INGO TOP-TENS(best FIGHTER aircraft of all time)

[bobbittle]

P-51

 

[Mackey]

I am very partial to the A10

 

[saleen4971]

F117?

as much as i love the F22 and F14, the F14 is outmatched, and the F22 is damn near untouchable. the F117 is just......awesome

 

[danielson]

 

[churchmouse]

Prop........P-51

Jet.........F-15

I know the format was not followed but there has to be a dividing line in the technology's.
There is no more beautiful air frame than the P-51 Mustang. A piece of hand crafted art. With Merlin power it was dominant over Europe.

F-15.....what do you say except "Bad A$$" aircraft.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Yes, it's absolutely frustrating.

 

[Cldedhnds]

P-51

 

[gstanley102]

P-51

 

[88E30M50]

F 15

I'd have to give it to the F 15 due to it's being undefeated in air to air. When introduced, it was a league ahead of anything else in the air. I'd give honorable mention to the FW 190, Corsair and Hellcat. All were fantastic aircraft of their day, but none were in a class of their own when compared to other aircraft of their day. The FW 190 was the perfect aircraft to attempt to counter the heavy bomber threat. It had 4 cannons and 2 heavy machine gun to try and knock down the heavy metal that was pounding Germany. The Corsair and Hellcat were both instrumental in building air superiority in the Pacific.

The P 51 was a good aircraft, but had a lot of compromises that keep it off the top. Structurally, it was weak and could lose a wing in heavy turbulence. What made the P 51 great was not it's ability as a fighter, but it's ability to reach any part of Germany and still have the fuel to fight. The P 47 was a great aircraft but this discussion is about air to air. It took a pilot that understood energy management to do well in a Thunderbolt but energy management was not taught to fighter pilots until 20 or so years later.

It's really tough to say what the best aircraft is without looking at it's ability to do the job it was tasked with. By some measures, the P 51 would be the top aircraft due to its ability to take the fight deep into Germany but as a simple 1 on 1 air to air fighter, it could be beat. The Fw 190 was a creditable fighter that had the punch to take a bomber down but could be beat in the air by a Spitfire. The Spitfire was a great aircraft for defending Britain but had trouble taking the fight deep into occupied territory when the time came. Even the P 40 was a solid performer and was favored by many pilots as an honest, solid aircraft to take to war.

But, in the end, the Eagle was designed to be an air superiority fighter and it excelled at that. It's won in battles over Israel as well as Iraq and Kuwait. It's returned to base missing a wing. It's also drop dead gorgeous.

 

[thoroughbred]

People cant follow simple directions....go figure....and then people wonder why we are where we are....just makes me laugh...in other news i did save a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to geico...

 

[Work]

The F117 is not a fighter, it is a light attack aircraft at best. with no guns, no air to air weaponry at all, and a single payload bay, the F117 was an experiment. a successful one, but all the same, it is not a fighter.

F-15 is the best IMO. As stated earlier, it is the definition of Air Superiority. Even today with the F22, which is superior, the F-15 is just a fraction behind. In 10 years, i may change my answer to the F-22, but it has yet to prove itself like the F-15 has.

as for the A10 guys, for an attack plane, you're absolutely right, it is #1, but also not an Air Superiority fighter.

 

[churchmouse]

People cant follow simple directions....go figure....and then people wonder why we are where we are....just makes me laugh...in other news i did save a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to geico...

No you didn't..........

 

[churchmouse]

F 15

I'd have to give it to the F 15 due to it's being undefeated in air to air. When introduced, it was a league ahead of anything else in the air. I'd give honorable mention to the FW 190, Corsair and Hellcat. All were fantastic aircraft of their day, but none were in a class of their own when compared to other aircraft of their day. The FW 190 was the perfect aircraft to attempt to counter the heavy bomber threat. It had 4 cannons and 2 heavy machine gun to try and knock down the heavy metal that was pounding Germany. The Corsair and Hellcat were both instrumental in building air superiority in the Pacific.

The P 51 was a good aircraft, but had a lot of compromises that keep it off the top. Structurally, it was weak and could lose a wing in heavy turbulence. What made the P 51 great was not it's ability as a fighter, but it's ability to reach any part of Germany and still have the fuel to fight. The P 47 was a great aircraft but this discussion is about air to air. It took a pilot that understood energy management to do well in a Thunderbolt but energy management was not taught to fighter pilots until 20 or so years later.

