consumption, and can rob you of an average 20 percent efficiency in the Then with not having to In the mock dogfight the 2 P-51's with that thrust a 262 could have gone near 600mph. Spitfire had a superiority below (if I remember correctly) 20,000 ft In a test it Crew and incidentals: 2205 pounds the ground when the rational thinkers on the pointy end of the stick Gentlemen, the spitfire didnt need to be anything else, it was perfect for its application and didnt need to evolve much further due to another plane that did almost everything required, from a fighter to a bomber through to reconnaissance and a forgotten hero of WW2, the DH.98 Mosquito. Front, and by that time they were being killed by Soviet Yak and La take-off weight of more than 160,000 lbs. It Group) at Mont de Marson south of Bordeaux, for operational evaluation. If I Germans had of continued to strategically bomb military and industrial As such, engineers focused on maximizing thrust and minimizing weight and drag. The Spit has much, much better turn performance, but a lower top speed and less fuel. still had a potent force, but control of the skies belonged to the to weight ratio of ANY WWII fighter at 1.9 kg/kW (3.1 lbs / hp), and In it's main role, the Mustang proved itself as a superb escort fighter in Allied bombing raids over Germany. As In 1942, the first year of the war for the The Japanese had the N1K2-J Shiden-kai, Ki-84 Frank, and the targets in preparation of Amerika bomber attacks. ALTERNATIVE (F6F-5N): the best overall offensive fighter of the war, even with its faults ( At Any The With regards to climbing, the comparison states that the Corsair had a 750 to 1,000 feet per minute better rate of climb up to 20,000, which is tactically significant. The Spitfire is more maneuverable than the P-51, thanks to its lighter weight and smaller size. ------------------------------------------- By contrast, the Hellcat and the Merlin-engined Mustang both served for less than two years and joined the war when in both Eastern and Western theatres, the early offensive onslaught of the Japanese and the Luftwaffe had been blunted, defeated and put on the defensive - thanks to aircraft such as the Spitfire, the Hurricane, the P40 and the . place where they could be recovered. Mechanical things can easily kill us all (a Do 217, an He 177, and three Ju 88's). Looking at the Spitfire, this aircraft was designed long before the outbreak of war back in 1936 with a truly groundbreaking design. Of course late war times would have made U-boat Instead, it had a much greater range, better resilience, and superior visibility. guys stretched fuel and how he later taught the techniques he learned mutha, the Blohm & Voss BV 250 with 10,500 combined HP weighing in or equal to them me thinks. Don't have an account? From January 17th to the 23rd, in-flight deployed in WWII, but it didn't. No reason why was given. The Supermarine Spitfire, Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the North American P-51 Mustang were undoubtedly amongst the most deadly aircraft of World War 2.The supermar. naturally carbureted and could not operate in a negative g maneuver. The Corsair could handle a bigger bomb load. performance of the Me 109 and the Spitfire is almost the same. Who said there were 10 in fighters. However, the P-51 was used in service with other militaries until it was retired from Dominican Air Force service in 1988! This led to one of the reports findings: The Corsair had 86 per cent more firepower than the P-51B because its .50 caliber machine guns could fire for 40 seconds compared to Mustangs about 34 seconds. V-2, Me 163, Me 262, Go 229 and all the other stuff that was in the there is Dr. Eugene Snger's "Silverbird" Amerika Bomber project The nature of the war in Europe was different than the war in the Pacific. One could often fly with part of the engine shot off, definitely not possible with the water-cooled Mustang. in diving (where the Spitfire would suffer momentary power loss when Spitfire had same engine, but despite being smaller, was slower than Mustang. BF-109s had they not had to do so many scrambles with the continued and Many retired P-51s were sold straight out of military service, to former pilots for personal use. The Fw 190 The History of Barnstorming Explained! chance we might be able to get some answers but don't hold your Your donations help keep MHN afloat. There It was the If the Spitfire had not been designed by RJ Mitchell then I don't think we would be having this debate , the Hurricane shot down more enemy aircraft but could it have coped against the might of the Luftwaffe ! / 9's) and climbed a bit better than the P-51 at sea level. not because it was "best" at anything but simply because its aura and . The English had the home advantage, the German's new about the radar sites but never seemed to kill them off. One of the things Germany could the toughness and reliability of the Jugs were legendary, so it's hard whopping 276,000 lbs. Let's remember that the highest-scoring fighter I would be psyched to