This is listed by country, and is based on performance in a pure fighter role of the best variants of whatever I think were: the best single engine fighter planes (i.e. the "Good"); those that I think were mediocre (i.e. the "Bad"); and the planes that were just plain awful (i.e. the "Ugly"). It does not include ground attack/support performance. The statistics come from Wiki, where possible.
USA, USA, USA!!!!
The Good
There is no argument here. The best fighter aircraft produced in the USA during WW2 was the P-51D Mustang.
The P-51D version (in British markings above) had a 41,000 foot service ceiling, and it could climb at 3,200 feet per minute meaning it could fly higher than any of its opponents. It was also very manoeuvrable, more so that a ME-109, but barely better than a FW-190, its main opponents over Germany. At 437 MPH, it was also much faster than both of these opponents. Finally, with six .50 cal machine guns, it was heavily armed.
The Mustang had its faults. It had a reserve fuel tank behind the pilot that threw off the centre of gravity and made it a dangerous plane to fly when fully loaded. It had problems with its guns in earlier versions because the bullet feed was angled, meaning they regularly jammed. Finally, the very first version used an Allison engine that severely restricted its high altitude performance. When the switch was made to the British Merlin engine starting in late 1943, the result was a world-beater.
It's best feature was its range - 1,650 miles with drop tanks meaning it could go well into Germany from the UK and back, providing fighter escort to US heavy bombers.
If there is a close second to the Mustang, it is the F4U Chance Vought Corsair. This plane and its pilots were so feared by its Japanese opponents that they nicknamed it "whispering death". By the end of WW2, American pilots flying the Corsair had achieved a 11 to 1 kill ratio against the Japanese. The P-47 Thunderbolt also deserve honourable mention.
The Bad
The US produced tens of thousands of mediocre fighters, especially during the first few years of the war. Of these, the P-40 Warhawk (first below) and the Grumman Wildcat (second below) stand out.
These were useful planes. They were primarily pitted against - in the case of the P-40 - German ME-109s and Italian Macchi 202's in North Africa, and in the case of both planes, against Japanese Zeros and Oscars in the Pacific.
The P-40 was used by the Americans, the British and Commonwealth countries in North Africa, the Americans and the Commonwealth countries again in the Pacific, and the Russians on the Eastern Front. The Wildcat was a naval fighter, used by the United States Navy and the Royal Navy flying off of aircraft carriers throughout the war. It was also used by the United States Marine Corps.
The problem with the P-40 was that it was too slow compared to the ME-109's that were used by the Germans and did not climb fast enough or fly high enough. This allowed Luftwaffe pilots to fly above the P-40's, sweep down on them, shoot at them, then climb away to safety to heights that the P-40 with its Allison engine simply could not reach. Many Luftwaffe pilots, led by Hans-Joachim Marseille, racked up enormous numbers of kills flying in ME-109s against British and Commonwealth pilots in P-40s in North Africa. When he died in a flying accident on September 30, 1942, Marseille had 158 kills to his credit...at least thirty were scored against pilots in the P-40.
Here are the comparable statistics for the P-40E versus the ME-109F, its main opponent in North Africa to mid-1942:
Speed - 360 MPH for the P-40E, versus 390 MPH for the ME-190F
Climb - 2,100 feet per minute for the P-40E, versus 3,300 feet per minute for the ME-109F
Service Ceiling - 29,000 feet for the P-40E, versus 37,000 feet for the ME-109E.
To be fair, the P-40 was more maneuvrable than the ME-109F, especially below 15,000 feet. Whenever pilots in P-40s were given a chance to fight pilots in ME-109Fs in turning combats below 15,000, they did very well. But these opportunities were very rare. The Germans were well aware of the P-40's strengths and weaknesses and that they could be out-turned by pilots in this plane, so they simply didn't fight that way.
The P-40 was a much more competitive aircraft in the Pacific Theatre. It was faster than either the Zero or Oscar that were used by the Japanese, and it could easily dive faster than both. It was also armed with six .50 calibre machine guns that could chew either of these planes into shreds in a short burst as neither had armour plating or self-sealing fuel tanks in their earlier versions.
The Japanese aircraft had been designed for turning combats, and they were fantastically maneuvrable. When P-40 pilots tried to fight the Japanese in this way early in the war, they were shot down in droves, as were Allied pilots in any other fighter plane that was pitted against the Japanese, including the Spitfire.
The most successful pilots flying the P-40 against the Japanese were the Flying Tigers, who were a group of American mercenaries flying for the air force of Nationalist China (P-40C versions). They avoided any turning combat against the Japanese, and used exactly the same tactics that the Germans used in North Africa to defeat the British and Commonwealth pilots in the P-40.
To recap, this tactic required that they flew higher than the Japanese, and used their superior speed to dive through their formations, picking off whatever they could, then extending away out of range before the Japanese could respond. Using these tactics, the Flying Tigers claimed an incredible 297 kills for the loss of only 14 pilots dead, missing or captured. This total is probably overstated as the Americans got a bonus of $500 for every Japanese plane shot down, so they had a financial incentive to over claim (In fact, British pilots flying against the Japanese in the same theatre were known to allow Americans to claim their kills in order to split the bonus that was paid by the Chinese!), nonetheless there is no question that they used the P-40 with tremendous success in China in 1942.
The Wildcat was the main US Navy and Marines fighter plane for the first 18 months that the USA was involved in WW2. The main opponent for American pilots in the Wildcat were Japanese pilots in the Mitsubishi A6M Model 21 Zero. Let's look at the basic comparable statistics:
Speed - 318 MPH for the Wildcat; 332 MPH for the A6M 21 Model of the Zero
Climb - 2,300 feet per minute for the F4F Wildcat; 3,100 feet per minute for the Zero
Service Ceiling - 39,000 feet for the Wildcat; 32,800 feet for the Zero
The Wildcat had a much better service ceiling, but in the Pacific this didn't really matter because the combat was dominated by the need to attack or defend ships, so it occurred at or not too far above sea level. The Zero was far more maneuvrable than the Wildcat, and could easily out-climb it. Unlike the P-40, it was also faster than the Wildcat. In short, there was basically nothing that the Wildcat could do better than its main opponent, save and except that it could out-dive the Zero.
However, the Wildcat had the American standard six .50 calibre machine guns. It also had armour plating to protect the pilot, and self-sealing fuel tanks (...basically, fuel tanks wrapped in layers of vulcanised rubber and light metal. When a bullet pierced the tank, the rubber would expand when it came into contact with the gasoline, and seal the hole.) So if a Wildcat pilot could survive long enough to get a shot at a Zero, the Zero pilot was often dead, because as noted, the Japanese did not provide armour plating or self-sealing fuel tanks in the earlier versions of their planes...and sometime they even took the radios and parachutes out of their planes to make them even more maneuvrable! The challenge for the Americans was to figure out how to get the pilots of these awesome Japanese aircraft into their gun sights when they over-matched them in just about every way possible.
And so...welcome the America! By the end of WW2, the American Navy and Marine fighter pilots had claimed an almost 7 to 1 kill ratio against the Japanese while flying Wildcats, which even the Americans would admit was a mediocre plane at best. How did they do this?
Since they could not beat them one-on-one, the Americans resorted to team work and specialized tactics to defeat the Japanese. The simplest tactic was called the Thatch Weave. If one pilot got a Zero on his tail, he and his partner would both weave. The pilot with the Zero behind him would pull into a turn, with the Zero close behind. His wingman would go in the opposite direction. They would then reverse direction, and the first pilot would then fly across the front of his wingman after they both turned back. The Zero would usually follow, flying right across the wingman's gun sights as he followed the first Wildcat, allowing him to take a high percentage shot. Zero pilots usually fought alone, so they usually never had anyone to support them.
Here it is...
The Ugly
Almost universally, anyone commenting on the worst fighter aircraft produced in the USA during WW2 will name the Brewster Buffalo.
How bad was this airplane?
The Buffalo was used by the British and Commonwealth air forces in Singapore, Malaya and Burma against the Japanese who were using Nates and Oscars; by the Dutch in Indonesia against Japanese pilots in the the Zero; by the Americans at the battle of Midway against pilots in Zero again; and by the Finns against the Russians using mostly I-15s and I-16s, as well as some Hurricanes and other Russians types.
In only one of these scenarios was anyone really successful using the Buffalo. The Finns claimed an unbelievable 477 Soviet aircraft destroyed for a loss of only 19 Buffalos for a kill ratio of just over 26 to 1. This is probably the highest kill ratio for any fighter aircraft in the history of warfare, save nd except the F-15. Not bad for an "ugly" airplane!
In the China-Burma-India Theatre, British, New Zealand and Australian Buffalo squadrons did marginally well against their Japanese opposition.
In the defence of Malaya and Singapore, the British and Commonwealth pilots claimed a 1.3 to 1 kill ratio. This is pretty terrible, especially as many of their kills were against Japanese bombers that had no armour or self-sealing tanks. Compared to other Allied formations, however - the Dutch in Indonesia, the Americans in the Philippines and Australia, and the Chinese - they actually did fairly well. Other than the Flying Tigers noted above, many of these other Allied formations were completely eliminated by the Japanese with virtually no losses no matter what they were flying. The British and Commonwealth pilots in their Buffalos probably shot down 80 + Japanese aircraft in the first months of the war in the Pacific for the loss of about 70 of their own.
Over Burma, the British had one squadron of Buffalos - the 67th. They destroyed 27 Japanese aircraft for 8 Buffalos shot down before the Japanese advance forced them to withdraw to India. A 3.5 to 1 kill ratio doesn't quite match what the Flying Tigers were doing, but it is actually very respectable.
In Indonesia, the Dutch used over 50 of the latest version of the Buffalo. They got about 55 kills for 30 Buffalos destroyed. This isn't terrible, but it didn't help the plane's reputation.
