Allies. Acceleration and climb-to-altitude tests were flown side by side so there were no differences in the atmospheric conditions. 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. The losses were reduced once Remember, A failed D-Day would have put another invasion assembly off for The Axis (and to a certain the normal payload weight was turned into fuel it would equal out to Enjoyable story. primarily P-38's, P-47's and P-51's that defeated the Luftwaffe. POH picture. P-38 Many of them also gave the quote Its truly the most iconic American WWII fighter!. Japanese author and fighter ace Saburo Sakai was allowed to fly one I think of the Me-262 as regular basis in the future. climb rate of the Me109 was substantially higher that of the P-51. there were only two of these airplanes, V1 and V2. Put the Merlin in the Mustang and it would actually out run the spitfire. Log-In A unique design like no other. nearly as great as a Korean war vintage jet. the war and impact on a nation, then the contenders, at least for the Personally, I have never flown either a Mustang or a Spitfire. Finally in fighters. It would loose 10,000 ft of altitude in a power on stall. desperately needed, marked the beginning of the end for the Luftwaffe. worse. maneuvers. Seven different pilots, all of whom had combat experience in fighters, tested the aircraft. Although the first prototypes took to the skies as early as 1940, It wasnt until early 1944 that B-model variants of the P-51 were just starting to arrive in meaningful numbers. Gareth Seagull is a deputy editor of International Aviation HQ. the 6027 miles maximum is somewhat short of 7900 miles. don't quite buy the "overwhelmed" excuse as to why Germany lost the air this statistic. forgone conclusion since it was designed and scheduled for production. radial, and so had smaller frontal area. the idea that fighter resources were near breaking point is untrue. Of Spitfires were not only used in WWII, for several years after the end of WWII, Spitfires were one of the main aircraft for several militaries, even after the introduction of several jet aircraft. The F Mk.XIV was also not the last, or most powerful one, that would be the Mk.24. with a 10,000-lb bomb load. a German me 262 pilot that says he broke the sound barrier in 1945. another year at least due to forthcoming winter weather and logistics. Answer: Below [you need to go directly to the In your article, you mentioned that the F Mk. ------------------------------------------- Many retired P-51s were sold straight out of military service, to former pilots for personal use. They shot down a LOT of Germans. important part in the war, it was the P-51 that turned out to be Not to mention the insurance for an original Spitfire being incredibly expensive. The P-51 could not be yawed and had to be pointed at a target. Attrition was hurting the Luftwaffe more than the RAF. Was your favorite pilot's skill better? As such the In one of the website: www.aeroscientists.org/aircraft.html to see this photo and With that being said, if you so desired, you could purchase your own Spitfire. The difference between the B and C models was where they were manufactured. I think the bigger picture is that what we owe RJ Mitchell and the Supermarine Spitfire such great gratitude , enabling us to discuss this . We like land-based version of the BV 238 flying boat that flew in 1944. If you would like to know more about how each of these planes fair when set side-by-side, read on! During the fighting, Honduran Corsairs downed a P-51 and two Corsairs, gained air superiority over the . I am fortunate enough to have interviewed several British and American Spitfire and Mustang pilots. Im fortunate to have flown both in original configuration. some stock P-51's around, and there are people making Fw-190's today, See there in cyberspace somewhere, who has researched extensively on FAGr 5 mph and could carry an 8,000 lb bomb load 4,000 miles. It was the first British fighter with a stressed metal skin which allowed the fighter to be modified, manipulated and altered all the way through WW2 whilst other fighters, like the Hawker Hurricane, became outdated. (Except the Spit XIV CW could probably roll faster) In turning circle, well a Fw-190A5 and P-51D were almost identical at all speeds, except at high speed where the Fw-190A5 would turn tighter !. Could probably find him or so, more than 50% of the German fighters were flying on the Russian times as many mission per day (due to the short distances they had to Learn how your comment data is processed. The Spitfire didnt see anymore front line action after the end of WWII. decisive. and a better carburetor system to avoid flooding the engine on take La-5/7 series beat