OT: What is your favorite WW2 aircraft and why does it appeal to you?

[jp]

Just curious, what is your favorite aircraft from the second world war, and why?

I must say the FW-190A's are my overall favorite because of their sleek appearence. And they weren't half bad at warfighting either.
But to be fair, here are my favorites for the four MAJOR participants.

Britian: Spitfire. All of them. They are just pretty aircraft.

U.S.A: F6F and F4U split this one. Both were very effective aircraft, well designed and well built. The later series F4U's are my favorite Corsairs.

Japan: Logical choice, the Mitsubishi A6M type O, or the zero. Very manuverable and very effective. In the opening stages of the war, this was in my opinion far and away the most advanced fighter in the pacific.

Germany: See above.

So what are your favorites?

[W. Bleddyn]

Lancaster and Flying Fortress. Both are just so... majestic to see in flight.

#1 for me will always be the early marks of the Spitfire. In my opinion it is the prettiest thing ever created by man

[X_eidos2]

Both my parents were in the RCAF during WWII, so any aircraft they were involved with would be of interest to me. So that puts the Harvard, Hurricane and PBY at the top of my list. My Dad flew air-sea rescue in a Vickers Warwick. No one has ever built a model of that type in FS so I might have to break down and build one myself one of these days. Shoot - that plane hasn't even been modeled in plastic as a kit. There was a vacu-form kit once, but that's another story.

There are other favorites on my list - but they got there because of found memories of building plastic kits of the planes while a young boy. Revell's B-25, then the P-39 and an early version of the B-24 are on that list.

[CodyValkyrie]

Mine seems so simple, and so basic compared to some of the answers I expect here.

P-51 Mustang.

This bird is very American. It is loud, the jack of all trades, beautiful with it's sweeping lines and like every American has an immigrant trace with its Merlin.

I could write songs about this beautiful bird, and there is a reason it has captured the attention of the American people for generations.

I think a lot of people choose not to like the plane simply because it is contrarian.

[mmann]

Without any doubt at all the Supermarine Spitfire is my favorite WW2 aircraft. Most definitely in a class by itself and well above any other aircraft from this time period.

Regards, Mike Mann

[flyer01]

For me USAA: B-17 and P-51d

RAF: Hurricane and mosquito

There are so many.

Of the four I would go with the P-51d. It was able to fly fast, high and the best on fuel.
The P-51d was able to give top cover for the B-17's from Great Britain across the channel and deep into France and Germany and back.
It was used mainly in the ETO and not the PTO or the war with Japan as some call it.

flyer01

[warchild]

Its probably pretty obvious that my favorite plane of any era is the P-61. Like the b-17 its quite stately. In flight, it reminds me of an american eagle ( which is really weird i know, but it does ).. It was big, powerful and the most devestating weapon produced during world war two. It wasnt perfect at any one thing, but did any and all jobs assigned to it and did them well. it wasnt the fastest plane there was, but it wa fast enough to do its job and then some. It wasnt the most nimble plane there was, but it was nimble enough to out maneuver many smaller fighter aircraft. It was a 30000 pound freight train with wings and enough fire power to cut a locomotive in half.. and yet, flying it was pretty simple. it was incredibly stable, with no bad characteristics to it at all.. And of all the things this plane was asked to do ( fighter, Intruder, bomber, ground support ) it did them all in complete darkness.. It was the first aircraft designed entirely around a radar, the first american plane to launch an ejection seat, the first severe weather research plane, and the first all weather fighter.. perhaps its crews had more in common with the crews from the lanc's and mosquitos than they did other american crews.. I dont know. it doesnt matter.. I've come to love this beast and i love it more every day..
Pam

[stiz]

the handley page halifax, hampered at the begining by being forced to take underpowered engines due to suply and demand of bristols (which they wanted) being given to the stirling first, then once it got the engines it needed and the tweaks ironed out to become a dam good plane that had more uses than just bombing, was hampered and degraded by harris purley because he didnt like it!

