WW2 Air to Ground Opinion - Typhoon vs Corsair vs Thunderbolt?

Question

OK guys, opinions about WW2 aircraft. You have to fly air to ground missions in WW2. You can choose one of these aircraft - Hawker Typhoon, Vought F4U Corsair or Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Dont worry about range, they are all short range missions. Which do you choose? Which was the most effective A2G aircraft (and not because of numbers built) - head to head which do you think is better? If you can think of a fighter bomber which was better than these 3 then feel free to throw it into the mix. Opinions please!

Answer 1

Debatable. Both P47 and F4U were used post-war (just not necessarily in the USAF)  The very young ROCAF (that's Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan) were fighting Communist Chinese MiGs in P47s and P51s before USAF transitioned them to F-86 Saberjets.

Look at some of the earliest ROCAF looses (at the bottom) and you'll see P51s and F47's (same as P47s)

http://www.taiwanairpower.org/history/sh...

I think the US kept F4U because it could be used both on land and on carrier, whereas P47 was ground-based only.

However, further research shows that F-4U, even in its initial version, can carry 4000 lbs of payload. Whereas the P47 is limited to about 3700 due to pylon design. (1600 each wing, plus 500 belly, but there are no 1600 lb bombs)

The latest versions of F4U, -4 and -5, can do almost 5200 pounds of payload. Seems P47 has lesser payload, but far more guns, esp. the P47N version, as the M3 guns it carries has better firing rate than the M2's carried by the F-4U's.  M3 carries up to 500 rds, and P47N has EIGHT of them, compared to 6 M2's of F-4U.

So it depends on if you're after bombs, or guns. :)

Answer 2

I'd go with the P-47 for it's durability. The corsair and Typhoon are equally competent planes - but the corsair was designed more as a fighter (than fighter bomber); the typhoon had some technical issues early on: Cockpit visibility was bad; controls were heavy; low speed handling was poor.

Answer 3

Probably Hawker Typhoon because it was strong, fast and carried a good amount of firepower. It was also British so my first choice :P

Answer 4

Sturmovik

Answer 5

P-47 It has plenty of whatever you need to get this job done, the corsair had a tendancy to get flat tires, and was ugly (other than that a superbe aircraft)

Answer 6

Since the Corsair was the only one that survived WWII I'd probably have to pick it. All three were good, but the F4U was the only one still in use when Korea broke out. The F4U was the Marine and Navy air to ground workhorse during Korea after having been their workhorse Fighter and air to ground workhorse in the Pacific during WWII. h**l of an airplane. The Thunderbolt was also a great fighter except it didn't have the range or high altitude capabilities needed for escorting bomber missions over Europe. When the P51 was updated to fill that need the Thunderbolt was relegated to air to ground work and proved to be quite good at it. Just didn't have the versatility to survive WWII nor did the Typhoon.

Answer 7

I would take the P-47 anyday. The "Jug" could have cylinders shot off and still get you home.

Answer 8

The F4U4 Corsair was not a fighter bomber. It was a great carrier fighter and ground support air craft capable of 405 mph at sea level and was extremely manuverable. It was the best fighter in rthe Pacific and saw service in Korea as well.

The P47 Thundrerbolt, on the other hand, was a huge, heavy fighter, again not a fighter bomber, whose range was limited until external tanks were added. It was fast and could climb and was a good bomber escort but not a fighter bomber.

I am not familiar with the characteristics of the Typhoon so I can't comment.

The two you mentioned are fighters. Not fiughter bombers.

The P38 Lightning was a great fighter bomber, fast, long range, manuverable.  The j**s hated it.

For my money the DeHaviland Mosquito was the best combo fighter/bomber around in WW11.

Very fast,( it could outrun an ME109) could climb high, very manuverable and could carry ( and did) a small bomb load for ground attack.

Imagine, a plane made of plywood and a fantastic plane at that.

Answer 9

I would fly an Me-262 and kick serious buttzorz

Answer 10

The corsair. it's your best bet to get out alive.

Answer 11

Considering that the other guy would be shooting back. I would go w/ the Jug.

50cal, rockets, bombs & lots of armor.

Excellent AG record as well as bomber escort..

It is also just scarier looking than most of the others mentioned.