Best WWII prop plane

[American Island]

What was the best propeller plane in WWII? I say P-51 Mustang.

[Austrian Europe]

I think Me 109.

[Weavian Island]

At the beginning of the war it was the Zero, but the Yanks made the P-51, which is good.

[Impaleen]

I say P-51D Mustang. Six 50 cal machine guns and one of the farthest flying ranges of any fighter/bomber or interceptor.

[Neu Leonstein]

Best at what?

I'd say late-model planes, so the late Spitfires, FW-190s, stuff like that. If you're thinking 1-v-1, no 1940 version is going to be able to keep up.

[Mussoliniopoli]

Focke-Wulf 190 would be my bet in the European Theater.

[Sremski okrug]

You missed the Spitfire? Truly one of the best looking planes during the Second World War?

[Mussoliniopoli]

You missed the Spitfire? Truly one of the best looking planes during the Second World War?

It seems he missed the best plane of both the British and the Germans.

[Dododecapod]

Focke-Wulf 190 would be my bet in the European Theater.

100% agreement. It was more agile than any of the planes on the list save the Zero, and faster than any save the Lightning (being a single engine plane, after all). Chuck Yeager considered it the best plane of the war.

[Sremski okrug]

You missed the Spitfire? Truly one of the best looking planes during the Second World War?

It seems he missed the best plane of both the British and the Germans.

Whilst he included the P-82 an aircraft which never took operational service during the Second World War. I think the OP should of named this thread best Prop-Fighter aircraft.

Spitfire - Fighter
Mosquito - Tactical bomber.

[New Kilballyowen]

I know it was far from the best in terms of performance, but I'm partial to the P-40 Warhawk. It gave valuable service in China and North Africa.

In terms of performance, and also aesthetics, I'd probably say the Macchi C.205 Veltro.

[Dododecapod]

It seems he missed the best plane of both the British and the Germans.

Whilst he included the P-82 an aircraft which never took operational service during the Second World War. I think the OP should of named this thread best Prop-Fighter aircraft.

Spitfire - Fighter
Mosquito - Tactical bomber.

Focke-Wulf 190 - Best Fighter.
Mosquito - Best Tac Bomber/Strike Aircraft
B-29 - Best Strategic Bomber

[Lacadaemon]

I will go with B-29, because it was best in class by war's end.

Though I am tempted to pick the f8f bearcat, for not dissimilar reasons.

[Trotskylvania]

The Il-2 Shturmovick.

There's a good reason why Stalin called them "as essential to the Red Army as air and bread". They certainly gave the Wehrmacht's vaunted Panzer forces quite the bloody nose over the course of the war in the East.

[New Kilballyowen]

Whilst he included the P-82 an aircraft which never took operational service during the Second World War. I think the OP should of named this thread best Prop-Fighter aircraft.

Spitfire - Fighter
Mosquito - Tactical bomber.

Focke-Wulf 190 - Best Fighter.
Mosquito - Best Tac Bomber/Strike Aircraft
B-29 - Best Strategic Bomber

Tactical Bomber and Strike Aircraft are really two different roles entirely though. Classing them together is like grouping Strategic Bombers and Maritime Patrol Bombers.

For those two categories, I'd say that the best Tactical Bomber of the war was the North American B-25 Mitchell, and the best Strike Aircraft was the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik.

[Britcan]

Looks like a big bias towards the US there.
The spitfire was a truly amazing plane as was the hurricane. The M1-- series by the Germans was also good.

[Alien Space Bats]

My mind says the P-51D, but my heart goes with the P-47D Thunderbolt and the P-38L Lightning.

The P-47D wasn't as zippy, but it was hugely successful in ground attack; indeed, it was very, very hard to shoot down. It also proved more amenable to long-range escort work, where it was the escort of choice for the B-29's that savaged Japan. I should also note that the US 8th Air Force's top ace flew a P-47, not a P-51.

The P-47 probably should have seen service as a ground attack fighter in Korea, where it would have stood up far better to ground fire, but the P-51 got that role instead, there being far more P-51's in service. As it turned out, the P-51 did not do well in Korea, suffering a large number of losses in its close ground attack role. It really was an escort and air superiority fighter, rather than a multi-role fighter. The P-47, OTOH, was the Army Air Corps' true multi-role fighter. In some ways, you can think of the P-51 as being like the F-16, while much heavier, much more expensive P-47 was like the F-15.

The P-38L was the last model of the P-38 produced. The P-38 was the one U.S. fighter that served magnificently throughout the war: It's the one exception I can think of to the rule that someone gave above (of 1940-vintage fighters not being able to cut it against 1944-45 models). It had magnificent range, was actually amazingly quiet for a fighter (even more incredible given that it was a twin-engine design), and was able to serve as both a long-range escort, a fighter-bomber, and even a dive bomber. The top two American aces in the Pacific flew P-38's.