It's really tough to say what the best aircraft is without looking at it's ability to do the job it was tasked with. By some measures, the P 51 would be the top aircraft due to its ability to take the fight deep into Germany but as a simple 1 on 1 air to air fighter, it could be beat. The Fw 190 was a creditable fighter that had the punch to take a bomber down but could be beat in the air by a Spitfire. The Spitfire was a great aircraft for defending Britain but had trouble taking the fight deep into occupied territory when the time came. Even the P 40 was a solid performer and was favored by many pilots as an honest, solid aircraft to take to war.

But, in the end, the Eagle was designed to be an air superiority fighter and it excelled at that. It's won in battles over Israel as well as Iraq and Kuwait. It's returned to base missing a wing. It's also drop dead gorgeous.

''

Early P-51's were under powered (Allison V-12) and were regaled as great for ground support but above a point they lost to much power to run with the 109's.
When they squeezed a Merlin in the nose that configuration in a "D" air frame it was one fast tough SOB. It could and did outrun any prop offerings the Germans had to counter it. NO Cannons but not really needed. It was built for air superiority in that time and for the most part (German Jets/rocket powered planes) did just that.
Can you tell I am a fan......

I have heard a Merlin powered P-51 fly over at very low altitude at military power.....It is a sound that still makes the hair on my arms stand up.

The F-14 Tomcat is another one that does not get a lot of love.

 

[Birds Away]

F4U Corsair

The Corsair was king if you could fly it.

 

[remauto1187]

F/A-18 Hornet


Its so bada$$ that it can attack and be a fighter.

Honorable mention--The F-14 Tomcat which also was used as an attack aircraft in Bosnia in 1995 even though the Tomcat was never built with the attack role in mind for the airframe. I was there. Wow that Tomcat can carry alot of ordnance!

 

[findingZzero]

Joe Louis

Mohammed Ali (floats like an Apache)

 

[HoughMade]

L-4 Grasshopper.

 

[churchmouse]

F/A-18 Hornet


Its so bada$$ that it can attack and be a fighter.

Honorable mention--The F-14 Tomcat which also was used as an attack aircraft in Bosnia in 1995 even though the Tomcat was never built with the attack role in mind for the airframe. I was there. Wow that Tomcat can carry alot of ordnance!

And it is really really fast. Big plane.

 

[danielson]

And the bottom has fallen out....

 

[88E30M50]

''

Early P-51's were under powered (Allison V-12) and were regaled as great for ground support but above a point they lost to much power to run with the 109's.
When they squeezed a Merlin in the nose that configuration in a "D" air frame it was one fast tough SOB. It could and did outrun any prop offerings the Germans had to counter it. NO Cannons but not really needed. It was built for air superiority in that time and for the most part (German Jets/rocket powered planes) did just that.
Can you tell I am a fan......

I have heard a Merlin powered P-51 fly over at very low altitude at military power.....It is a sound that still makes the hair on my arms stand up.

The F-14 Tomcat is another one that does not get a lot of love.

A couple of years ago, I was mowing the lawn and I heard something approaching over the noise of the mower and knew exactly what it was. No sooner did I shut down than a P 51 flew past at power. You are right, the sound of a Merlin at power does give goose bumps. I recently ran across a set of negatives from a P 51 meet out on the west coast that are about 20 or so years old. There were well over 20 Mustangs in Santa Maria that day with everything from Pete Regina's P 51B to a P 51H. I'll try to scan those and post them one of these days.

But, to my point about the P 51, if you look at it from a purely performance standpoint, I think it misses the mark a bit. The Germans had faster aircraft and the Fw 190D was very strong against a Mustang. But, when you look at it from a standpoint of carrying the fight into the heart of Germany, it does stand out. It had the right armament for the purpose it was built for. While the Fw 190 was tasked with knocking down bombers and needing cannons to do that, the Mustang was needed to knock down fighters. The 50 cal was the perfect weapon for that and having 6 of them was very effective. Later, when the 51 was tasked with low level attacks the liquid cooled engine was vulnerable to ground fire but that was never the mission the aircraft was optimized for.