Quote:
Originally Posted by Sung
Fast'n loud 
my favorite
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I always felt that the P-47 was underrated by many the P-51 takes all the glory when in fact it was the P-47 that started really wearing down the down the Luftwaffe in late '43 and early 44' before the P-51B came onto the scene.Also the highest scoring wing in the 8th Air Force was equipped with P-47s though out the war.
The P-47 was much better at ground attack being much more durable than the P-51.The P-51 was a bit prone to battle damage in comparison to other US designed aircraft even pilots that had much success in them will tell you this if they are honest.
The P-40 is another underdog it was by no means the best design but it held the line for a while and in the CBI some untis flew them well into 1944.Units in Europe often went from the P-38 or P-47 to the P-51 CBI units went from the P-40 to the P-51D and some units went to later model P-38s imagine the jump in ability those pilots enjoyed.
I am surprised so far no fans of Russian Japanese or Italian aircraft.
Lets give these guys some credit.
One of my favorites is the La-5/7 series they where fairly impressive aircraft and many of the higher scoring VVS aces achieved most of their kills in La's.The La-7 had a 14 cylinder radial that produced 1,850HP most Soviet fighters where light weight and agile the La-7 could top out at around 411MPH.
A favorite Japanese aircraft of mine would be the Kawanishi N1K Kyofu it was a float plane fighter that the Japanese later resigned a bit to develop the N1k1 Shinden.It was powered by a 14 cylinder radial engine and put out 1,400HP.Only 89 N1Ks where ever produced but the design showed great potential and the Shinden was subsequently developed from it.
For the Italians I really like the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79.This aircraft was first designed in 1934 as an air racer.It actually set some world records in the 1930's for carrying a weight of 4,410lb load over 1,240 mi at an average speed of 266MPH.It was powered by 3 9 cylinder radial engines pushing out 960 HP each a bit anemic by WWII standards but this plane gets high marks more for its looks like all things Italian.