What essentially destroyed the plane's reputation was the performance of the US Marine pilots flying from Midway Island in the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. Twenty of these pilots tried to intercept over 60 Japanese aircraft attacking the island, and 13 of them were shot down. They may have shot down three of the Japanese aircraft. It was a disastrous end to the plane's career...it as quickly taken out of US service after this.
Germany - The Luftwaffe
The Good:
There is room for argument here because the Germans built so many good aircraft during WW2. If a choice has to be made, it would be shared by the ME-109F, and the FW-190A (seen first and second below), although the FW-190D - the "Dora D" - could also easily be on this list. The ME-262 is not on the list as this tome only covers single-engine aircraft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-662-6659-37,_Flugzeug_Messerschmitt_Me_109.jpg
These two aircraft were completely dominant from mid-1941 until mid-1942. This time period included the German attack on Russia, and the first of the back and forth battles between the Germans and Italians, and the British in North Africa.
The ME-109F was a modification of the ME-109E that the Germans had used in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. Over Russia in 1941 and into 1942, and over North Africa its opposition were flying I-153's, and I-16's (Russians), and Hawker Hurricane IIs and Curtiss Tomahawk Is and Curtiss Kittyhawks (British). The Germans also confronted pilots in Hurricane IIs and Spitfires V's over the English Channel and France. Here are the performance comparisons, with comparison to the ME-109F's performance in brackets, and with photos of the planes that the Allies were flying immediately below.
ME-109F:
Speed - 390 MPH
Climb - 3,300 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 37,000 feet
I-153: (seen in foreground of photo) This was one of the few biplane fighter planes used by any combatant in WW2. It has retractable landing gear, which added 20 - 30 MPH to its speed, and it was fantastically maneuvrable. The Russians built these well into 1940.
Speed - 280 MPH (90 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,985 feet per minute (315 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 35,105 feet (1,895 feet lower)
I-16: This was the world's first really successful monoplane fighter. When it first appeared in 1933, it had no equal in the world; all other air forces were using biplane fighters that were much slower. Later variants were very well armed with two .30 machine guns, and two 20 mm cannons. The Russians were still using updated versions of this plan in 1941 when the Germans invaded. By that time, however, they were badly outclassed.
Speed - 326 MPH (64 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,900 feet per minute (400 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 31,825 feet (1,175 feet lower)
Hawker Hurricane II: This was an updated version of the first British monoplane fighter. Pilots using the Hurricane I had destroyed 60% of the German aircraft that were destroyed in the Battle of Britain. Although the first version of the Hurricane was barely competitive against the early ME-109E version of Germany's most prolific fighter plane, its updated version it simply could not compete with the updated ME-109F.
Speed - 340 MPH (50 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,780 feet per minute (520 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 36,000 feet (1,000 feet lower)
Curtiss Tomahawk I (statistics for the P-40B): This was an American plane used by the British and Russians. The British used the P-40B/C Tomahawk version in 1941 - 1942, then the P-40E Kittyhawk version from 1942 on in North Africa (the P-40E Kittyhawk is discussed in the section on the USA above.) It was probably a better plane than the Hurricane II, but still inferior to the ME-109F.
Speed - 352 MPH (38 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,860 feet per minute (440 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 32,400 (4,400 feet lower)
These Allied aircraft were all more maneuvrable than the ME-109F, but this didn't much matter because the Germans usually didn't engage in turning combat. As noted above, they used their superior height and speed to hit their Allied opponents from above, then extend away in a climb that their opponents could not match. The one fault of the ME-109F was that it had quite light armament - one 15 mm or 20 mm cannon, and two light machine guns. Nevertheless, the Germans in their ME-109Fs totally dominated the sky above Russia for the first year of the war in the East, with German pilots destroying thousands and thousands of their Soviet enemies, and they also dominated British and Commonwealth pilots in North Africa until the British finally started to send Spitfires to the theatre in mid-1942.
The FW-190A appeared over the English Channel in early 1942, and was far better than the best British fighter at the time - the Spitfire V - from that point on, gaining air superiority over the Channel and France until the British upgraded the Spitfire a later that year with the introduction of the Spitfire IX. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 370 MPH for the Spitfire VB; 398 MPH for the FW-190A3/4
Climb - 2,600 feet per minute for the Spitfire VB: 2,953 feet per minute for the FW-190A3/4
Service Ceiling - 36,500 feet for the Spitfire VB: 34,777 feet for the FW-190A3/4
The FW-190A3/4 was also very maneuvrable, able to roll and change direction faster than any fighter plane used by either side in the war. In the hands of a capable pilot, this could often neutralized the ability of the Spitfire to turn more tightly. So it was faster, could out climb the Spitfire, and could neutralize the Spitfire's turning ability. Finally, it was also armed with four 20 mm cannons and two machine guns, which was a massive armament for any fighter aircraft in WW2.
The Bad:
The "Bad", or mediocre German fighter plane was the successor to the ME-109F, namely the ME-109G, especially the later versions. While the ME-109F was a world-beater, and the ME109 was one of the top aircraft in history, when the Germans next updated the plane they added weight, falling behind the performance of new generation of aircraft that the Allies had introduced. While Luftwaffe pilots were dominant in the ME-109F "Frederick", they found themselves increasingly struggling in the ME-109G "Gustav".
The first version of the ME-109G was the ME-109G2 version. It was VERY good; basically a ME-109F with a bigger engine. Here are its basic performance statistics.
Speed - 395 MPH
Climb - 4,560 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 37,730 feet
This plane could still more than compete with almost anything the Allies had when it first appeared in mid-1942. Then something happened. The next major production version was the ME-109G6. Here is its performance.
Speed - 398 MPH (3 MPH more than the "2" version)
Climb -3,840 feet per minute (720 feet per minute less than the "2" version)
Service Ceiling - 38.500 feet (770 feet higher than the "2" version)
The ME-109G series was the most produced variant of a fighter aircraft in history, and was the backbone of the Luftwaffe in the last three years of the war. As noted, it did not keep up with the best new Allied aircraft. The "G6" was not quite the equal of the "G2", for example. The primary reason for this was the decision to add much more armament to the "G6" series - three 20 mm cannon and two machine guns, compared to a very light one 15 mm cannon and two machine guns in the "G2" series. More guns meant more weight, which hurt speed and rate of climb.
Here is what the Spitfire IX (Merlin 66) that German pilots started to encounter in significant numbers from late 1942 onward could do:
Speed - 408 MPH (10 MPH faster than a ME-109G6)
Climb - 4,620 feet per minute (780 feet per minute more than the ME-109G6)
Service Ceiling - 40,900 feet (2,400 feet higher than the ME-109G6)
Keep in mind that the Spitfire IX could also out-turn any ME-109. When you compare this to the statistics for the both ME-109G versions above and you'll notice the wee problem that the Germans had after planes like this were introduced into combat in late-1942. No longer could they simply fly above their opposition, sweep down and kill them, then extend away with ease. Increasingly, German pilots were forced to get into old-fashioned dogfights against Allied pilots. Slowly but surely they were almost all shot down, sometimes again, and again, and again (e.g., Erich Rudorffer, who was credited with 222 kills, was shot down 16 times!) Because the Luftwaffe did not have tours of duty like the Allies, where pilots would be required to fly about 125 missions or so then retire to train other pilots, for most of these German pilots this meant that they were either shot down and captured, so badly wounded that they could no longer fly, or they were killed.
The Ugly:
This section is reserved for the truly awful planes that the combatants produced and used during WW2. The simple fact is that the Germans didn't make any really bad fighters during WW2. Mediocre?.... Yes. Awful?... No. Even the ME-109G was at least competitive until the end of the war, and right at the end of the war the Germans introduced some versions of the ME-109 that were again competitive with the best that the Allies had to offer. Unlike all other countries reviewed, no "Ugly" planes are reviewed here because Germany is the only country reviewed here that simply didn't produce any awful fighters during the war.
Italy - Viva Italia!
The Good:
Wow, did the Italians ever build some lovely planes during the war!
https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/blood-red-skies-aircraft-profile-macchi-c-202-folgore/
Their best was a combination of Italian design prowess, and German engine technology - the MC-202. This was an earlier fighter design - the MC-200 - with an Italian-built version of the Daimler-Benz DB 601A engine - the same engine that powered the early versions of the ME-109.
When introduced in July, 1941, it had no equal on the Allied side in North Africa. The Allied pilots were flying Hawker Hurricane Mark II's, and P-40E Kittyhawks. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 372 MPH (32 MPH faster than the Hurricane II; 12 MPH faster than the P-40E)
Climb - 3,563 feet per minute (783 feet per minute faster than the Hurricane; 1,463 feet per minute faster than the P-40E)
Service Ceiling - 37,730 feet (1,730 feet higher than the Hurricane; and 7,730 feet higher than the P-40E)
The MC-202 was also very maneuvrable, which was the one great advantage that these Allied aircraft had over the ME-109. In short, it could totally dominate the main Allied aircraft used in North Africa. Until the Spitfire Mark V started to be introduced in August 1942, Allied pilots faced a superior opponent in the MC-202.
The Italians did upgrade this plane in 1943, adding an even more powerful German-designed engine. The MC-205 was simply awesome - the Germans were so impressed that they even used these aircraft in defence of Berlin in 1944. But by the time it was produced, Italy was basically out of the war so it was produced in very tiny numbers.
The Italians also produced another excellent fighter in the Fiat G-55, which also used German engine technology matched to Italian design genius. Like the MC-205, it was only built in tiny numbers, otherwise it would have been rated as the Italian "Good" fighter for purposes of this discussion.
The Bad:
Before the MC-202, there were the MC-200, and the G-50.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.50_Freccia#/media/Fichier:FIAT_G.50.jpg
These aircraft were well designed, and became the basis for the excellent MC-202, and superlative MC-205 and Fiat G-55 later in the war. But at the start of Italy's involvement in WW2, they were hampered by their Fiat A.74 rotary engines which only generated 840 hp, compared to 1030 hp for the Rolls Royce Merlin used the the British in the Hurricane I, and 1085 hp for the Daimler-Benz DB601 engine used in the ME 109E.