In Europe, it was less effective against the Germans than it could have been (at least until 1944, with the P-38J) because German fighters could run away from it without much difficulty (by going into a power dive; the P-38 was a better fighter at altitude, so there was almost always a chance for them to do this). It's still a testament to the quality of the plane that this was, in fact, what smart German pilots did.

One situation that P-38's couldn't handle was getting caught in a constricted space close to the ground (such as flying through a mountain pass); this is another reason why the Lighting was a much more successful fighter in the Pacific than in Europe.

So my heart wants to give some love to the Army Air Corps' "Jugs" and "Forked-Tail Devils", even if they weren't greyhounds of the sky.

[Urwumpe]

The late Spitfire models (The early ones had been rather crappy compared to the German planes, the Hurricanes fared better there). The P-51D is a pretty nice fighter as well, but the spit has simply more style, the P-51D is mostly famous for being a big fuel tank with guns.

And the best fighter of the Germans was no prop plane... nothing of WW2 can beat the beauty and performance of the Me 262. The German prop planes had been initially great, but had been updated into the wrong direction then, mostly because of the bombing damage, a lot of the errors also came from poor doctrines.

[Call to power]

the Polikarpov Po-2, an aircraft so utterly dire you could find most of the parts in today Ikea catalogue but yet had a production history spanning 31 years in which time it managed to be used to great effect in Korea due to the low radar properties of a deckchair

[OMGeverynameistaken]

The Il-2 Shturmovick.

There's a good reason why Stalin called them "as essential to the Red Army as air and bread". They certainly gave the Wehrmacht's vaunted Panzer forces quite the bloody nose over the course of the war in the East.

This. The Il-2 was the A-10's granddaddy.

And, of course, the rear machinegunner's seat provided a handy way to get rid of politically inconvenient persons.

[Sremski okrug]

the Polikarpov Po-2, an aircraft so utterly dire you could find most of the parts in today Ikea catalogue but yet had a production history spanning 31 years in which time it managed to be used to great effect in Korea due to the low radar properties of a deckchair

and it defeats the aliens in the alternate world war cause it's so slow and shoddy xD

[New Kilballyowen]

The Il-2 Shturmovick.

There's a good reason why Stalin called them "as essential to the Red Army as air and bread". They certainly gave the Wehrmacht's vaunted Panzer forces quite the bloody nose over the course of the war in the East.

This. The Il-2 was the A-10's granddaddy.

And, of course, the rear machinegunner's seat provided a handy way to get rid of politically inconvenient persons.

As someone who worked on A-10s for six years, I completely agree with the assessment.

[Bikethage]

DeHavilland Mosquito, a twin-engine bomber with bigger bomb capacity than a 4-engine B-17, faster than the fighters for a time, unarmed except for the bombs, made out of non-strategically limited resource (wood), having a reduced radar signature (being mostly wood). A real paradigm-busting concept plane. And it looked pretty, with gentle tapers and curves. Well, pretty for a lethal military killing machine intended to drop flaming death and destruction on cities, towns and targets of oppportunity. My dad flew them after the war, converted for high altitude photo-mapping. Not the most comfortable of aircraft, and the finicky Merlin engines needed replacing quite often, operating at high power levels burned them out fast.

All aircraft are designed around a certain purpose, good for some tasks and useless for others. Some designs are very good in multiple roles outside the original boundaries, like the Mosquito. Pretty cool machine. Caused Hitler and Goering to blow a gasket, for sure, when they bombed Berlin and no German fighter planes could catch them.

The fighter versions were really good as night fighters, long range and endurance, high speed and ability to carry the radar and heavy guns and ammunition. Four .303 machine guns plus 4 20mm cannons were the main armament, which was a lot compared to most other fighters of the time. Messerschmitt Bf 110s had 4 machine guns and two cannons as standard equipment, before they got Jazz Music - upward-shooting cannons right in the cocpit with the crew - and rockets. I don't know the specs on Beauforts and Beaufighters but the Mosquito had higher performance (speed, climb).

[Call to power]

and it defeats the aliens in the alternate world war cause it's so slow and shoddy xD

plus if those pesky crops ever got in your way well hold onto your hats guys because this thing would dust the shit out of them

[Gethi]

As an aeronautical engineering student, gotta say the supermarine spitfire. It has the classic elliptical wing planform which theoretically gives you the best lift to drag ratio, not to mention that it evolved from the line of supermarine S series some of which won the Schneider Tropy. Its a clean and sleek design.