[gradyhappyg]

I am kinda partial to the P-39 Airacobra beautiful lines the tricycle gear the big cannon if only they hadn't deleted the supercharger from the production models.

[DHC120]

Gotta go with the B-17 in the Bomber Class.. My Dad flew them and said Boeing built the best planes ever. He had more time in the B-29's with a LOT of round-trips from Guam (North Field) to as far north as Tokyo (14-18hr flights).
In the Fighter Class.. hands down it's the P-38.. Sheer Classic lines. Dad even bought a '49 then a '51 Cadillac because Harley Earl was "inspired" by the P-38's Vertical Stabs and copied the shape for the Caddy's tail-lights (the '56 Caddy really had pronounced P-38 "Tail Fins")
There is my two cents worth.. Spend it wisely!

[padburgess]

Well here goes. I thought I would do this by country. So I am going to list my choices as second, then first then my favorites for the actual period.
Due to the limit of four images per post, I will do this over three posts.
So second runner ups for each country. No particular order.
Britain: Bristol Beaufighter - Rugged beauty and just soldiered on in very demanding roles.
USA: P51B - First of the great fighter and epitomised the marriage of airframe to power plant. And damn fine looking.
Italy: Savoia Marchetti SM79 - Don't know, just like it.
Japan: Mitsubishi Ki46 Dinah - Gorgeous and very capable as a fast recon bird.

Attachment 28482Attachment 28481Attachment 28480Attachment 28483
These images are not mine, are freely available on the internet and remain the property of their original owners.

Due to the 4 image limit the Fw190 will be along soon.

Paul

[padburgess]

And to continue.

Germany: FW190A - Brilliant.
Attachment 28484

First choice per nation.

Britain: Spitfire - Of course.
USA: F4U Corsair - Cranky, but also brilliant and gorgeous.
Germany: Me110: Sorry, just my choice. I've always liked this twin.

Attachment 28487Attachment 28486Attachment 28485
Again the disclaimer above applies.

Paul

[Kiwikat]

T-6 Texan. It is my favorite aircraft period. So many of our pilots learned to fly in it.


WE NEED A GOOD PAYWARE ONE FOR FSX!!! PLEASE A2A OR VERTIGO STUDIOS, DOOOOOOO IIIIITT!!!

[padburgess]

First choice continued.

Japan: Nakajima Ki84 Hayate (Gale) Proved that Japan could build world class fighters that were capable of taking on the best of the allied planes on equal terms, and apparently with a good pilot even the F6F was an easy kill. Also a good looking bird.
Italy: Macchi MC202 Folgore - simply elegant.

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And my pick of the best. These are my favourite planes of the WWII era.

Numero Uno: Dornier Do24

Attachment 28490

Number 2: Focke Wulf FW189 Uhu

Attachment 28491

Why these two.
The Dornier is beautiful with a grace not often seen in aircraft. Also extremely good at what she did. She was arguably the best rough water flying boat of the period. On one documented occasion while carrying out a rescue far out in the North Sea the entire tail section of the Do24 broke off when landing to pick up the survivors. Undaunted the crew simply sealed the tail water tight door, crowded everyone up front and then drove home. That must have been some sight entering a Norwegian Fjord.

The Fw189. Again grace and functionality. Slender to the point of looking fragile but apparently rugged enough to survive Russian Taman (ramming) attacks and return home. And she spent her entire operational time at low level over one of the greatest battlefields of all time. A very rough neighborhood.

Just my choices.

Regards
Paul

[Mathias]

My all time number one is the Do24. I've always been impressed by it's gracious lines that make you want to call her "Me Lady".
One day I'll get out those old drafts and make a new one....for FS203 or so. :-)

Fighter aircraft, clear thing, that's the Fw190. Sleak, fast, manoverable, scary, deadly.