Compared to the aircraft that were ranged against them at the start of the war, the difference in engine horse power meant that the MC-200 was 4 MPH slower than a Hurricane I; 28 MPH slower than a Hurricane II; and 26 MPH slower than a P-40C. The G-50 was 25 MPH and 47 MPH slower than the Hurricane variants respectively, and 45 MPH slower than a P-40C.
The Italian fighters were very maneuvrable, but so were the Hurricanes and the P-40C Tomahawks. While Italian pilots did well enough against the Hurricane and Tomahawks in 1941 and early 1942, when the British introduced the Spitfire V's, especially in defence of Malta, there were very seriously outclassed.
The Ugly:
What were they thinking? Here is the Fiat CR-42.
The reader will notice that this was a biplane with fixed landing gear. While biplanes dominated the sky during WW1 and the interwar years, by the start of WW2 it was obvious that they were outclassed by monoplane fighters which, combined with huge advances in engine technology, meant that biplanes not only could not keep up with monoplane fighters, but they could not catch many monoplane bombers either. For example - the maximum speed of the CR-42 was 267 MPH. The mediocre Bristol Blenheim IV bomber used by the British in the first few years of the war could go 266 MPH, which gave this Italian fighter a whopping 1 MPH speed advantage!
The Fiat CR-42 was obsolete before it went into production in 1939 by which time the Hawker Hurricane had been in production for three years, and the Spitfire for two years. The only thing that saved it from being a total failure was the bloody-minded stupidity of the British who chose to oppose this aircraft with an even more obsolete aircraft in the form of the Gloster Gladiator in the early war years, which is one of two "Ugly" British fighters reviewed below. That the CR-42 was Italy's most produced aircraft of the war speaks volumes for how ready Italy actually was to go to war in June, 1940.
The French
The Good: The French used one truly excellent fighter at the start of WW2 - the Curtiss H-75 Hawk.
The astute reader will note that the Hawk was actually an American fighter! In fact, it was the precursor to the P-40, which was basically a H-75 or P-36 with an inline Alison engine. The French assembled their Hawks in France, so I have counted it as a "French" aircraft.
On paper, the Hawk was a mediocre aircraft. Here are its statistics compared to its main opponents in the Battle of France, the ME-109 E3, and the ME-110C.
Speed - H-75A-2 Hawk - 313 MPH, slower than both the ME-109E3 - 342 MPH, and the ME-110C - 336 MPH
Rate of Climb - H-75A-2 Hawk - 3,400 feet per minute, competitive with the ME-109E3 - 3,510 feet per minute, and much better than that ME-110C - 2,160 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - H-75A-2 Hawk - 34,000 feet, also competitive with the ME-109E3 - 36,500 feet, and the ME-110C - 35,000 feet
During the Battle of France the Germans flew and fought much like airmen did during WW1. At this point in the war, they had not yet started to exploit the speed and high service ceiling advantages of their aircraft to sweep down on their opponents, shoot them up, and then extend away (the "zoom and boom"). In an old-fashioned dogfight, the H-75 Hawk was very competitive against both German fighters. The French claimed 230 kills using the H-75 during the Battle of France, against only 29 losses.
The Bad:
The Dewoitine 520 was the best purely French fighter produced in any numbers during the war.
It was competitive with the ME-109E3, as noted below.
Speed - 347 MPH (5 MPH faster than ME-109E3)
Rate of Climb - 2820 feet per minute (690 feet per minute less than ME-109E3)
Service Ceiling - 33,000 feet (4,500 feet lower than ME-109E3)
The D-520 was well armed and was more maneuvrable than the ME-109E3, and was in many ways better than the H-75. Regardless, it was not used with great success, perhaps in part because the French threw as many of these planes into the battle as possible in May and June 1940, without adequate training. In the Battle of France, the French lost 85 D-520's for a return of only 114 kills. This compares very badly with the results obtained by French pilots in their H-75 Hawks. In fact, the D-520 was used mostly against the Italians during the battle, implying that the record is actually much worse than even these awful numbers suggest as many of the Italian fighters used were CR-42s.
The Ugly:
The French nationalized their aircraft industry in 1936. The main fighter aircraft to come out of their nationalized industry was the Morane-Saulnier 406.
This aircraft was inferior to all fighter aircraft fielded by major powers at the start of WW2 in Europe, save and except for certain Italian and Russian biplane aircraft, and the British Gladiator. Here are the basis statistics compared to its main opponent, the ME-109E3.
Speed - 303 MPH (39 MPH slower)
Rate of Climb - 2,560 feet per minute (950 feet per minute slower)
Service Ceiling - 30,840 feet (5,660 feet lower)
Like the H-75 and D-520, the MS-406 was maneuverable. But it was otherwise totally outclassed by its German opponent. By the end of the battle of France, pilots in MS-406's had destroyed about 191 opposing aircraft, but for a loss of about 150 in combat. After the fall of France, the Vichy regime chose to scrap all units flying the MS-406 save and except one. They kept their H-75s, and produced and used the D-520 instead. Enough said.
Japan - The Rising Sun
The Good: The Japanese produced some truly fantastic aircraft during WW2. Without question, the cream of the crop was the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Gale).
Here are its basic statistics compared to the superlative P-51D Mustang, and the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair.
Rate of Climb - 4,300 feet per minute, versus 3,200 feet per minute for the P-51D, and 4,360 feet per minute for the F4U-4
Service Ceiling - 38,800 feet, versus 41,900 feet for the P-51D, and 41,500 feet for the F4U-4
The Japanese introduced this aircraft in 1944, long after the majority of the better pilots had been killed, and long after they reduced pilot training to an absolute minimum, meaning that most of their pilots had no real chance against the Americans no matter what they flew. Nonetheless, Japanese pilots in their Ki-84's performed well enough to deeply impress their American adversaries - there are numerous accounts of Ki-84 pilots downing both P-51Ds and F4U-4s, which were the best aircraft that the Americans produced.
The other Japanese fighter that warrants mention is the Mitsubishi A6M Model 21 Zero.
This was the first aircraft carrier borne aircraft with the ability to defeat land-based opposition. The first models of the Zero swept all opposition that they faced in the Pacific Theatre in the first 6 months of the war, specifically, the Grumman Wildcat; the Hawker Hurricane; the Brewster Buffalo; and the Curtiss P-36 and P-40. This amounted to about 500 Allied fighter aircraft swept from the sky over the Pacific for minimal losses to the Japanese between December, 1941, and mid-1942. The performance of the Zero versus the Wildcat is outlined in the section on the USA above. Here is how the Zero measured up against the Hurricane I, which the British rushed to the Burma-China-India theater to take on the Zero and Ki-43 Oscar after the war broke out in 1941.
Speed - 332 MPH for the Zero, versus 324 MPH for the Hurricane I
Rate of Climb - 3,100 feet per minute for the Zero, versus 2,550 feet per minute for the Hurricane I
Service Ceiling - 32,810 feet for the Zero, versus 34,500 feet for the Hurricane I
Of course, the Zero was much more maneuverable. Unlike the Ki-43, it was very well armed, with two .303 machine guns, and two 20 mm cannon. The name "Zero" is as synonymous with WW2 Japanese aircraft as the Spirfire is with WW2 British aircraft. The other Japanese aircraft that could be added to this list are the Kawasaki Ki-100, and the Kawanishi N1K2 Shinden (Violent Lightning). That makes four superlative aircraft produced by the Japanese.
The Bad:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Mitsubishi_A6M5a_Model_52_Rei-sen_%E2%80%984708%E2%80%99_%2846827800245%29.jpg
The Japanese were very slow to develop new aircraft after the start of WW2 in the Pacific. To keep up with new American aircraft, they developed a more advanced version of the Zero, the Mitsubishi A6M Model 52, which represented about 50% of all production Zeros. By the time it was in full production in 1943, the Americans were producing the Grumman Hellcat, which became its most prolific carrier-based fighter of the war, and the P-38F Lightning, which was the most effective US Air Force fighter in the Pacific up to the introduction of the P-51D. Here are the comparisons of the Zero Model 52, and the Hellcat, and the Lightning.
Speed - 351 MPH for the Zero 52; versus 391 MPH for the Hellcat, and 395 MPH for the Lightning.
Rate of Climb - 4,074 feet per minute for the Zero 52; versus 3,500 feet per minute for the Hellcat, and 2,850 feet per minute for the Lightning.
Service Ceiling - 38,520 feet for the Zero 52; versus 37,300 feet for the Hellcat, and 39,044 for the Lightning.
The Zero 52 maintained its advantage in maneuverability and rate of climb, but these new American aircraft were much faster, more heavily armed and armoured, and were flown by pilots who were superbly trained. The Japanese could no longer dictate when a combat would occur, as they could against the much slower Wildcat. Once the Americans perfected their team work approach to air combat, and exploited the superior speed and dive abilities of their aircraft - avoiding any turning combat - the Japanese were very hard-pressed and started suffering massive combat losses. For example, pilots in the Hellcat ended the war with an 13 - 1 kill ratio against Japanese pilots in the Zero.
The Ugly:
The Japanese fought the Chinese twice from 1931 until the start of WW2, and the Soviets in 1938. What they learned from these wars was that what mattered most in a fighter aircraft was maneuverability. The aircraft that they were using when they entered WW2 in December 1941, were therefore incredibly maneuverable, having been designed, as noted, with no armour protection of self-sealing tanks - the Zero noted above, and the Ki-43 Hyabusa (Peregrine Falcon) or Oscar.
The Oscar was fantastically maneuverable. It could climb and roll out the top of its climb, then repeat the same maneuver again, all from a flat horizontal trajectory. No other fighter aircraft in the world could perform this maneuver. But the Oscar was "too much of a good thing". Its first versions were armed only with two .303 machine guns - the same armament used by fighters at the end of WW1. Even its upgraded versions only had two .50 caliber weapons. It was so lightly built that a few rounds of .50 caliber bullets from Allied aircraft would be enough to blow it apart, and most American-made fighters had no less than 6 x .50 machine guns.
