most productive aircraft of WW II is the F6F Hellcat. There were 12,275 Hellcats built, 12,575 Corsairs built and well over 16,000 Mustangs built. The kill ratio for the Hellcat was a formidable 19:1 while both the Mustang and the Corsair had a kill ratio of 11:1. My opinion of the popularity of the Mustang and the Corsair is mostly due to their design and looks. The lowly Hellcat wasn't much to look at, but it's success undoubtedly helped shorten the war in the Pacific.
 
Interesting stats, Buckaroo. Do you happen to have the figures on my personal favourite aircraft, the Supermarine Spitfire? Britain made over 20K and used it up through the late 40's and I don't believe there are more than 2-3 still existing and I'm not sure if any of those are flyable? had a good kill ratio against the Me-109's.

Also, wasn't a Spitfire the first aircraft to exceed 600 mph (1943?)? I've heard that the P51 was the first but I believe I've read somewhere that either the Hurricane or the Spitfire was actually first.

Anyway, good info and thanks.
 
Couldn't find any info on which aircraft reached the 600 mph mark, but did see that the Spitfire reached 606 mph in a diving test in 1943.

I have many favorites from this era and one that gets little attention is the de Havilland Mosquito.

If you are into military aircraft from the beginning to Desert Storm, you can find the series "Dogfights" on DVD. That series was on the History Channel and ran for a couple of years. It is a great series that uses computer generated videos that are very lifelike. It puts you in the seat, on the wing, behind and in front of the aircraft as they battle in the skies. I highly recommend this series for aircraft buffs.
 
buckaroo said:
Still, a flop for a fighter and they only shot down 16 aircraft, most of which were big bombers. Many serious problems with this rocket.
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Did they get 16? I thought that it was a lower figure?

I think I remember reading where the thing was almost uncontrolable under power. It had a very short wingspan.
I think the German's corrected this problem with the ME-262, which I'm glad only saw limited service.
 
John Galt said:
Yes, but wasn't the ME-163 rocket propelled?
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That's right and after takeoff, they would release the wheels making it use it's belly for landing. The ****pit wasn't pressurized either so the pilots had to be able to handle the rocket at high altitudes breathing only from a mask. Funny thing is that the pilots had to be on a special diet to keep gases down in their own system. At higher altitudes, that gas would expand. Ouch!
 
John Galt said:
Did they get 16? I thought that it was a lower figure?

I think I remember reading where the thing was almost uncontrolable under power. It had a very short wingspan.
I think the German's corrected this problem with the ME-262, which I'm glad only saw limited service.
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The ME 262 was not a rocket propelled aircraft, but rather the first jet fighter ever.
 
buckaroo said:
The ME 262 was not a rocket propelled aircraft, but rather the first jet fighter ever.
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Yep, I was aware of that. What I was referring to was the handling problems. From all I've read, the ME262 was a real tank to manuver but it was eons better than the 163.
 
I've seen a few things about the 262, but know of the risks of the rocket. It was indeed very hard to control, and one of the test pilots for the rocket was a woman named Hanna Reitsch. She crashed on her fifth flight, but went on to become Hitler's favorite pilot. Some pilots of the ME 163 litterally burned to death in the ****pit because of the volatility of the fuel and no protection for the pilot.
 
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