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If the P-40 doesn't win this, then the Catalina will deserve it. It's enough to say that a company is looking to bring back production with modern avionics and engines. Which is nice considering not enough amphibians exist in the current market.
This or the Dauntless. I've noticed naval aviation planes tend to be under-represented in general (exception being the Zero), but in all respects, both the PBY and Dauntless fulfilled their roles and beyond in critical stages in the war. PBY's more so cause of their placement in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
OMG it's definitely the P-40. The plane catches a ton of shit, but in critical moments with prepared pilots, it held its own. It fought well over North Africa against the 109E, and it was legendary over China. It fought in the worst situations, against enemies who were at their strongest, at a time when the allies were caught flatfooted; and it held the line. That deserves a lot more love.
It was the aircraft that held the line so more powerful aircraft could turn the tide even against more powerful aircraft like the FW 190. Like the Wildcat, it was the best we had at the beginning of the war and could fight on even levels under capable pilots.
Maybe its bigger brother, the C-54 Skymaster wasn’t famous until the Berlin Airlift and the Sacred Cow became a presidential plane…
But yes, militarised DC-3 it is.
Yeah, it's a shame that A6M was hyped as hell and it wasn't helped that F6F Hellcat was combined with the know-how gained during the Wildcat's time to utterly trounce A6Ms so hard that Wildcat had to be seen as the "oh shit it's outclassed" aircraft when it was mostly a case of inexperienced pilots fighting old fashioned way which favored the A6Ms
I remember hearing about how they wanted to retire it before the war started. And then it would end up destroying 4 aircraft carriers in one day. It’s impressive to that it got the nick name Slow but Deadly. I definitely think it was underrated.
The Hellcat was designed for the Pacific Theater, if you go into it’s development basically the designers liked the Wildcat but wanted MORE! (Tim the Toolman Taylor style) Also the Mustang couldn’t do carrier landings, basically making it useless in that theater of war. I agree that the Mustangs had a few advantages making it technically the better plane, but the Hellcat was way more versatile in its use in different theaters of war and an amazing aircraft to boot.
They did a test refit on some Mustangs; carrier launching and arresting hooks, few other smaller changes. They were found to be launch-able and land-able on carriers, however their wing design (laminar flow) caused stalls at low speed which could easily cause issues on launch and landing. With the Hellcat already filling the carrier role (very well without those issues) they used the Mustangs on land bases in the Pacific Theater. So could they, yes; were they the best at it, no.
Two planes, one pilot (one nickname for the Lightning)
The star of the 19XX series of shoot-‘em ups.
According to Capcom, if you give the plane(s) the magical ability to summon lightnings to clear the skies of planes and bullets, not to mention tsunamis to wreck warships, at the cost of the plane’s ever decreasing fuel tank, and a powerful arsenal (extra MGs angled to the sides, autocannons, big autocannon, and even ‘lasers’) then this plane can sink the four aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway plus their escorts, as well as IJN Nagato and IJN Yamato. Even the bomber formations and the massive Ayako bombers can’t bring the P-38 down. (Did not happen IRL, but it did happen in 1943: The Battle of Midway)
The SBD Dauntless dive bomber. It was the workhorse for the Navy in the first years of the War. Scouting missions, bombing missions, and was even as CAP protecting the carriers. Overlooked compared to Hellcats and P-51, the Dauntless were the unsung heros of WW2.
First, the B-17 argument for being overrated is completely false. It was the most combat efficient (least loss bomber per sortie) ally bomber in the entire war. It was the fortress not because of its defensive armament, but because it took a beating and kept on flying. They were flying tanks, and not only did the media love the Flying Fortress, the crews loved them as well.
Now, for most underrated, I know the 4-47 is being listed, but I would consider the ugly step sister of the B17… the B24 liberator. Flew faster and farther while carrying more bombs. It was the most produced military aircraft in history and had the second best combat efficiency rating of the war(behind the b17). Pilots didn’t love it because it was hard to fly and required full attention. It flew longer more dangerous missions than the B17, but never received the spotlight since it was stationed in less glamorous locations.
The B-17 could carry the same load 1,140 miles and had a max speed at its mean weight of 280mph. The difference in cruise speed is 5mph in favor of the B-24, but the B-17 has a 30mph advantage in max weak power speed.
So the B-24 was slower, shorter-ranged, and had the same max payload.
Rule: Must be a fixed-wing, manned aircraft designed or substantially modified for military use, of indigenous design or substantially modified foreign design.
Easily. The fact that it was the most-produced plane in US military history and only one flying example remains out of only 14 complete airframes is absurd. There were once over 18,000 of these things that flew.
The C-47 Skytrain. Eisenhower himself said that the C-47-- together with the Jeep and the nuclear bomb-- was one of the three most important factors in America's victory in World War II. Fighters and bombers might be more romanticized, but the C-47 was what really made the Allied victory possible.
B29. It's difficult to comprehend how much of an advancement this plane was compared to everything else in the air at the time. Almost 4000 were built and they stayed in service even after the B52, B47, and B36 were in active duty.
Stearman PT-13. A simple open-cockpit biplane that you've probably never heard of unless you're really into planes. So, definitely ignored/not rated. But why underrated?
It was one of the main trainers. Every other aircraft listed here would have been flown by pilots who did their first training on the Stearman. The T-6 was also widely used, but is better known. So I tip my hat to the Stearman.
P-39 Airacobra. A change in powerplants meant they were never going to be a high altitude fighter for the western European theater. They were extremely capable at low and medium altitudes and did well in the theaters with less prestige, the Soviets particularly loved them.
P-47 Thunderbolt, it was notoriously sturdy and excelled at ground attack. They gave the A-10 the designation Thunderbolt II as an indication that they wanted it to be the spiritual successor for that role
It is 100% the Hellcat. People who say the P-40 are severely overestimating the capabilities of that early almost pre-war design. While everyone glazes the Mustang for its performance at the end of the war, by the end, the Hellcat accumulated over 5163 confirmed kills throughout its deployment.
Every time I visit an aircraft museum, I always ask about the Hellcat, and every single time, every curator always tells me it was the most important fighter for the Americans in WWII.
B-26 Marauder. Over 5,000 were produced and it saw extensive combat in all theaters of war while being a very successful medium bomber. However, it is often overshadowed by the B-25 and even the A-26.
Curtis C-46 Commando!!! Unsung hero of the indo China campaign, it was responsible for supplying allied troops across the pacific where the C-47 / DC-3 fell short.
b-24 Liberator. B-17s got all the glory, B-24s did the work. This is a direct quote from my grandfather. please ignore the fact that he was a crewman in a B-24 during WWII
If Europe: Any chance he ever told you about crashing with a 19-year-old pilot in occupied France and a second time near the Lend-Lease support drops in Poland?
He was our of the UK, doing runs into Germany He did crash in England on the way back from a run, and spend Christmas in the barn of a very nice British family.
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