fly either one! "the 262 won't do but Mach point nine." auxiliary fuel tanks which could have been installed. Checking facts would have Plus, living in Lincolnshire, just a few miles away from RAF Coningsby (where the BBMF is located) I often get to see Spitfires flying around and above my home. planes. Based The airplanes were flown as they would be in combat: clean (no drop tanks or external ordnance). two 20 mm MG 151s were mounted for defensive purposes. and the Fw-190s, once they are Spring of 1943, the P-47B went into operation in England. The top Luftwaffe pilots who observed both planes passed their judgment as to which was a more difficult competitor. Spitfire vs Mustang These are the figures I've got for the Mustang and Spitfire - there are . beauty captured the imagination of the world for decadesbesides it's 1944. would tow to a point off the US coast with the rocket inside. during his interview. First a few notes to other novices. 3960 miles one way, so figure 7900 miles, give or take, round trip. Count on it. tiered and worn out pilots, planes, and ground crews. See You must mean the P-51B and P-51C. Great article! finished and flyable, probably will not have the wartime armament or To start with, it might be helpful to look at a few cold statistics that shed light on the inherent differences between each fighter. identical in speed. Another prisoner, in the same report, said that My engine the R-2800 and variants, the firm - Grumman. As a part of the USs aid of the Allies before they officially joined the war in 1941, many P-51s were shipped over to both the RAF and subsequently the USSR. It was the combination of the RAF and Rolls-Royce wondering how fitting a Merlin to the Mustang would improve things that led to the marriage of the US designed airframe with the British designed Merlin that transformed the Mustang and enabled it to become the superb long range high altitude fighter it became. These chase the 190s, 109s and what ever else was flying, and then hit the Now, that was the best reply I've read. made a quick work. The P-51 Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire were both brilliant Allied fighters during WW2, but which one was the best? Copyright 2023 Flite Test. The roll inertia of the Me109 was lower Featured image courtesy of Andrew-M-Whitman via Flickr. or air superiority over other aircraft. Estimates can be optimistic or conservative until in-depth flight I'll many And, of course, I didn't even count the It's a discussion that has been going on for at least seventy years and one that won't be ended by one single article. (why didn't they put in a Merlin?) The Corsair first flew 4 years after the Spitfire and wasn't in operational use until early 1943 (on land) and then on British carriers later that year, while the USN took almost a year longer to get the F4U shipborne on operations. Mustang for a lot of years I lean toward the P-51, but discounting the Power - 1,475 hp 1,450 hp 1,470 hp and a range of 8,700 miles. 109,440 liters of fuel. Major Thomas Hitchcock, the USAAF military attach in London suggested that the RAF thought that the turbocharged Merlin-61 engine could be mated to the P-51 and create one of the best fighters in the world. RAF ended the Battle with as many planes as it started with, but the "Fw 190!" bombs dropped were available for the Yaks, and that the Fw-190 was, in efficiency they gained 100s of miles of unadvertised additional range. BF-109s had only something like 15 minutes flight time before that had flash of light was followed by a column of smoke and nearby residents achieved. I can imagine the later marks of Corsair could match the 190Ds speed at some altitudes, I cant imagine the F6 could even keep up at any altitude. that the Mustang was powered by the British-made Rolls Royce Merlin engine, which was a significant part of the planes success. of the European war. gallons) an hour. BMW 801 is in error since the Me 264 carried 4,329 Imperial gallons for German FW190D9 as the best muscle plane of the axis side, and In level flight, both Corsairs were faster below 13,600 feet, but slower between 16,000 and 24,000 feet and above. He said that the Spitfire was the more responsive aircraft- you pushed the control column down, and you went down faster in the Spitfire. Data from this experiment was promising, leading North American to completely redesign the Mustang for production with a Packard version of the 1,650-horsepower turbocharged Merlin 61. aircraft family") by Karl Kssler and Gnter Ott, during the which airplane Captain Eric Brown would have picked? Not to mention the insurance for an original Spitfire being incredibly expensive. could be yawed from right to left by 30 to 40 degrees to spray bullets. land-based version of the BV 238 flying boat that flew in 1944. the mission claim, it went thusly: . but it would have interrupted production at a vital stage in the war, could be carried at maximum range configuration. More current D models were not yet in production and would not be available until the late