Lets have your thoughts on what you think was the best multi-role aircraft in WW2 and what types of devolopments that went on these aircrafts.
devolopments engines,air flow design,lift capiblities,low ground flying
speed,and duriblities.Also which country put out the best in this area.Like
the Germans in there FW-190.
So let me know and what type of aircraft you prefer to build and who makes it.[:)][:)][:)]
My vote would go to the Junkers Ju 88. Bomber, torpedo bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, heavy fighter, radial & in-line engines. The maiden of all work.
Hi Digger for me it is a tie between the Mosquitto and the Ju88. both gave exelent service no matter what task they where set and both where modfied way beyond the designers original specifications for tasks they wern’t designed for. just i,m,h,o. Greg
Yeah, got to be the Ju-88
got to be the Mosquitto
Well how about the B-25 not only was it a meduim bomber but a multi-role aircraft in the Pacific area.Should we forget the F4U Corsair and the Dougless Boston that the Brittish addapeted to a marriot of jobs to do.
For me both, the mosquito and the ju-88, I’ve one of each waiting to be assembled and in both cases they are variants of the original purpose (fighter-bomber and night fighter).
definately the Ju 88. A Jack of all trades, but a master of none.
Three way tie in my mind: Mosquito, JU-88 and Petlyakov PE-2
All three wildly exceeded all intentions their designers had for them at the drawing board stage.
They were all so adaptable there wasn’t much any of them couldn’t do.
I would have to say the Corsair. Fighter, bomber, close air support and nightfigher. The P-47 Thunderbolt also would be a close second. For third I think the A-20 filled a lot of roles including a stop gap nightfigher.
My vote goes to the North American P-51 Mustang. It’s a fighter, fighter-bomber, dive-bomder(A-36), ground-attack a/c, close air support a/c, photo-recon, long-range bomber escort. It even passed carrier qualifications. And in all these roles, the Mustang performed the best.
To nkm1416 you make a good piont about the P-51 but the P-47,F4U in my opinion were a little better at the job due to there ruggedness.They are kind of like the A-10 of today when it come to low level ground attack.PE-2,JU 88 are also among the the best in low level attack.WIth the P-51 to put the type of armor that this other planes had would be like saddling a real mustang with a 500lbs man.Shes notgoing to run far or wheel around like you want.Digger[:)][C):-)][:)]
What about hte PBY? It was used as a torpedo bomber, anti-sub aircraft and recon bird.
I guess you are right with low level attack role, Diggeraone. Maybe my last line should read ‘And in most of these roles, the Mustang performed at its best’. Over all, it is still the P-51 for me.
How about the P-61 Black Widow?
Mike
Does this include variants? Cuz this could go on forever if so.
The B-24 Liberator had a few variants like C-87 (cargo/transport), PB4Y (naval variation), XB-41 (long range escort), & F-7 (reconiaissance). That’s pretty diverse!
The P-38 was also the F5E used for reconaissance.
The A-36 Apache was the dive bomber version of its successor the P-51 and there was a reconnaissance version as well… can’t remember the number.
Seemed the medium sized bombers were always being used or retro-fitted for something else other than bombing (i.e., towing, cargo/troop transport, etc.).
When you take in the meduim bombers into this role,you can only said for two that the U.S. had that were good at this job.1 the Michell,2 the Boston,then you have planes like the Tigercat,Avenger,for the Navy but nelther was as good to all purposes.Planes like the P-47,F4U,P-38,P-39 were more apted for this role.The German only had three that were good at this,1JU-88,FW190,and the Stuka.Only one was a true fighter and that was FW190 it was tought and very relible.These planes were very capible as ground,an fighter bomber roles.The Russains built a plane for each need and did not diversife what they did have. The Brittish had a quet of few planes with multi capiblities.The jappanies had very few even though they should had have many,due to the use of their
carriers.Which the U.S. was good in this,so they could load there carriers up with planes with weapon for a differant job.Digger[:)][C):-)][:)]
The P-38 was a multi-tasker. Fighter, bomber, interceptor, close air support, night fighter, recon…
Over and out.
No doubt about it, the Ju.88
hi guys,
i generally agree with what has gone before regarding the ju-88, although the mosquito edges it in the heavy fighter role (the role itself was found to be outmodedby the battle of britain, anyway, so maybe that’s not so important).
regarding single engined planes, i’d say it’s between the fw-190, p-51 and p-47; by the time the d-9 came along i’d say it was the 'bolt against the fw with my vote going to the p-47 simply because it’s basic airframe did pretty much evreything with little/no modification, whereas the fw needed in-line engine and extended fuselage to cut it with (as?) the best fighter(s).
regards,
nick