The Oscar was produced throughout the war. As with the Zero, it was tremendously successful in the first months of the war when the Allies fought the kind of battles that it had been designed for - hard turning dogfights as had been fought in WW1. In fact, most Japanese Army aces used the Oscar at some point in the war, and they scored the majority of their kills at the start of the war. However, once the Allies switched tactics from 'turn and burn' to 'zoom and boom', pilots in the Oscar were very hard-pressed. The Flying Tigers in the P-40Cs, for example, almost never flew hard turning combat against Japanese pilots in their Oscars, and shot them down in large numbers for far fewer losses.
The key to successful air combat in WW2 usually came down to energy, or speed. Unlike the Zero, which was faster that the Wildcats it opposed at the start of the war, the Oscar was simply never competitive at this type of combat as the statistics for the KI-43 I, the first version, and the KI-43 IIb, the most numerous later version produced by the Japanese, show.
Speed - Ki-43 I - 308 MPH; Ki-43 IIb - 333 MPH
Rate of Climb - Ki-43 I - 2,958 feet per minute; Ki-43 IIb - 3,900 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - Ki-43 I - 39,370 feet; Ki-43 IIb - 36,750 feet
The Japanese attempted to cure the serious defects in this aircraft by adding self-sealing fuel tanks and armour to the later version - an open admission that without these, this aircraft was mostly a death trap. They also produced a version in 1944 that could top 358 MPH. But this was not nearly competitive against aircraft like the P-38 Lightning and Grumman Hellcat, let alone the P-51D which had a whopping 74 MPH speed advantage. As long as Allied pilots avoided a turning combat with the Oscar, they almost always ended up with a victory. Avoiding such combat was the standard tactic after 1942. Given the known serious limitations of the Oscar by this time, the Japanese should have focused solely on producing the Ki-84 after it went into production.
The Russians Are Coming!
The Good:
The best Soviet fighter of the war was the Yak 3, which was a modification of the earlier Yak 1. This plane was so good that the Germans actually warned their pilots against flying combat against them below 15,000 feet!
Here are the statistics for the Yak 3 versus its main opponents after it was introduced in 1944, the ME-109G6 and the FW190A8:
Speed - 407 MPH versus 398 MPH for the ME-109G6, and 408 MPH for the FW190A8;
Rate of Climb - 3,645 feet per minute versus 3,345 for the ME109G6, and 2,953 for the FW190A8;
Service Ceiling - 35,000 feet versus 39,370 for the ME109G6, and 37,430 feet for the FW190A8.
While these are not dominant numbers, add in the fact that the Russians started to massively outnumber their opponents by 1944; that their tactics were far better by this point in the war; and the fact that their pilots were finally properly trained, and the effect of this plus the availability of a truly competitive aircraft was devastating on the Luftwaffe. As an example of the quality of this aircraft, the Normandie-Niemen squadron, which was a a Free French squadron fighting with the Russians on the Eastern Front, shot down 29 German aircraft without loss in one day at the start of the Soviet offensive into Germany proper in October, 1944.
The other superlative aircraft produced by the Russians was the La5. This plane was the earlier LaGG3 with a radial engine, which changed the aircraft from a mediocre aircraft into a world-beater.
Here are the La5's basic statistics.
Speed - 403 MPH
Rate of Climb - 3,280 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 36,089 feet
It was slightly faster than the ME109's that it faced, and slightly slower than the FW190's. It climbed slightly slower than the ME109s; slightly faster than the FW190s. Finally, its service ceiling was slightly below both. The key to this plane was that it was clearly competitive with the aircraft of the Luftwaffe, whose pilots had, up to the introduction of the La5 and early Yaks, basically owned the sky over the Soviet Union. As noted, once Russian production got into full gear, and tactics and training were improved, it was game over for the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front. The other aircraft that could make this list is the Yak 9, which was an earlier version of the Yak 3. Therefore, like the Japanese, give the Russians four great aircraft to their credit.
The Bad:
Before the La5, there was the LaGG3.
This was one of a trio of Soviet fighters that were built to replace the I-15 and I-16 that had stocked the Red Air Force fighter squadrons throughout the 1930's. The other aircraft were the MiG1/3, and the Yak1.
The LaGG3 was barely competitive with the German aircraft it encountered over the Soviet Union after the launch of Barbarossa. The primary German fighter at the time was the ME109F. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 357 MPH versus 390 MPH for the ME109F
Rate of Climb - 2,926 feet per minute versus 3,300 feet per minute for the ME109F
Service Ceiling - 31,825 feet versus 37,000 feet for the ME109F
While this aircraft was a massive improvement over the I-15 and I-16 fighters that the Soviets started the war with, pilots in a LaGG3 were still at a very serious disadvantage when they faced Germans in the ME109F. As noted, once a new more powerful radial engine was added, it became a superlative aircraft. The other aircraft that could be added to this list is the MiG 1/3, although it came very close to being 'Ugly".
The Ugly:
The ugly Soviet aircraft have been noted above - the I-15 and I-16. These aircraft were very competitive when they first appeared on the scene in the 1930; in fact the I-16 was revolutionary. By 1941, there were very seriously obsolete. They were only more manoeuvrable than the ME109Fs they faced - and that was it. The Soviet pilots in these planes were slaughtered in numbers never matched before or since. It took years for the Soviet Air Force to recover from the debacle, which was magnified by bad tactics, and insufficient pilot training early in the war in the East.
The British Empire:
The Good:
Well, this is obvious. The Spitfire IX was clearly the best single-engine fighter aircraft produced by the British during the war.
It appeared on the scene in mid-1942, and was still very competitive when the war in Europe ended three years later. As noted in the section above which reviewed German 'Bad' aircraft, this plane was responsible for taking the technological lead back from the Germans, which they had established with the FW190A in late 1941. The Spitfire IX's basic statistics are above.
The other British aircraft that was truly excellent was the Tempest V.
It first appeared in Spring, 1944, and was dominant from that point to the end of the war. It's basic statistics compared to the ME109G6's it faced follow.
Speed - 435 MPH versus 398 MPH for the ME109G6
Rate of Climb - 4,700 feet per minute versus 3,840 for the ME109G6
Service Ceiling - 36,500 feet versus 38,500 for the ME109G6
By the time it appeared, the Luftwaffe was on its last legs. Most combat occurred at low levels as the Tempest was used heavily in an army support role. It was also used to destroy V1 flying bombs over Britain. The other aircraft that could rank here is the Spitfire I/II.
The Bad:
The most mediocre British aircraft, without question, was the Hurricane I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hurricane#/media/File:Hawker_Hurricane_I_'R4118_UP-W'_(G-HUPW)_(41455530471).jpg
This aircraft won the Battle of Britain. Pilots in Hurricane destroyed more German aircraft than pilots in the Spitfire in that battle. It is beloved by millions of aircraft enthusiasts and historians. Nonetheless, it was a level below its main opposition, pilots in the ME109E3/4. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 324 MPH versus 348 MPH for the ME109E3
Rate of Climb - 2,560 feet per minute versus 3,280 feet per minute for the ME109E3
Service Ceiling - 33,600 feet versus 34,450 feet for the ME109E3
The Hurricane I could out-turn the ME109, and the Germans had not completely moved to 'zoom and boom' tactics during the Battle Britain, so it was still an effective air plane.
The Hurricane I was also effective against Italian aircraft in Greece and North Africa, and against Japanese aircraft in the Burma, China, India Theatre of operations, as long as the pilot did not try to turn with Japanese pilots in Oscars. In these desperate early days of WW2, many British and Commonwealth pilots were able to rack up creditable scores in the Hurricane I.
Nonetheless, after the Battle Britain, as the British started to try to engage the Germans over occupied France, the Hurricane I was clearly out of its element. The Germans had refined their tactics by this point in the war, and pilots in Hurricane Is suffered accordingly.
June of 1941 also saw the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Germans. The British and Canadians shipped over 3,000 Hurricanes to the Russians to help them battle the Germans. They were easy aircraft to master, which did helped the Russians form fighter squadrons with these aircraft, but beyond a handful of aces, the Russians had very little success with the Hurricanes, regardless of the variant. They considered them to be far inferior not only to the German aircraft that they faced, but also to their own fighters.
The Bugly:
I can't bring myself to call the Hawker Hurricane II an Ugly plane. And so, there is a special category reserved just for this aircraft - Bugly, which is somewhere between Bad and Ugly!
https://saamaa.artstation.com/projects/33wkg
This plane's statistics are noted above in the section reviewing the superlative ME109F. If you have read this carefully, you will note that the Hurricane II was inferior to the ME109F, the MC-202 of the Italians, and definitely the FW190A as well. These were some of the aircraft flown by Britain's main opponents from 1941 to late-1942, which was this aircraft's heyday. As noted, thousands of these planes were also shipped to Russian by the British and Canadians to take on the same German aircraft noted here. When it went head-to-head against these aircraft, it was a definite failure.
It was not a catastrophe, however. Pilots in Hurricane IIs did have successes.
A naval version of this aircraft flying off British aircraft carriers performed very well in defence of Malta-bound convoys in 1942. It was also very well-armed, boasting four 20 mm cannons in some variants, so it could be devastating against bomber aircraft. When it came up against the inferior MC-200 and G-50 used by the Italians, or even the Oscars used by the Japanese, pilots using this plane often had a fighting chance. There are accounts of specially lightened Hurricane IIs actually turning with Oscars in the air battles over Indonesia, for example.
However, it's performance against the Germans was mostly a sad tale of death and defeat, and it was the Germans who the British and Russians desperately needed to hold back during the early years of the war.