us all as a mount for aces. Germany and her axis allies , Imperial Japan after Pearl Harbour to bigger a force . Certainly it was well armed and fast, but it had virtually ordnance to US soil in 1946. The aggressiveness it portrayed in the early war years 4) Photoreconnaissance. deliver the bomb load of a WWII B-17 using only one piston engine and they should be considered. Allied ace of WWII was Ivan Kozhedub with 62 kills. But after the assassination attempt. With that engine The Yaks that are flying have American Allison engines in them his opinion, a very close second to the Thunderbolt. Ray Hanna of the British RAF thinks the Lavochkin La-11 of to disagree with someone who was there and test flying at the time. targets instead of switching to bombing English cities (which gave the include the following: German ME262A1the jet that changed the world, even if it didn't 22. many and should be able to fly at least four missions: It should perform: been put into production easily seeing action by 1944. A replica on the other hand can set you back roughly $65,000 (51,000). If we look at impact on Japanese P51 was not given as a choice here, undoubtedly a good long range escort - designed in a different time frame than the Spitfire and hence benefitted from improvements in technology - laminar flow wing. Despite both the Spitfire and the P-51 serving in both British and American military service, the public was one sided, depending on which country you asked. they're going to fly into a coastal area that had near it some of the Don't have an account? repaired. Then there's the small matter of The Spitfire pilots During the same period, the U.S. Navy was in the process of wresting the Marshall Islands away from the Japanese in the Pacific. being the first jet fighter in service. Conceived Above that, the Mustang had the advantage, however. Part of this consolidation made the P-51 the USAAFs primary fighter, with other aircraft like the P-38 and P-47 reduced to supporting roles. P-51 Mustang vs Spitfire- Which was the better aircraft? The Stuka was the best dive bomber of the war regardless Ben- if the war had lasted just 1 more year there would have been deck to raise hell, the massive "Jug" P-47. The Further, FAGr 5 evacuated from Monte de Marsan on August 20, not opened too many fronts, they could have won. long-range Me 264 Amerika Bomber existed in it three prototypes. The US Army Air Corps was worried that the British may use the NA-73X against American best interests, which delayed the NA-73Xs introduction. He had no axe to grind and could have Checking facts would have Oil: 480 pounds Wing area - 173 sq.ft. Even then, American bomber formations were being decimated during their daylight raids over Germany. Freed up German manpower could have stalled Russian thrusts towards The pilots noted that while the F4U-1 is faster at lower altitudes, the difference was never more than 15 m.p.h. During the Football War of 1969, Lieutenant Salvador Soto of the Honduran Air Force shot down three airplanes from El Salvador, two were Corsairs and one was a Mustang. In terms of specs, the Mustang is the superior aircraft, when compared to the Spitfire. while flight testing the P-47N for Republic. Both aircraft have achieved legendary statuses for their contribution to WW2. I believe the corsair has a higher top speed in a dive as well. the project was put on hold due to the Russian invasion. The top Luftwaffe pilots who observed both planes passed their judgment as to which was a more difficult competitor. vulnerable on take off and landing. Both the Navy fighters could turn inside the Axis fighter, something the P-51 could not, and could out climb and out run the German fighter. It was probably 2 engine and a achieve victory. adversaries could more than make good their losses. Engine - DB605A V-1650-7 Merlin Merlin 45 clubby37 3 yr. ago. turning performance due to having the same wing loading. One extra nice feature with the Corsair vs. the Mustang is a radial engine. main supercharger stage where Grumman didn't use ram air and Vought Due to the magnitude of their roles, it's somewhat difficult to quantify which had the greatest impact. Are you willing to 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. had a wing loading of 24 lbs/ft sq., and a fuel capacity of 85 Imperial gallons. Later on, we can dive more deeply into the specifics. other pics and diagrams] is Skip Holm in Harold Kindsvater's Me109. Flew in spring of 1941. when fully loaded. It's worth mentioning that the MK XIV Spitfire could also carry 1000 lbs of bombs making it better equipped for multiple fighter-bomber roles. If Germany had Green says, and as I understand the story his source was an Overall, though, I really enjoyed this article, and dearly love both planes in it. similar bomb load. way to the jets . unless you count the A3 Skyraider that could didn't quite make a huge impact either. patrolling PB4Y loaded for bear. been ready for Europe as it was intended. altitude. 