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Essential and Dispensible WW2 aircraft.
Essential and Dispensible WW2 aircraft.
*********************************************** I've created a list of aircraft of WW2 that were essential to that side and also others that were dispensible in the sense that their place could easily have been taken by other aircraft or that were so ineffective that they were not needed at all. A great deal of effort was spent on aircraft that did not perform and were 'war loosers' while there was also a great deal of duplication of effort on aircraft that added nothing special and detracted from gains in production. United Kingdom Essential: Hurricane; had to be avialable in numbers for battle of britain Spitfire; had to provide quality fighter throughout the war an amenable to all rolls. Mosquito; night bomber, night fighter, fast day bomber and most importanty reconaisance aircraft par excellance. Lancaster; easy to fly, devastating war load. Wellington: Britains Medium bomber and an important coastal command aircraft. Non Essential: Beaufighter; not a useless aircraft as it could take damage but its roll could have been taken by others. It kept bristol busy. Hampden; Halifax; a good aircraft but Lancaster was better. Stirling; a waste of time although a saluatory lesson. Tempest and Typhoon: These aicraft had very poor high altitude performance and the typhoon had handling difficulties, was not particularly fast due to its thick wing and its airframe tended to snap of at the tail By 1942 Supermarine was producing the Spitifre Mk XII which had a single stage Griffon engine and could outrun the Tempest. Although the mk XII also had poor altitude performance its handling was better. It would be early 1944 before the Mk XIX entered service which had a two stage Griffon. Germany: Since Germany lost the war I found it hard to determine what to put in non essential so I've added the column 'might have' Essential: Me 109: Hurricane vintage aircraft but remained competitive untill 1945 when Me 109K-4's were capable of 455mph and 48000ft service ceiling and even then there were versions such as the Me 109K-14 with a two stage supercharged DB603L engine starting production but not delivered as well as the DB603DSCM engine touching on 2000hp at 1.98 atm boost there were test of 2.3 and 2.4 atm going on at DB which suggests a power of 2400hp and speed of 470-480mph. The aircraft should have been replaced far earlier with something that had lighter contol forces and better speed. It would have performed better with superior fuel. Fw 190: this aircraft filled in many of the Me 109's weaknesses. ju 88: night fighter, high speed bomber, dive or slant bomber, maritime patrol etc. Ju 87: Devastating in combined arms breakthrough warfare and deadly accurate. When its days were over it lived on as a night bomber and ground attack aircraft with one of the lowest per mission loss rates of any Luftwaffe aircraft. He 111: early bombing workhorse Do 217 Only 1200 produced but still effective as a night bomber and guided missile carrier. Arado 234: the jet aircraft provided essential reconaisance: it was the first and only aircraft to survey the Normandy beach-head. Two prototypes flew about 36 missions with their engines being reliable during this process. They were both shot down by their own German FLAK. Fi 103 or V1. Extremely cheap to produce consumed massive allied resources. Non essential: Do 17 Me 110: its role as a night fighter could have been taken by the Ju 88, I am aware of its success in the Early Polish and Soviet Campaigns but I don't think these were decisive. Might Have Me 210/410 Quite a good aircraft that was to replace the Ju 88 and Me 110. Fast, advanced armament, bomb bay, efficient etc but simply too late due to programm mismanagment to survive in allied skies. Me 262; probably was effective in staving of defeat by a few weeks. He 219; succombed to political problems; an excellent night fighter and unlike the Me 110 and early Ju 88 it had the speed to chase down British bombers once diversionary raids and feints had been ascertained. He 177: engine problems were not tackled agressively. The B series with 4 seperate engines could have made up the bulk of production and provided the Luftwaffe with a reliable long range bomber of exceptional performance had courage preceded arse covering. USA: Essential: P-40 USAAF effective fighter of excellent quality; it was quite effective with appropriate tactics. P-38 Had the range and performance to protect US bombers. It prevented the German Airforce from fielding heavy aircraft firing rockets, or impunely attacking bombers under the protection of heavy armour. B-17 Hightly survivable high altitude bomber. B-24 Longer ranged then the B-17; its only virtue. B-29 Defeat of japan almost impossible B-25 Versatile and easy to fly in all theatres of war. Wildcat, Hellcat, dauntless, avenger P-47 Ready far earlier than the P-51. Non Essential B-26 not as versatile as the B-25 and for a medium bomber too demanding of runway conditions. Helldiver: too many handling problems. P-51; the P-38 had sufficient range to cover untill the P-47M with a wett wing which actually could excede the range of the P-51. Vought corsair: took to long to perfect for carrier opperations; Hellcat did a good enough job. Had the Ki 84 been available in numbers and supplied with 100/130 octane fuel the corsair would have been essential Japan: Essential: Mitsubishi A6M zero and Betty. Dinah, Ki 84 Non essential All army types apart from the dinah and Ki 84 Soviet Union Essential Illushian Sturmovik, Pekelatov Pe2, Tupolev Tu 4, I-16 Unsure; Yakalove, LaGG, MiG series of fighters seemed to overlap in function. The MiG 3 only failing to secure production because its engine was needed. |
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