Over Malta in early 1942, for example, the British lost 52 Hurricane IIs for NO LOSS on the part of the Germans using ME109F's. The British were pig-headed enough to continue to send pilots up in this aircraft for months on end, knowing full well that they really had no chance against the Germans. It was only when they brought Spitfire V's to the theatre in the Spring of 1942 that the tide turned slightly back in Britain's favour.
But why 'pig-headed'? Is that overstating things?
The term is used here because, unlike many other combatants who had no choice but to use inferior aircraft at points in the war (e.g. the Russians in 1941-42; the Americans in 1942-43; the Italians in 1940-41; the Japanese in 1943) the British had a choice, and they used the Hurricane IIs anyway.
More specifically, in 1941 the British had thousands of Spitfires in Britain (approximately 1100 Spitfire I/IIs and 800 Spitfire Vs in service in late-1941.) Had Spitfires been sent to Malta, North Africa, and the Burma, China, India Theatre as soon as the British faced serious opposition, they could have done massive damage to the German, Italian and Japanese air forces they faced. A Spitfire V was at least competitive with the ME109's that the Germans were using, and pilots even in early marks of the Spitfire could have totally dominated the Italian and Japanese aircraft sent against them.
Instead, the British relied exclusively on the Hurricane II overseas until Spring, 1942 - an aircraft that they knew full well was inferior, where the pilots of these aircraft were close to guaranteed to be shot down as soon as they took on a competent pilot in a ME109F or especially a FW190A. This was border-line criminal negligence.
Which brings us to our last section.
The Bad:
OMG, the British produced some truly awful aircraft during the war! Here are the two most obvious culprits.
The Gloster Gladiator.
The Boulton Paul Defiant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#/media/File:Mk1_Defiant.jpg
The reader will notice that the first of these planes is a biplane with fixed undercarriage. The second has a power-operated turret in the rear - and no forward firing armament whatsoever. What were they thinking??
Here are the statistics for these air planes.
The Gladiator -
Speed - 253 MPH (about 100 MPH slower than the ME109Es they faced over France, Britain, Greece and North Africa)
Rate of Climb - 2,300 feet per minute (about 800 feet per minute less than the ME109E)
Service Ceiling - 32,800 feet (about 1000 feet below the ME109E)
The Gladiator was the last fixed undercarriage, biplane fighter produced for the RAF. It was obsolete when it was on the drawing board. The rationale for building this aircraft was a claimed distrust of monoplane aircraft, and a strange attachment to the designs of aircraft used in WW1.
This strange attachment is probably the reason why the Gladiator was the best-selling British fighter before the war. Latvia, Belgium, Sweden, Greece, China, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Iraq, Lithuania, and Egypt all bought and used this air plane, as did the Royal Navy.
In North Africa and Greece it was pitted against the Italian CR42, which was also a fixed undercarriage biplane fighter (see above). These two aircraft were very comparable in performance, while also being entirely obsolete. Pilots using the Gladiator more the held their own against the Italians, but were often at a loss to defeat Italian bombers which were faster in level flight.
The Gladiator was also used in Norway, France, Britain, Iraq, and Syria by the British, by the Finns and Swedes against the Russians in the Winter War of 1939 - 40. When it was pitted against similar biplane opposition, it did well. When pitted against modern aircraft, as it was in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, pilots using this type accomplished essentially nothing, as again, even opposing bomber aircraft could simply accelerate and pull away. It ended the war being used as a meteorological aircraft hunting for clouds.
The Defiant -
Speed - 304 MPH
Rate of Climb - 1,900 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 31,000 feet
The basic strategy behind the design of the Defiant seemed sound. The plane was provided with a powerful, four-gun electric gun turret behind the pilot. When an enemy bomber was encountered, the Defiant would simply pull alongside, and the turret gunner would point the turret at the bomber, pull the triggers and blow it away. In fact, when pilots and gunners in the Defiant had a chance to actually do this, they were very successful. The one wee problem with this plan - what if those bombers had fighter escorts?
The Defiant was a disaster as a fighter aircraft, but was initially successful in combat. Over Dunkirk, Defiant gunners shot down 46 German aircraft for a loss of 10 Defiants - seven on the last day.
As long as the Germans attacked from behind, the Defiant with its heavy four-gun turret was deadly. So the Germans just stopped doing that. After Dunkirk, where the Germans seem to have mistaken the Defiant for Hurricanes, they attacked the Defiant from below and in front where it had no counter. From that point on, losses were so severe that the Defiant was withdrawn from daylight operations, and converted to a night fighter where it had some success before being taken out of service and converted to a target tug in 1941.
It is worthwhile mentioning that the Boulton Paul company that manufactured the Defiant did mock up a version of the plane without a turret just to see what it could do as a traditional single-seat monoplane fighter. The mock up topped 360 MPH in level flight, which was much faster than a Hurricane I, and about as fast as a Spitfire I/II. It would have had a rate of climb of about 3,250 feet per minute. Both the projected speed and rate of climb would have been better than that of the ME109Es the British encountered in the Battle of Britain. The RAF rejected the design saying that they already had enough Hurricanes and Spitfires, thank you very much! Bloody-minded, indeed!
Conclusion:
Opinions will differ regarding what single engine fighter aircraft from WW2 were the best, which were the mediocre, and which were the worst. All he above is the opinion to the writer only - take what you like and leave the rest.
Thank you to the various sites hosting the pics noted above.
These two aircraft were completely dominant from mid-1941 until mid-1942. This time period included the German attack on Russia, and the first of the back and forth battles between the Germans and Italians, and the British in North Africa.
The ME-109F was a modification of the ME-109E that the Germans had used in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. Over Russia in 1941 and into 1942, and over North Africa its opposition were flying I-153's, and I-16's (Russians), and Hawker Hurricane IIs and Curtiss Tomahawk Is and Curtiss Kittyhawks (British). The Germans also confronted pilots in Hurricane IIs and Spitfires V's over the English Channel and France. Here are the performance comparisons, with comparison to the ME-109F's performance in brackets, and with photos of the planes that the Allies were flying immediately below.
ME-109F:
Speed - 390 MPH
Climb - 3,300 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 37,000 feet
I-153: (seen in foreground of photo) This was one of the few biplane fighter planes used by any combatant in WW2. It has retractable landing gear, which added 20 - 30 MPH to its speed, and it was fantastically maneuvrable. The Russians built these well into 1940.
Speed - 280 MPH (90 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,985 feet per minute (315 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 35,105 feet (1,895 feet lower)
I-16: This was the world's first really successful monoplane fighter. When it first appeared in 1933, it had no equal in the world; all other air forces were using biplane fighters that were much slower. Later variants were very well armed with two .30 machine guns, and two 20 mm cannons. The Russians were still using updated versions of this plan in 1941 when the Germans invaded. By that time, however, they were badly outclassed.
Speed - 326 MPH (64 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,900 feet per minute (400 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 31,825 feet (1,175 feet lower)
Hawker Hurricane II: This was an updated version of the first British monoplane fighter. Pilots using the Hurricane I had destroyed 60% of the German aircraft that were destroyed in the Battle of Britain. Although the first version of the Hurricane was barely competitive against the early ME-109E version of Germany's most prolific fighter plane, its updated version it simply could not compete with the updated ME-109F.
Speed - 340 MPH (50 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,780 feet per minute (520 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 36,000 feet (1,000 feet lower)
Curtiss Tomahawk I (statistics for the P-40B): This was an American plane used by the British and Russians. The British used the P-40B/C Tomahawk version in 1941 - 1942, then the P-40E Kittyhawk version from 1942 on in North Africa (the P-40E Kittyhawk is discussed in the section on the USA above.) It was probably a better plane than the Hurricane II, but still inferior to the ME-109F.
Speed - 352 MPH (38 MPH slower)
Climb - 2,860 feet per minute (440 feet per minute less)
Service Ceiling - 32,400 (4,400 feet lower)
These Allied aircraft were all more maneuvrable than the ME-109F, but this didn't much matter because the Germans usually didn't engage in turning combat. As noted above, they used their superior height and speed to hit their Allied opponents from above, then extend away in a climb that their opponents could not match. The one fault of the ME-109F was that it had quite light armament - one 15 mm or 20 mm cannon, and two light machine guns. Nevertheless, the Germans in their ME-109Fs totally dominated the sky above Russia for the first year of the war in the East, with German pilots destroying thousands and thousands of their Soviet enemies, and they also dominated British and Commonwealth pilots in North Africa until the British finally started to send Spitfires to the theatre in mid-1942.
The FW-190A appeared over the English Channel in early 1942, and was far better than the best British fighter at the time - the Spitfire V - from that point on, gaining air superiority over the Channel and France until the British upgraded the Spitfire a later that year with the introduction of the Spitfire IX. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 370 MPH for the Spitfire VB; 398 MPH for the FW-190A3/4
Climb - 2,600 feet per minute for the Spitfire VB: 2,953 feet per minute for the FW-190A3/4
Service Ceiling - 36,500 feet for the Spitfire VB: 34,777 feet for the FW-190A3/4
The FW-190A3/4 was also very maneuvrable, able to roll and change direction faster than any fighter plane used by either side in the war. In the hands of a capable pilot, this could often neutralized the ability of the Spitfire to turn more tightly. So it was faster, could out climb the Spitfire, and could neutralize the Spitfire's turning ability. Finally, it was also armed with four 20 mm cannons and two machine guns, which was a massive armament for any fighter aircraft in WW2.
The Bad:
The "Bad", or mediocre German fighter plane was the successor to the ME-109F, namely the ME-109G, especially the later versions. While the ME-109F was a world-beater, and the ME109 was one of the top aircraft in history, when the Germans next updated the plane they added weight, falling behind the performance of new generation of aircraft that the Allies had introduced. While Luftwaffe pilots were dominant in the ME-109F "Frederick", they found themselves increasingly struggling in the ME-109G "Gustav".
The first version of the ME-109G was the ME-109G2 version. It was VERY good; basically a ME-109F with a bigger engine. Here are its basic performance statistics.