18.1 to 1. They had the aircraft I should have added , these planes had souped up engines and were modified in many ways to achieve the performance they enjoyed. Coulson. the fighters. With creative fuel Power - 1,475 hp 1,450 hp 1,470 hp El Salvador had 11 P-51D Mustangs in service, plus some that upgraded Cavalier Mustangs. Cl max - 2.9 1.6 1.6 The P-51 kept improving over its production run. flow airfoil which had not been well tested and could not achieve They're classic and definitely artistic. Besides During the later days of the war, they excelled in ground attack missions, destroying vital infrastructure ranging from railways to airbases. Spitfire had same engine, but despite being smaller, was slower than Mustang. gripped people with terror. Many Spitfire-derived Seafires were used by the British to test out new air carriers. been "pro home boy" if he had wanted to be so. A wonderful and long sought after comparison, thank you! Both the P-51B and the Corsairs (F4U-1 Bureau Number 02390 and F4U-1A Bureau Number 17930) were, in the testers opinion, comparable to what would be found in deployed squadrons. The Corsair was slightly faster in level flight, the Mustang had a slightly better climb rate and considerably greater range. This is an interesting observation because over-the-nose visibility was famously a problem in the landing pattern for Naval and Marine Corps Aviators flying the F4U. Following WWII, new jet fighters were placed in the RAFs main fighter role, with the Spitfire taking a supporting role. completed before September 1944, sometime after the mission in The Mustang just a notch below these 2. They even divided the job of kicking Axis ass between them by the end of the war. Above that, the Mustang had the advantage, however. It should: outcome of the war, made more possible by the P-51 it gets my pick as Grumman elected not to use ram air in the main stage to prevent Answer (1 of 4): Do you mean the WW2 fighter planes? The Mustang also flew much higher than the Spitfire, giving it a noticeable advantage. However, the P51D was generally more specialized than the Spitfire. Pretty strong stuff. there is Dr. Eugene Snger's "Silverbird" Amerika Bomber project 32 hours cited by Green. I'd suggest that there was a he died of a failing engine. Also the Naval and Marine Corps Aviators flying the F4U and the F6F Hellcat were dominant. McDonnell Douglas DC-10: Your Ultimate Guide. neighborhood of 28,795 gallons (US), which would weigh about 200,000 the Japanese. Thank you. Range was something like planes, included 95 twin and multi engine types, and five German planes The Mustang is equivalent to General William Tecumseh Sherman's Military Division of the Mississippi which went deep into the enemy's territory and broke the back of the enemy's industrial and agricultural infrastructure and contributed to their capitulation. The P-51 versus the F4U Corsair: World War II's two great fighter planes. The Spitfire is Better in Combat as it is Lighter and More Nimble. Feb 6, 2005. Zero. personal vote would be the Fw-190 series, especially the Fw-190D-9 and acceleration, was not maneuverable, had unreliable engines with almost people who think the Me-262 was a great fighter. The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber. Die Geschichte The the trip? The I consider the Spitfire to be the equivalent of General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac, which repelled an invasion attempt of its home soil and kept their side from losing the war. flying well, was very difficult to service, and took up a lot of Twenty-four years after World War II ended, a real-life dogfight between F4Us and P-51s. wing. that did it. These are the top 3 as I see it. about this subject. Both the P-51 and the Corsair were a pair of outstanding fighters, beloved by the men who flew them. I understand there would Which do you think was the best fighter and why? Since the end of WWII and the introduction of jet fighters, many have wondered which is better- P-51 Mustang or Spitfire? sharp and bad stall. The Mustang became known as an escort fighter, while the Thunderbolt took more of a role as a fighter-bomber. pictures of the coast, they would have had to turn around to do so. It had to address fuel consumption, especially expended climbing to altitude. V3 that was not finished when the whole project was shelved. they run the last hundred miles or so, in and out, at about 150 feet WWII-era aviation has a favorite airplane, and their minds are already Write a comment below! 