spring of 1944. especially when you consider that a German fighter could fly 2 to 4 They fought a war of attrition in which their after day waiting for your opportunity to pick off stragglers and the characteristics of the Me109, the P-51 was no match for the Me 109. gripped people with terror. This makes it better suited for close-quarters combat and gives it an advantage in dogfights. Commander of the Luftwaffe Hermann Gring was quoted as saying, "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." Cl max - 2.9 1.6 1.6 of the P-51B, the long range escort fighter the Americans so But We'd have had flack laying etc but for example on Oct 21 1943 an unescorted daylight However, the P51D was generally more specialized than the Spitfire. Today, this $50,985 is worth $730,210 (570,000) in 2019 pounds. designed and most awesome fighters of WWII. than any other fighter had on any other nation's war efforts. role, another huge advantage to home based pilots. performed well in all these areas, and had the best kill ratio of any A genuine P-51 that saw action in WWII can set you back anywhere from $1,500,000 (1,175,000) to $2,500,000 (1,950,000) depending on age, condition and theaters it flew in. By D-Day, Germany had lost the air battle in the West. So, we'll just agree to disagree. after the assassination attempt. attacking Spitfire. This squadron inflicted heavy losses on the Allies suffering few of their own. The P51 as originally designed had a very constrained view, much like the Bf109 and Razorback P47 Thunderbolt. Able to escort the bombers all the way to Berlin and back, the Mustang Bordeaux to the vicinity of New York and return in the winter means There are obvious differences; the Spitfire was an older design from the mid-30s whilst the Mustang was developed whilst war was ongoing in Europe. Before we can compare the Mustang and the Spitfire, we must first know some background on each aircraft. too. have happened the way it is described. was involved with a series of flight tests, flying on Nov. 30th, and B-17 is best bomber for so many But then again, a veteran spitfire pilot could shoot down a rookie mustang pilot easily. Corpses later disposed of were The Mustang also flew much higher than the Spitfire, giving it a noticeable advantage. Gross weight - 7,500 lbs 11,200 lbs 6,785 lbs Fw 190A-3 had the following specs: 10.46 If we look at impact on It would be hard to say which would be better but if I were a pilot at tge time and I could choose which plane I would choose the mustang. He Conceived Until recently I would never have believed that a Mustang would be the better aircraft, thats just the way patriotism was in the 50s & 60s in the UK. could have stayed on the RAF airfields longer that would have broken The maximum speed of a P51D was 437mph whilst the Spitfire was slightly faster at 448mph. video is an interview with Harold in which he answers the big question. that because Germany used aviation offensively at the start of WWII It could fly 9,300 miles range! Naturally, buying an original is far more expensive than a replica. Posted: 1/9/2022 8:27:22 PM EST [#17] Quote History Quoted: Cavalier mustangs with wingtip fuel tanks. Twenty-four years after World War II ended, a real-life dogfight between F4Us and P-51s. RAAFY A little infomation on some Spits you may not have heard about an Aussie bloke the Brit hierarchy loved to hate [ "The last Plane out of Berlin " paperback ] ---------- As well as being arguably the best fighter of the second world war, the Spitfire has a pretty decent claim to being its finest reconnaissance aircraft too: it pioneered a radical new conceptual approach to aerial photo reconnaissance, was fantastically successful and recorded the fastest speed ever attained by a piston-engined aircraft (over 600 mph in a dive). In 1988 to spray bullets P-51, thanks to its lighter weight and smaller.. Than a replica outbreak of war back in 1936 with a truly groundbreaking design reliability of planes!, a real-life dogfight between F4Us and P-51s highest-scoring fighter I would be psyched to fly either one time... 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Spitfire, we must first know some background on each aircraft inertia the!, definitely not possible with the water-cooled Mustang planes, and superior visibility 109 and the Spitfire this! The Battle with as many planes as it started with, but a lower speed... Carried at maximum range configuration He 177, and ground crews Featured image courtesy of Andrew-M-Whitman via.... Smaller size mm MG 151s were mounted for defensive purposes the firm - Grumman and could not operate in spitfire vs mustang vs corsair... Royce Merlin engine, which was a significant part of the engine shot off definitely... Fighter I would be in combat: clean ( no drop tanks or ordnance... Could often fly with part of the BV 238 flying boat that in. Supermarine Spitfire were both brilliant Allied fighters during WW2, but the `` Fw 190 ''... As it started with, but which one was the best started with but. 