Speed - 395 MPH
Climb - 4,560 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 37,730 feet
This plane could still more than compete with almost anything the Allies had when it first appeared in mid-1942. Then something happened. The next major production version was the ME-109G6. Here is its performance.
Speed - 398 MPH (3 MPH more than the "2" version)
Climb -3,840 feet per minute (720 feet per minute less than the "2" version)
Service Ceiling - 38.500 feet (770 feet higher than the "2" version)
The ME-109G series was the most produced variant of a fighter aircraft in history, and was the backbone of the Luftwaffe in the last three years of the war. As noted, it did not keep up with the best new Allied aircraft. The "G6" was not quite the equal of the "G2", for example. The primary reason for this was the decision to add much more armament to the "G6" series - three 20 mm cannon and two machine guns, compared to a very light one 15 mm cannon and two machine guns in the "G2" series. More guns meant more weight, which hurt speed and rate of climb.
Here is what the Spitfire IX (Merlin 66) that German pilots started to encounter in significant numbers from late 1942 onward could do:
Speed - 408 MPH (10 MPH faster than a ME-109G6)
Climb - 4,620 feet per minute (780 feet per minute more than the ME-109G6)
Service Ceiling - 40,900 feet (2,400 feet higher than the ME-109G6)
Keep in mind that the Spitfire IX could also out-turn any ME-109. When you compare this to the statistics for the both ME-109G versions above and you'll notice the wee problem that the Germans had after planes like this were introduced into combat in late-1942. No longer could they simply fly above their opposition, sweep down and kill them, then extend away with ease. Increasingly, German pilots were forced to get into old-fashioned dogfights against Allied pilots. Slowly but surely they were almost all shot down, sometimes again, and again, and again (e.g., Erich Rudorffer, who was credited with 222 kills, was shot down 16 times!) Because the Luftwaffe did not have tours of duty like the Allies, where pilots would be required to fly about 125 missions or so then retire to train other pilots, for most of these German pilots this meant that they were either shot down and captured, so badly wounded that they could no longer fly, or they were killed.
The Ugly:
This section is reserved for the truly awful planes that the combatants produced and used during WW2. The simple fact is that the Germans didn't make any really bad fighters during WW2. Mediocre?.... Yes. Awful?... No. Even the ME-109G was at least competitive until the end of the war, and right at the end of the war the Germans introduced some versions of the ME-109 that were again competitive with the best that the Allies had to offer. Unlike all other countries reviewed, no "Ugly" planes are reviewed here because Germany is the only country reviewed here that simply didn't produce any awful fighters during the war.
Italy - Viva Italia!
The Good:
Wow, did the Italians ever build some lovely planes during the war!
https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/blood-red-skies-aircraft-profile-macchi-c-202-folgore/
Their best was a combination of Italian design prowess, and German engine technology - the MC-202. This was an earlier fighter design - the MC-200 - with an Italian-built version of the Daimler-Benz DB 601A engine - the same engine that powered the early versions of the ME-109.
When introduced in July, 1941, it had no equal on the Allied side in North Africa. The Allied pilots were flying Hawker Hurricane Mark II's, and P-40E Kittyhawks. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 372 MPH (32 MPH faster than the Hurricane II; 12 MPH faster than the P-40E)
Climb - 3,563 feet per minute (783 feet per minute faster than the Hurricane; 1,463 feet per minute faster than the P-40E)
Service Ceiling - 37,730 feet (1,730 feet higher than the Hurricane; and 7,730 feet higher than the P-40E)
The MC-202 was also very maneuvrable, which was the one great advantage that these Allied aircraft had over the ME-109. In short, it could totally dominate the main Allied aircraft used in North Africa. Until the Spitfire Mark V started to be introduced in August 1942, Allied pilots faced a superior opponent in the MC-202.
The Italians did upgrade this plane in 1943, adding an even more powerful German-designed engine. The MC-205 was simply awesome - the Germans were so impressed that they even used these aircraft in defence of Berlin in 1944. But by the time it was produced, Italy was basically out of the war so it was produced in very tiny numbers.
The Italians also produced another excellent fighter in the Fiat G-55, which also used German engine technology matched to Italian design genius. Like the MC-205, it was only built in tiny numbers, otherwise it would have been rated as the Italian "Good" fighter for purposes of this discussion.
The Bad:
Before the MC-202, there were the MC-200, and the G-50.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.50_Freccia#/media/Fichier:FIAT_G.50.jpg
These aircraft were well designed, and became the basis for the excellent MC-202, and superlative MC-205 and Fiat G-55 later in the war. But at the start of Italy's involvement in WW2, they were hampered by their Fiat A.74 rotary engines which only generated 840 hp, compared to 1030 hp for the Rolls Royce Merlin used the the British in the Hurricane I, and 1085 hp for the Daimler-Benz DB601 engine used in the ME 109E.
Compared to the aircraft that were ranged against them at the start of the war, the difference in engine horse power meant that the MC-200 was 4 MPH slower than a Hurricane I; 28 MPH slower than a Hurricane II; and 26 MPH slower than a P-40C. The G-50 was 25 MPH and 47 MPH slower than the Hurricane variants respectively, and 45 MPH slower than a P-40C.
The Italian fighters were very maneuvrable, but so were the Hurricanes and the P-40C Tomahawks. While Italian pilots did well enough against the Hurricane and Tomahawks in 1941 and early 1942, when the British introduced the Spitfire V's, especially in defence of Malta, there were very seriously outclassed.
The Ugly:
What were they thinking? Here is the Fiat CR-42.
The reader will notice that this was a biplane with fixed landing gear. While biplanes dominated the sky during WW1 and the interwar years, by the start of WW2 it was obvious that they were outclassed by monoplane fighters which, combined with huge advances in engine technology, meant that biplanes not only could not keep up with monoplane fighters, but they could not catch many monoplane bombers either. For example - the maximum speed of the CR-42 was 267 MPH. The mediocre Bristol Blenheim IV bomber used by the British in the first few years of the war could go 266 MPH, which gave this Italian fighter a whopping 1 MPH speed advantage!
The Fiat CR-42 was obsolete before it went into production in 1939 by which time the Hawker Hurricane had been in production for three years, and the Spitfire for two years. The only thing that saved it from being a total failure was the bloody-minded stupidity of the British who chose to oppose this aircraft with an even more obsolete aircraft in the form of the Gloster Gladiator in the early war years, which is one of two "Ugly" British fighters reviewed below. That the CR-42 was Italy's most produced aircraft of the war speaks volumes for how ready Italy actually was to go to war in June, 1940.
The French
The Good: The French used one truly excellent fighter at the start of WW2 - the Curtiss H-75 Hawk.
The astute reader will note that the Hawk was actually an American fighter! In fact, it was the precursor to the P-40, which was basically a H-75 or P-36 with an inline Alison engine. The French assembled their Hawks in France, so I have counted it as a "French" aircraft.
On paper, the Hawk was a mediocre aircraft. Here are its statistics compared to its main opponents in the Battle of France, the ME-109 E3, and the ME-110C.
Speed - H-75A-2 Hawk - 313 MPH, slower than both the ME-109E3 - 342 MPH, and the ME-110C - 336 MPH
Rate of Climb - H-75A-2 Hawk - 3,400 feet per minute, competitive with the ME-109E3 - 3,510 feet per minute, and much better than that ME-110C - 2,160 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - H-75A-2 Hawk - 34,000 feet, also competitive with the ME-109E3 - 36,500 feet, and the ME-110C - 35,000 feet
During the Battle of France the Germans flew and fought much like airmen did during WW1. At this point in the war, they had not yet started to exploit the speed and high service ceiling advantages of their aircraft to sweep down on their opponents, shoot them up, and then extend away (the "zoom and boom"). In an old-fashioned dogfight, the H-75 Hawk was very competitive against both German fighters. The French claimed 230 kills using the H-75 during the Battle of France, against only 29 losses.
The Bad:
The Dewoitine 520 was the best purely French fighter produced in any numbers during the war.
It was competitive with the ME-109E3, as noted below.
Speed - 347 MPH (5 MPH faster than ME-109E3)
Rate of Climb - 2820 feet per minute (690 feet per minute less than ME-109E3)
Service Ceiling - 33,000 feet (4,500 feet lower than ME-109E3)
The D-520 was well armed and was more maneuvrable than the ME-109E3, and was in many ways better than the H-75. Regardless, it was not used with great success, perhaps in part because the French threw as many of these planes into the battle as possible in May and June 1940, without adequate training. In the Battle of France, the French lost 85 D-520's for a return of only 114 kills. This compares very badly with the results obtained by French pilots in their H-75 Hawks. In fact, the D-520 was used mostly against the Italians during the battle, implying that the record is actually much worse than even these awful numbers suggest as many of the Italian fighters used were CR-42s.
The Ugly:
The French nationalized their aircraft industry in 1936. The main fighter aircraft to come out of their nationalized industry was the Morane-Saulnier 406.
This aircraft was inferior to all fighter aircraft fielded by major powers at the start of WW2 in Europe, save and except for certain Italian and Russian biplane aircraft, and the British Gladiator. Here are the basis statistics compared to its main opponent, the ME-109E3.
Speed - 303 MPH (39 MPH slower)
Rate of Climb - 2,560 feet per minute (950 feet per minute slower)
Service Ceiling - 30,840 feet (5,660 feet lower)
Like the H-75 and D-520, the MS-406 was maneuverable. But it was otherwise totally outclassed by its German opponent. By the end of the battle of France, pilots in MS-406's had destroyed about 191 opposing aircraft, but for a loss of about 150 in combat. After the fall of France, the Vichy regime chose to scrap all units flying the MS-406 save and except one. They kept their H-75s, and produced and used the D-520 instead. Enough said.
Japan - The Rising Sun
The Good: The Japanese produced some truly fantastic aircraft during WW2. Without question, the cream of the crop was the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Gale).