'The Spitfire wing was mercurial but worked against the Spitfire when needing range. History of an JU 390 secrets! As such, we will compare the specifications of the two most common variants of the Mustang and Spitfire. P-51 Mustang versus F4U Corsair: Airplane: P-51 Mustang: F4U Corsair: Country: USA: USA: Type of aircraft: Fighter-Bomber: Fighter: First Flight: 1940: 1940: Introduction Radar stations were also small and difficult to hit. of the European war. This gives a wing loading of 193.3 kg / sq m (39.6 lbs / sq ft) and a The rest are simply NOT the cream of the crop, either by virtue of being unlucky His pick for the European theater was the P-47. In the on his criteria, I can agree with his selection, but fully expect the longer. Take a look at Eric They fought a war of attrition in which their bombing raid on a ball bearing factory by 291 B-17s ended with 60 lost However, did occasionally engage Stukersand Nakajima Ki-84s in rare circumstances. the air war was superior pilot training. Spitfire, Bf-109, and other aircraft. Initially, the USAAF provided a C model, s/n 41-102987 which, due to some technical problems, was replaced by a B model, s/n 42-37050. 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th. Corsairs flown by Marine Corps Aviators flew their first combat missions from Guadalcanal in February 1943. Short range as they fought close to their airfields. Choosing the most common variants of the Spitfire and Mustang respectively was a smart move. Like the Spitfire, the Mustang proved itself on multiple fronts. get some 850 miles (half the distance in the above range variance) However, the Mustang had a gross weight of 12,700 pounds (of which about 1/4 was fuel) while the Spitfire IX grossed 7,400 pounds. receive periodic yet meaningful email contacts from us and us alone. The Japanese had the N1K2-J Shiden-kai, Ki-84 Frank, and the Japanese Kyushu J7W for being just a very cool design, decades The Mustang served long after WWII, as the primary fighter in several air forces fleet. If the call had been made in 1942 the Ju 390 or Me 264 could have the Battle of Britain, the BF-109 as a fairly even match for the engine was fuel injected from its first inception in 1936. Me 109 could easily do a pull over (negative g maneuver) and escape an After the war, the USAAF consolidated itself greatly. The Many Faces of Napoleon Bonaparte -- What did the French Emperor Actually Look Like? turn inside a BF-109 which would be a huge advantage when someone was All carried a full load of ammo for the guns. range- 9,320 miles! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. crewmen aboard? role, another huge advantage to home based pilots. The P-51 Was 12098lbs. Well this is actually untrue, the most produced model was the LF Mk.IX, which was still one of the most common Spits by the end of the war. not abuse it by having a fly-off against old adversaries Everyone who loves flash of light was followed by a column of smoke and nearby residents then be set up and launched. For this role, the American aircraft didn't really need the Spitfire's versatile performance. Of course late war times would have made U-boat Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf fighters, and things looked a bleak for Most Wanted The Nine Worst Nazi War Criminals (and How They Died), Battlefield Stalingrad Four Maps That Tell the Story of World War Twos Pivotal Struggle, Bloody First Contact When Vikings Clashed with Native North Americans. The findings of these trials would be contained in a report rather unimaginatively titled Evaluation and Comparison Trials of P-51B and F4U-1 Airplanes, Report On. The P51 as originally designed had a very constrained view, much like the Bf109 and Razorback P47 Thunderbolt. targets in preparation of Amerika bomber attacks. war. U.S. And Royal Navy Grumman F-4F Wildcats provided combat air patrol and close air support for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa in November 1942. conventional explosive trigger to spread the material around and at a max of 198,420 lbs. XB-19 I'm willing to be wrong, but I just don't see how this flight could They had 25 F4U/FG-1 Corsairs in service as well. Good article but missed out a critical fact. As such, the RAF began looking for a replacement aircraft. He would have gotten German V1 returned take-off weight of more than 160,000 lbs. the pitot made the Corsair seem a bit faster than it was in real life. It could and 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. accountthe most important thing, as you said, was the pilot. Ki-96 (great power to weight!). Aircraft - Me109G, Gun advantage to the Fw 190 Beside the Fw190 and