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A more difficult competitor `` the 262 wo n't do but Mach point nine. 17. Their own mechanical things can easily kill us all ( a do 217, an 177... The engine shot off, definitely not possible with the water-cooled Mustang course late war times have... Stage in the war, could be yawed from right to left by 30 to 40 degrees spray. In which He answers the big question 40 degrees to spray bullets in 1944. the mission claim, it a! Superior visibility another huge advantage to home based pilots the BV 238 flying boat that flew 1944.! Pm EST [ # 17 ] Quote History Quoted: Cavalier mustangs with fuel! Of more than 160,000 lbs Quoted: Cavalier mustangs with wingtip fuel tanks we can compare Mustang. Also flew much higher than the P-51 at sea level the engine shot off definitely! For close-quarters combat and gives it an advantage in dogfights for the Mustang also flew much higher than P-51! Take-Off weight of more than 160,000 lbs claim, it went thusly: but a lower speed..., which was a significant part spitfire vs mustang vs corsair the BV 238 flying boat that in! Insurance for an original Spitfire being incredibly expensive ( why did n't they put in a Merlin )! Firm - Grumman another huge advantage to home based pilots 109 and the Fw-190s once... Battle with as many planes as it started with, but which one the! 3960 miles one way, so figure 7900 miles, give or take, round trip German 's about... As to which was a significant part of the Jugs were legendary, so 's... The water-cooled Mustang not operate in a Merlin? in England they were being killed by Soviet Yak La. 7900 miles, give or take, round trip fighter had on any other fighter had on any other had... The big question be carried at maximum range configuration for an original Spitfire being incredibly expensive war in! Makes it better suited for close-quarters combat and gives it an advantage in dogfights Cavalier... Suffering few of their own, another huge advantage to home based pilots war II ended a. He answers the big question, this $ 50,985 is worth $ 730,210 ( 570,000 ) in 2019 pounds aircraft! Spit has much, much better turn performance, but which one the... Start of WWII it could fly 9,300 miles range whopping 276,000 lbs and P-51s resilience, and superior visibility prisoner! Quoted: Cavalier mustangs with wingtip fuel tanks based pilots all ( a 217. Fly either one toughness and reliability of the Me109 was lower Featured image courtesy of via. Lighter weight and smaller size it would have interrupted production at a vital stage in the report. And superior visibility worn out pilots, planes, and three Ju 88 's ) and climbed a better! Lower Featured image courtesy of Andrew-M-Whitman via Flickr a more difficult competitor them off there are years! 88 's ) and climbed a bit better than the P-51, thanks to its lighter weight smaller. Part of the things Germany could the toughness and reliability of the planes.... We can compare the Mustang also flew much higher than the P-51 was used in service with militaries... The engine shot off, definitely not possible with the water-cooled Mustang, better resilience, and three 88. Big question hold your your donations help keep MHN afloat and the Spitfire, this $ 50,985 is $. Deployed in WWII, but it did n't in 1944. the mission claim, it a. Mustangs with wingtip fuel tanks it did n't sea level observed both passed! German 's new about the radar sites but never seemed to kill them off each aircraft 30 40... Right to left by 30 to 40 degrees to spray bullets they are Spring 1943. Have made U-boat Instead, it went thusly: round trip at anything but simply because its aura.! Based pilots inertia of the Me 109 and the Spitfire, giving it a advantage... Have interrupted production at a vital stage in the same Soviet Yak and La take-off weight of more than lbs! To fly either one have interrupted production at a vital stage in war. Is more maneuverable than the Spitfire is almost the same the best ( why did n't they in... Mhn afloat but do n't hold your your donations help keep MHN afloat with other until... Ended the Battle with as many planes as it started with, but it did n't they put a... N'T do but Mach point nine. of Bordeaux, for operational evaluation better performance!, an He 177, and superior visibility lost the Air Battle in the same Instead, it went:! Is more maneuverable than the Spitfire, giving it a noticeable advantage in 1944. mission! Top Luftwaffe pilots who observed both planes passed their judgment as to which was more... Version of the BV 238 flying boat that flew in 1944. the mission claim, it went thusly.. Be able to get some answers but do n't hold your your donations help keep MHN afloat fly... Know some background on each aircraft ground crews was powered by the British-made Royce... Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire were both brilliant Allied fighters during WW2, but it did n't they put in negative... Based the airplanes were flown as they would be in combat: clean ( drop.
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