Here are its basic statistics compared to the superlative P-51D Mustang, and the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair.
| Speed - 426 MPH, versus 437 MPH for the P-51D, and 447 MPH for the F4U-4 |
Service Ceiling - 38,800 feet, versus 41,900 feet for the P-51D, and 41,500 feet for the F4U-4
The Japanese introduced this aircraft in 1944, long after the majority of the better pilots had been killed, and long after they reduced pilot training to an absolute minimum, meaning that most of their pilots had no real chance against the Americans no matter what they flew. Nonetheless, Japanese pilots in their Ki-84's performed well enough to deeply impress their American adversaries - there are numerous accounts of Ki-84 pilots downing both P-51Ds and F4U-4s, which were the best aircraft that the Americans produced.
The other Japanese fighter that warrants mention is the Mitsubishi A6M Model 21 Zero.
This was the first aircraft carrier borne aircraft with the ability to defeat land-based opposition. The first models of the Zero swept all opposition that they faced in the Pacific Theatre in the first 6 months of the war, specifically, the Grumman Wildcat; the Hawker Hurricane; the Brewster Buffalo; and the Curtiss P-36 and P-40. This amounted to about 500 Allied fighter aircraft swept from the sky over the Pacific for minimal losses to the Japanese between December, 1941, and mid-1942. The performance of the Zero versus the Wildcat is outlined in the section on the USA above. Here is how the Zero measured up against the Hurricane I, which the British rushed to the Burma-China-India theater to take on the Zero and Ki-43 Oscar after the war broke out in 1941.
Speed - 332 MPH for the Zero, versus 324 MPH for the Hurricane I
Rate of Climb - 3,100 feet per minute for the Zero, versus 2,550 feet per minute for the Hurricane I
Service Ceiling - 32,810 feet for the Zero, versus 34,500 feet for the Hurricane I
Of course, the Zero was much more maneuverable. Unlike the Ki-43, it was very well armed, with two .303 machine guns, and two 20 mm cannon. The name "Zero" is as synonymous with WW2 Japanese aircraft as the Spirfire is with WW2 British aircraft. The other Japanese aircraft that could be added to this list are the Kawasaki Ki-100, and the Kawanishi N1K2 Shinden (Violent Lightning). That makes four superlative aircraft produced by the Japanese.
The Bad:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Mitsubishi_A6M5a_Model_52_Rei-sen_%E2%80%984708%E2%80%99_%2846827800245%29.jpg
The Japanese were very slow to develop new aircraft after the start of WW2 in the Pacific. To keep up with new American aircraft, they developed a more advanced version of the Zero, the Mitsubishi A6M Model 52, which represented about 50% of all production Zeros. By the time it was in full production in 1943, the Americans were producing the Grumman Hellcat, which became its most prolific carrier-based fighter of the war, and the P-38F Lightning, which was the most effective US Air Force fighter in the Pacific up to the introduction of the P-51D. Here are the comparisons of the Zero Model 52, and the Hellcat, and the Lightning.
Speed - 351 MPH for the Zero 52; versus 391 MPH for the Hellcat, and 395 MPH for the Lightning.
Rate of Climb - 4,074 feet per minute for the Zero 52; versus 3,500 feet per minute for the Hellcat, and 2,850 feet per minute for the Lightning.
Service Ceiling - 38,520 feet for the Zero 52; versus 37,300 feet for the Hellcat, and 39,044 for the Lightning.
The Zero 52 maintained its advantage in maneuverability and rate of climb, but these new American aircraft were much faster, more heavily armed and armoured, and were flown by pilots who were superbly trained. The Japanese could no longer dictate when a combat would occur, as they could against the much slower Wildcat. Once the Americans perfected their team work approach to air combat, and exploited the superior speed and dive abilities of their aircraft - avoiding any turning combat - the Japanese were very hard-pressed and started suffering massive combat losses. For example, pilots in the Hellcat ended the war with an 13 - 1 kill ratio against Japanese pilots in the Zero.
The Ugly:
The Japanese fought the Chinese twice from 1931 until the start of WW2, and the Soviets in 1938. What they learned from these wars was that what mattered most in a fighter aircraft was maneuverability. The aircraft that they were using when they entered WW2 in December 1941, were therefore incredibly maneuverable, having been designed, as noted, with no armour protection of self-sealing tanks - the Zero noted above, and the Ki-43 Hyabusa (Peregrine Falcon) or Oscar.
The Oscar was fantastically maneuverable. It could climb and roll out the top of its climb, then repeat the same maneuver again, all from a flat horizontal trajectory. No other fighter aircraft in the world could perform this maneuver. But the Oscar was "too much of a good thing". Its first versions were armed only with two .303 machine guns - the same armament used by fighters at the end of WW1. Even its upgraded versions only had two .50 caliber weapons. It was so lightly built that a few rounds of .50 caliber bullets from Allied aircraft would be enough to blow it apart, and most American-made fighters had no less than 6 x .50 machine guns.
The Oscar was produced throughout the war. As with the Zero, it was tremendously successful in the first months of the war when the Allies fought the kind of battles that it had been designed for - hard turning dogfights as had been fought in WW1. In fact, most Japanese Army aces used the Oscar at some point in the war, and they scored the majority of their kills at the start of the war. However, once the Allies switched tactics from 'turn and burn' to 'zoom and boom', pilots in the Oscar were very hard-pressed. The Flying Tigers in the P-40Cs, for example, almost never flew hard turning combat against Japanese pilots in their Oscars, and shot them down in large numbers for far fewer losses.
The key to successful air combat in WW2 usually came down to energy, or speed. Unlike the Zero, which was faster that the Wildcats it opposed at the start of the war, the Oscar was simply never competitive at this type of combat as the statistics for the KI-43 I, the first version, and the KI-43 IIb, the most numerous later version produced by the Japanese, show.
Speed - Ki-43 I - 308 MPH; Ki-43 IIb - 333 MPH
Rate of Climb - Ki-43 I - 2,958 feet per minute; Ki-43 IIb - 3,900 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - Ki-43 I - 39,370 feet; Ki-43 IIb - 36,750 feet
The Japanese attempted to cure the serious defects in this aircraft by adding self-sealing fuel tanks and armour to the later version - an open admission that without these, this aircraft was mostly a death trap. They also produced a version in 1944 that could top 358 MPH. But this was not nearly competitive against aircraft like the P-38 Lightning and Grumman Hellcat, let alone the P-51D which had a whopping 74 MPH speed advantage. As long as Allied pilots avoided a turning combat with the Oscar, they almost always ended up with a victory. Avoiding such combat was the standard tactic after 1942. Given the known serious limitations of the Oscar by this time, the Japanese should have focused solely on producing the Ki-84 after it went into production.
The Russians Are Coming!
The Good:
The best Soviet fighter of the war was the Yak 3, which was a modification of the earlier Yak 1. This plane was so good that the Germans actually warned their pilots against flying combat against them below 15,000 feet!
Here are the statistics for the Yak 3 versus its main opponents after it was introduced in 1944, the ME-109G6 and the FW190A8:
Speed - 407 MPH versus 398 MPH for the ME-109G6, and 408 MPH for the FW190A8;
Rate of Climb - 3,645 feet per minute versus 3,345 for the ME109G6, and 2,953 for the FW190A8;
Service Ceiling - 35,000 feet versus 39,370 for the ME109G6, and 37,430 feet for the FW190A8.
While these are not dominant numbers, add in the fact that the Russians started to massively outnumber their opponents by 1944; that their tactics were far better by this point in the war; and the fact that their pilots were finally properly trained, and the effect of this plus the availability of a truly competitive aircraft was devastating on the Luftwaffe. As an example of the quality of this aircraft, the Normandie-Niemen squadron, which was a a Free French squadron fighting with the Russians on the Eastern Front, shot down 29 German aircraft without loss in one day at the start of the Soviet offensive into Germany proper in October, 1944.
The other superlative aircraft produced by the Russians was the La5. This plane was the earlier LaGG3 with a radial engine, which changed the aircraft from a mediocre aircraft into a world-beater.
Here are the La5's basic statistics.
Speed - 403 MPH
Rate of Climb - 3,280 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 36,089 feet
It was slightly faster than the ME109's that it faced, and slightly slower than the FW190's. It climbed slightly slower than the ME109s; slightly faster than the FW190s. Finally, its service ceiling was slightly below both. The key to this plane was that it was clearly competitive with the aircraft of the Luftwaffe, whose pilots had, up to the introduction of the La5 and early Yaks, basically owned the sky over the Soviet Union. As noted, once Russian production got into full gear, and tactics and training were improved, it was game over for the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front. The other aircraft that could make this list is the Yak 9, which was an earlier version of the Yak 3. Therefore, like the Japanese, give the Russians four great aircraft to their credit.
The Bad:
Before the La5, there was the LaGG3.
This was one of a trio of Soviet fighters that were built to replace the I-15 and I-16 that had stocked the Red Air Force fighter squadrons throughout the 1930's. The other aircraft were the MiG1/3, and the Yak1.
The LaGG3 was barely competitive with the German aircraft it encountered over the Soviet Union after the launch of Barbarossa. The primary German fighter at the time was the ME109F. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 357 MPH versus 390 MPH for the ME109F
Rate of Climb - 2,926 feet per minute versus 3,300 feet per minute for the ME109F
Service Ceiling - 31,825 feet versus 37,000 feet for the ME109F
While this aircraft was a massive improvement over the I-15 and I-16 fighters that the Soviets started the war with, pilots in a LaGG3 were still at a very serious disadvantage when they faced Germans in the ME109F. As noted, once a new more powerful radial engine was added, it became a superlative aircraft. The other aircraft that could be added to this list is the MiG 1/3, although it came very close to being 'Ugly".