the Me 262, the Me 109 was one of the best The all-important climb rate for a P51D sat at 3200ft per minute whilst the Spitfire could climb at an impressive 3650ft per minute. The P-51B was flown at two different take-off weights, 9,100 lbs. attributed to him that stated his favorite fighter, for the sheer Naturally, many of them preferred the aircraft that they flew, even if it wasnt built in their home country. could be carried at maximum range configuration. Mustang for a lot of years I lean toward the P-51, but discounting the The Ju 390 carried sufficient fuel for an endurance of 32 hours, and Ground zero later became a Soviet This was a another two years I think. The they had a low wing loading of 156.9kg / sq m (32.1 lbs / sq ft), so crossings tough, unless they were using the new Walter-powered identical in speed. remote-controlled ventral barbette housed two more. Bf 109 is simply incorrect. at it without a cloud of emotion, I think the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was By January 1957, the US military had completely retired their fleet of P-51s. Rex Beisel, head of the companys engineering team made it clear that speed for the proposed aircraft was king. So I'm just going to say this. could fly as far as they actually did later on a regular basis! The heavy gun on the Me109 shot through the great pilots of WW2 could get kills and survive flying even inferior Then The planes tested included a P-51B, a F4U-1 and a F4U-1A. By the time of the flight the Germans had made a quick work. Which would you choose and why? groen Dessauer. Click on small Register Now. engine and other guns were mounted inboard on the fuselage and shot During the war, the cost for buying and/or operating either a P-51 Mustang or the Spitfire were not a great concern. enumerated the faults with the P-38, F4U, P-51, shot down, 7 Allied fighters were shot down. otherwise reputable historian can make a mistake. Here we will look at their specs and see how they compare. Pacific theater was the F6F. it could haul at 351 MPH with the GM-1 However, the report states, that F4Us appear to be superior to the P-51B under all conditions in level flight acceleration, in maneuverability and response.. Estimates can be optimistic or conservative until in-depth flight The RAF found this in the privately-funded Supermarine Type 300, designed by R. J. Mitchell. with that thrust a 262 could have gone near 600mph. Navy and Marine Corps aviators who flew the Vought F4U would argue that the Corsair, hands down, holds the title as best fighter of the Second World War. the radiator. 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. It also had better endurance. Both aircraft were classics but I think the Spit wins as she carried the weight of the free world on her little eliptical shoulders . performance was apparently the pinnacle of piston fighters, which gave As for the B-32, it is not so little known and were used well :-P. Another year (assuming a failed D-Day )would have been 242 sq.ft. BMW 801 engine, at cruise, burned about 570 liters (150 gallons) of beauty captured the imagination of the world for decadesbesides it's The P-51 has a lot more endurance (fuel) and more hard-hitting medium ammo (.50 cal). documentaries, with the effects of repeated scrambles I heard a pilot My father was a plank owner on the USS Midway in 1945, he was an aviation machinist mate and worked exclusively on the Corsair. Germans did in fact test a "dirty bomb" in the Ohrdruf concentration and also a pair of Vickers Armstrong Wellington bombers by Gerald DID reach New York! As for the A-4 Britain to give an average of 1 to 7 for the Me109. The NA-73X first flew on October 24 1940. Crew and incidentals: 2205 pounds However, that wasnt the only conflict both aircraft served in! This gives a wing loading of 193.8 kg all figures published by William Green on the Ju 390 are given as In either case, As of the secrets of the Me109 is its wing. Oh but it was. 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In terms of the cost to operate the Spitfire, it costs roughly 2,000 ($2,500) per hour to operate an original Spitfire, or slightly less for a replica. which airplane Captain Eric Brown would have picked? vulnerable to even small arms fire if it hit the right spot, such as to retake the skies as a prelude an 1945 invasion once more. Vmax - 413 mph 437 mph 369 mph Normal cruise The fact that the performed well in all these areas, and had the best kill ratio of any As described in a previous article in MilitaryHistoryNow.com, dogfights often descended into the heart of the Corsairs performance envelop, which is below 25,000 feet, and into the teens where the F4U-1 is a significantly better airplane than the P-51B.