[padburgess]

Mathias

Please, have some sympathy. Showing me those blanks. I am 56 this year, by FS203x I will be, well lets just say "past it". No offence to those 70+ members out there.
Regard it as an act of kindness or whatever but please please start work on the Do24 as soon as you have released the Bf108, Bf110, Fw189 etc.

Oh yeah and thank you for the brilliant work on the Fw190 series. They are truly awesome.

Best Regards
Paul

[SpaceWeevil]

Without any doubt at all the Supermarine Spitfire is my favorite WW2 aircraft. Most definitely in a class by itself and well above any other aircraft from this time period.

Regards, Mike Mann

If we were just talking about the early war period I would plump for the Merlin Spitfire too. Overall, though, I'm going with the one that jammed the Merlin into a bigger, leaner and meaner airframe, and produced arguably the outstanding fighter of WW2. It's also the only aeroplane that - truly - takes my breath away when I see and hear it fly...... P-51D.

[Sundog]

U.S. - A-20, P-47D razorback, P-51 (though my favorite is the P-51H), and P-61.

RAF - Spit MkV Clipped Wing and Mossie B.IV.

Ge - FW-190D-11 (I like the clean cowl), He-219, Do-335, and Me-262.

Japan - J2M3 Raiden and Ki-61.

It - Macchi C.205

Ru - Yak-3 and MiG I-220 (not production ready, but a beautiful design none the less).

[SixGhost]

Hands down the Fiat G.55, slick yet balanced, fast and agile. Not only for the looks though, the men that flew it showed something special at the time. It's an icon to me.

Attachment 28500

[txnetcop]

Growing up in San Antonio you can't help but get indoctrinated into the aviation world. My uncle worked at Kelly Air Force base as an aircraft mechanic and supervisor. I spent years out in the hangers and on the flight line. I met many of the aces of WWII, and the Korean War who were still serving in the active or reserve USAF. My uncles had been pilots during the Korean War. One flew P-51s and later F-86s, and F-100s. Another flew F4U Corsairs, later F9F-6 Cougars and still later F4 Phantoms in the 60s. You should have heard their arguments over who flew the best aircraft! One was stationed at Lackland AFB and I got even more exposure to fighter jets early trainers.

I don't have just one favorite because I've been in love with airplanes since I was old enough to see one. My favorite era is WWII and The Korean War prop and jet. I grew up just down the block from Gen. David Lee "Tex" Hill. His stories of the AVG and the P-40 were nothing short of MAGIC! He gave me a model of a P-40E when I was youngster and told me it was highly underrated but a very effective fighter when you learned how to fight with it. I wish I still had that model! I love the stories of the B-17, B-24 Liberator, the B-29 . Now I have flown in one through Cavanaugh Air Musuem in Dallas and the CAF in Midland. It was worth every dime I paid.

I met Lt. Col. Robert S. Johnson through my uncle in 1962. Col. Johnson was an insurance executive at the time but he sure had some incredible stories-some not in the book. I read his book Thunderbolt one year after it was published. Needless to say I was in love with all these aircraft flown by these men, but I also loved the F-100, F-102, B58 Hustler, F-105, B-47, B-52s and the Douglas A-1 SkyRaider while in Vietnam. I was able to back seat a few of these aircraft. How do you pick a favorite? I can't! They are all incredible aircraft. I wish I had been able to fly in a real Boomerang, a Spit, a Hurri and a Lightning! See! I can't pick a favorite.

Should I talk about the GA aircraft I have either flown or right seated? Donna and I just rode a DC-3 for the third time last year. I loved every second of it. The sounds and the smells are unforgettable. It smells like an airplane! Hey but thanks for asking!
Ted

[Matt Wynn]

For me theres only one real contender... The DeHavilland Type 98, more commonly known as the Mosquito.... thing was fast, elegant, could absorb huge amounts of damage and keep going and it packed a mean punch... i love it for the noise it makes, it's graceful elegant lines and the speed, at low altitude it was darn near untouchable. unfortunately i witnessed the UK's last Flying Mosquito Crash at Barton, but i'm hoping we get one back soon...