The Ugly:
The ugly Soviet aircraft have been noted above - the I-15 and I-16. These aircraft were very competitive when they first appeared on the scene in the 1930; in fact the I-16 was revolutionary. By 1941, there were very seriously obsolete. They were only more manoeuvrable than the ME109Fs they faced - and that was it. The Soviet pilots in these planes were slaughtered in numbers never matched before or since. It took years for the Soviet Air Force to recover from the debacle, which was magnified by bad tactics, and insufficient pilot training early in the war in the East.
The British Empire:
The Good:
Well, this is obvious. The Spitfire IX was clearly the best single-engine fighter aircraft produced by the British during the war.
It appeared on the scene in mid-1942, and was still very competitive when the war in Europe ended three years later. As noted in the section above which reviewed German 'Bad' aircraft, this plane was responsible for taking the technological lead back from the Germans, which they had established with the FW190A in late 1941. The Spitfire IX's basic statistics are above.
The other British aircraft that was truly excellent was the Tempest V.
It first appeared in Spring, 1944, and was dominant from that point to the end of the war. It's basic statistics compared to the ME109G6's it faced follow.
Speed - 435 MPH versus 398 MPH for the ME109G6
Rate of Climb - 4,700 feet per minute versus 3,840 for the ME109G6
Service Ceiling - 36,500 feet versus 38,500 for the ME109G6
By the time it appeared, the Luftwaffe was on its last legs. Most combat occurred at low levels as the Tempest was used heavily in an army support role. It was also used to destroy V1 flying bombs over Britain. The other aircraft that could rank here is the Spitfire I/II.
The Bad:
The most mediocre British aircraft, without question, was the Hurricane I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hurricane#/media/File:Hawker_Hurricane_I_'R4118_UP-W'_(G-HUPW)_(41455530471).jpg
This aircraft won the Battle of Britain. Pilots in Hurricane destroyed more German aircraft than pilots in the Spitfire in that battle. It is beloved by millions of aircraft enthusiasts and historians. Nonetheless, it was a level below its main opposition, pilots in the ME109E3/4. Here are the comparable statistics.
Speed - 324 MPH versus 348 MPH for the ME109E3
Rate of Climb - 2,560 feet per minute versus 3,280 feet per minute for the ME109E3
Service Ceiling - 33,600 feet versus 34,450 feet for the ME109E3
The Hurricane I could out-turn the ME109, and the Germans had not completely moved to 'zoom and boom' tactics during the Battle Britain, so it was still an effective air plane.
The Hurricane I was also effective against Italian aircraft in Greece and North Africa, and against Japanese aircraft in the Burma, China, India Theatre of operations, as long as the pilot did not try to turn with Japanese pilots in Oscars. In these desperate early days of WW2, many British and Commonwealth pilots were able to rack up creditable scores in the Hurricane I.
Nonetheless, after the Battle Britain, as the British started to try to engage the Germans over occupied France, the Hurricane I was clearly out of its element. The Germans had refined their tactics by this point in the war, and pilots in Hurricane Is suffered accordingly.
June of 1941 also saw the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Germans. The British and Canadians shipped over 3,000 Hurricanes to the Russians to help them battle the Germans. They were easy aircraft to master, which did helped the Russians form fighter squadrons with these aircraft, but beyond a handful of aces, the Russians had very little success with the Hurricanes, regardless of the variant. They considered them to be far inferior not only to the German aircraft that they faced, but also to their own fighters.
The Bugly:
I can't bring myself to call the Hawker Hurricane II an Ugly plane. And so, there is a special category reserved just for this aircraft - Bugly, which is somewhere between Bad and Ugly!
https://saamaa.artstation.com/projects/33wkg
This plane's statistics are noted above in the section reviewing the superlative ME109F. If you have read this carefully, you will note that the Hurricane II was inferior to the ME109F, the MC-202 of the Italians, and definitely the FW190A as well. These were some of the aircraft flown by Britain's main opponents from 1941 to late-1942, which was this aircraft's heyday. As noted, thousands of these planes were also shipped to Russian by the British and Canadians to take on the same German aircraft noted here. When it went head-to-head against these aircraft, it was a definite failure.
It was not a catastrophe, however. Pilots in Hurricane IIs did have successes.
A naval version of this aircraft flying off British aircraft carriers performed very well in defence of Malta-bound convoys in 1942. It was also very well-armed, boasting four 20 mm cannons in some variants, so it could be devastating against bomber aircraft. When it came up against the inferior MC-200 and G-50 used by the Italians, or even the Oscars used by the Japanese, pilots using this plane often had a fighting chance. There are accounts of specially lightened Hurricane IIs actually turning with Oscars in the air battles over Indonesia, for example.
However, it's performance against the Germans was mostly a sad tale of death and defeat, and it was the Germans who the British and Russians desperately needed to hold back during the early years of the war.
Over Malta in early 1942, for example, the British lost 52 Hurricane IIs for NO LOSS on the part of the Germans using ME109F's. The British were pig-headed enough to continue to send pilots up in this aircraft for months on end, knowing full well that they really had no chance against the Germans. It was only when they brought Spitfire V's to the theatre in the Spring of 1942 that the tide turned slightly back in Britain's favour.
But why 'pig-headed'? Is that overstating things?
The term is used here because, unlike many other combatants who had no choice but to use inferior aircraft at points in the war (e.g. the Russians in 1941-42; the Americans in 1942-43; the Italians in 1940-41; the Japanese in 1943) the British had a choice, and they used the Hurricane IIs anyway.
More specifically, in 1941 the British had thousands of Spitfires in Britain (approximately 1100 Spitfire I/IIs and 800 Spitfire Vs in service in late-1941.) Had Spitfires been sent to Malta, North Africa, and the Burma, China, India Theatre as soon as the British faced serious opposition, they could have done massive damage to the German, Italian and Japanese air forces they faced. A Spitfire V was at least competitive with the ME109's that the Germans were using, and pilots even in early marks of the Spitfire could have totally dominated the Italian and Japanese aircraft sent against them.
Instead, the British relied exclusively on the Hurricane II overseas until Spring, 1942 - an aircraft that they knew full well was inferior, where the pilots of these aircraft were close to guaranteed to be shot down as soon as they took on a competent pilot in a ME109F or especially a FW190A. This was border-line criminal negligence.
Which brings us to our last section.
The Bad:
OMG, the British produced some truly awful aircraft during the war! Here are the two most obvious culprits.
The Gloster Gladiator.
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The Boulton Paul Defiant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#/media/File:Mk1_Defiant.jpg
The reader will notice that the first of these planes is a biplane with fixed undercarriage. The second has a power-operated turret in the rear - and no forward firing armament whatsoever. What were they thinking??
Here are the statistics for these air planes.
The Gladiator -
Speed - 253 MPH (about 100 MPH slower than the ME109Es they faced over France, Britain, Greece and North Africa)
Rate of Climb - 2,300 feet per minute (about 800 feet per minute less than the ME109E)
Service Ceiling - 32,800 feet (about 1000 feet below the ME109E)
The Gladiator was the last fixed undercarriage, biplane fighter produced for the RAF. It was obsolete when it was on the drawing board. The rationale for building this aircraft was a claimed distrust of monoplane aircraft, and a strange attachment to the designs of aircraft used in WW1.
This strange attachment is probably the reason why the Gladiator was the best-selling British fighter before the war. Latvia, Belgium, Sweden, Greece, China, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Iraq, Lithuania, and Egypt all bought and used this air plane, as did the Royal Navy.
In North Africa and Greece it was pitted against the Italian CR42, which was also a fixed undercarriage biplane fighter (see above). These two aircraft were very comparable in performance, while also being entirely obsolete. Pilots using the Gladiator more the held their own against the Italians, but were often at a loss to defeat Italian bombers which were faster in level flight.
The Gladiator was also used in Norway, France, Britain, Iraq, and Syria by the British, by the Finns and Swedes against the Russians in the Winter War of 1939 - 40. When it was pitted against similar biplane opposition, it did well. When pitted against modern aircraft, as it was in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, pilots using this type accomplished essentially nothing, as again, even opposing bomber aircraft could simply accelerate and pull away. It ended the war being used as a meteorological aircraft hunting for clouds.
The Defiant -
Speed - 304 MPH
Rate of Climb - 1,900 feet per minute
Service Ceiling - 31,000 feet
The basic strategy behind the design of the Defiant seemed sound. The plane was provided with a powerful, four-gun electric gun turret behind the pilot. When an enemy bomber was encountered, the Defiant would simply pull alongside, and the turret gunner would point the turret at the bomber, pull the triggers and blow it away. In fact, when pilots and gunners in the Defiant had a chance to actually do this, they were very successful. The one wee problem with this plan - what if those bombers had fighter escorts?
The Defiant was a disaster as a fighter aircraft, but was initially successful in combat. Over Dunkirk, Defiant gunners shot down 46 German aircraft for a loss of 10 Defiants - seven on the last day.
As long as the Germans attacked from behind, the Defiant with its heavy four-gun turret was deadly. So the Germans just stopped doing that. After Dunkirk, where the Germans seem to have mistaken the Defiant for Hurricanes, they attacked the Defiant from below and in front where it had no counter. From that point on, losses were so severe that the Defiant was withdrawn from daylight operations, and converted to a night fighter where it had some success before being taken out of service and converted to a target tug in 1941.
It is worthwhile mentioning that the Boulton Paul company that manufactured the Defiant did mock up a version of the plane without a turret just to see what it could do as a traditional single-seat monoplane fighter. The mock up topped 360 MPH in level flight, which was much faster than a Hurricane I, and about as fast as a Spitfire I/II. It would have had a rate of climb of about 3,250 feet per minute. Both the projected speed and rate of climb would have been better than that of the ME109Es the British encountered in the Battle of Britain. The RAF rejected the design saying that they already had enough Hurricanes and Spitfires, thank you very much! Bloody-minded, indeed!
Conclusion:
Opinions will differ regarding what single engine fighter aircraft from WW2 were the best, which were the mediocre, and which were the worst. All he above is the opinion to the writer only - take what you like and leave the rest.
Thank you to the various sites hosting the pics noted above.
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