Second Place goes to a real beauty, it has slightly cranked wings, a napier Sabre as powerplant, was a stable gun platform at 400mph, could dive at 525mph, yup it's none other than the Hawker Typhoon...



Pilot Quotes:
Flight Lieutenant Ken Trott flew Typhoons with 197 Squadron and recalled:
Rather a large aircraft shall we say, for a single-engine fighter. Terrific power. Quite something to control. I liked it from the point of view of speed and being a very stable gun platform. You could come in on a target at 400 mph and the thing was as steady as a rock.

In early March 1943 at Tangmere the then new Squadron Leader of 486(NZ) Squadron, Des Scott, flew a Typhoon for the first time:
She roared, screamed, groaned and whined, but apart from being rather heavy on the controls at high speeds she came through her tests with flying colours...Applying a few degrees of flap we swung on down into the airfield approach, levelled out above the runway and softly eased down on to her two wheels, leaving her tail up until she dropped it of her own accord.
We were soon back in her bay by the dispersal hut, where I turned off the petrol supply cock. After a few moments she ran herself out and with a spit, sob and weary sigh, her great three-bladed propeller came to a stop. So that was it: I was drenched in perspiration and tired out...

[PRB]

P-38. First it was the unique look. Then the book by Martin Caidin, Fork Tailed Devil, which is still a great read, and it explained the many ways in which the Lightning was unique and interesting. Then I saw Lefty Gardner fly White Lightling at the Madera CA “Gathering of War Birds” Air Show 1980-something. That was it. Game over. Even by that time I had seen many war birds fly, and while they all sound wonderfully different, the P-38 was truly in a league of her own when it came to sound. All the other war birds started more or less the same way: prop goes through several turns, cough, cough, sputter, bang, smoke, then it's running. Not White Lightning. One turn then a mighty vroooOOOM, and the plane rocked forward slightly on her nose strut. Oh dear... Then as she taxied out, each time the power came up the engines let out a throaty “whooooooop”, reminiscent of an S-3 Viking, if you've ever heard one of those taxi... Utterly unique. Then the take off. The sound of that plane reminded me of a heavy turbo-prop. Deep loud base component. There's nothing like it. Now, since that time I have been lead to believe that the very unique sound of White Lightning was due to engine modifications similar to Reno Racers, and that the war time Lightnings didn't sound quite so interesting. I don't care!

See:

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[dswo]

Me-109 or FW-190. The CH shrikes are some of my favorite models so far, and I'm looking forward very eagerly to the FR 109K.

[paulb]

This is a really hard question to answer. My main hobby is military aviation and every time I see something different I end up researching it and buying more books!

There are lots of iconic aircraft and some great ones for FSX nowadays.

However, I will try to answer the question by just mentioning the four that I use most in FSX. In no particular order -

The Realair Spitfire MkIX. All versions of the Spitfire are of great interest to me and I have seen many flying in real life. However, I think that Realair raised the bar when they released their version.

The Just Flight /AH Hurricane Mk1 prototype. The Hurricane was the mainstay of the BoB for the RAF, but the prototype also reminds me of the earlier Hawker biplanes which were so colourful in the interwar years.

The Flight 1 / Flight Replica's Me 109G. Although I really like the FW190, some years ago Dave and I updated Paul Rebuffat's CFS2 109 for FS2004. I flew it all of the time. More recently, I bought the Flight Replica release for FSX.

The Bristol Beaufighter by Dave Garwood. I enjoy flying this one and have fond memories of a Beaufighter being restored over a number of years at my local base. It also makes a change to fly a twin.

[thunder100]

P-51 Mustang.

Flame suit on-->Without the British Merlin and the help of the Brit's the P-51 would have been hmmm nothing.

But I agree that it is stunning beautiful

If I then have 3 others too

Constellation if this still qualify's as WW 2-->for me the No-1 beacuse of its lines

Mosquito

The other FW190-->TA-152

Roland