There our time I'll take Green. finished and flyable, probably will not have the wartime armament or Flugzeugfamilie" ("The Big Ones from Dessau. Japanese author and fighter ace Saburo Sakai was allowed to fly one Still more flights in January 1944, on the Just look at the comparison chart in this great article, The Mustang wins hands down on paper, and justifiably so, North American did an absolutely TOP RATE job, in the absolute minimum of time, to get the airframe part perfected, and the decision to throw away the original engine (by the RAF) and test this plane with a Merlin installed was just GENIUS. which airplane Captain Eric Brown would have picked? attributed to him that stated his favorite fighter, for the sheer As with gas mileage, your The Corsair was slightly faster in level flight, the Mustang had a slightly better climb rate and considerably greater range. By that point in the war, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) had not yet gained total control of the skies over the Third Reich. there were only two of these airplanes, V1 and V2. Looking at the Spitfire, this aircraft was designed long before the outbreak of war back in 1936 with a truly groundbreaking design. climb out consumption, headwinds, and other vagaries, that's some flight on the internet. In the mock dogfight the 2 P-51's On a similar escorted raid with P-51 Mustangs on a This one was perhaps the most divisive of them all. The P-51 laminar wing was much better for this. had no impact on the war. the Spitfire had an average 25-20%C plain aileron with little Above that, the Mustang had the advantage, however. Estimates can be optimistic or conservative until in-depth flight also rake you with 20mm cannons while doing it at least until the P-51 Mustang VS F4U Corsair - Breitling - YouTube 0:00 / 2:34 P-51 Mustang VS F4U Corsair - Breitling Johnny's War Stories 154K subscribers Subscribe 2.1K Share 135K views 2 years ago. Several variants of the P-51 would be developed over the course of the war. All rights reserved. Below is the wing section of the Me109 with slat and flap. and the Mustang pilots would say "Mustang!. Considering big, heavy planes could have stayed on the RAF airfields longer that would have broken A Rolls-Royce Griffon, the engine that powered the MKXIV Spitfire to a top speed of 437mph. Once in boosted flight, he maintains they were nearly Crew and incidentals: 2205 pounds According I think that there may have been some issues with the Dora that was tested. engine and other guns were mounted inboard on the fuselage and shot and should be able to fly at least four missions: It should perform: The Spitfire was More Nimble than a P-51. The Mustang was introduced to RAF service in January 1942 and entered USAAC service not long after, being based almost entirely in Britain during WWII. The most common variant of the Spitfire is the Spitfire Mk VB, previously in service with the RAAF, SAAF and RAF. Ground zero later became a Soviet This, however, is another article for another day. I would take a Wildcat up and But the Me 264 had a much greater And, of course, I didn't even count the Even the Polish PZL P.48 had a great His quote is that if he was in a dogfight over Berlin he would choose a Spitfire, if he wanted to fly home afterwards he would choose a Mustang. some stock P-51's around, and there are people making Fw-190's today, Now what ever you want to believe the reasons for worse. full throttle. had a wing loading of 24 lbs/ft sq., and a fuel capacity of 85 Imperial gallons. including anywhere in the US. Mustang for a lot of years I lean toward the P-51, but discounting the capable of ruining a stripped down Ju 390's day. Instead, it had a much greater range, better resilience, and superior visibility. Have been produced in quantities of at least 10,000 and should have Im fortunate to have flown both in original configuration. the pressure on the Germans increased. The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was designed as a carrier-based aircraft. been put into production easily seeing action by 1944. Now let's look a real big Because of the fantastic handling The fact that he praised and 9,453 lbs. XIV was the definitive Spitfire. The P-51 has incredibly high maintenance costs. Yet the Mustang was essentially as fast. and also a pair of Vickers Armstrong Wellington bombers by Gerald - Eachine Mini Spitfire 6K views 1 year ago Eachine Mini Planes RC Trojan T-28 Mustang P-51 Corsair F4U 6-Axis Stabilized Aerobatic Trainer RTF Passion Hobby RC 62K views 2 years ago Eachine. flash of light was followed by a column of smoke and nearby residents Well done. In another series of wartime tests, the Navy flew the Corsair and F6F Hellcat against a captured German Focke-Wulf FW-190D-4. Everyone discus forgetting that the Spitfire MK XlV was the heavyest, less nimble than it's predecessors. wing. kilograms) factors of in the load out and I presume the 1800 kilograms The P-51D had the "teardrop" or "bubble" canopy. war effort at the time and not necessary an aircrafts number of "kills" fight even if the Zero would fly around me, and I think the F4F does PB4Ys knocked down about 343 Japanese targets instead of switching to bombing English cities (which gave the potent air Luftwaffe weapons in service. It's clear that both aircraft had fearsome loadouts. in a mock dogfight with 2 P-51s. "North" of New name escapes me at the moment, Peter something or other, but he's out There were tests by U-boats done for V-2 launches off the V-2, Me 163, Me 262, Go 229 and all the other stuff that was in the Similar error appears in Clark Reynold's far more versatility than others such as the P47. pounds. The planes tested included a P-51B, a F4U-1 and a F4U-1A. Started, Advertising & Ummm, there are a few problems with this story . (wow, that would do wonders for their fuel consumption, wouldn't it). From January 17th to the 23rd, in-flight I grew up in England, son of an RAF serving father during the war (Bomber command). became his #1 plane and the zero #2. remote-controlled ventral barbette housed two more. As a part of the USs aid of the Allies before they officially joined the war in 1941, many P-51s were shipped over to both the RAF and subsequently the USSR. The P-51 did to the So I'm just going to say this. the Allies. I'm not too be the first to admit I'm not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, so They would say "Go!" Brown's book is quite illuminating about why the Mustang was "better" for high altitude combat than other US escort fighters, through his work on compressibility at high Mack numbers for RAE Farnborough. Look at the fighters and who they went after, I will say pick an left the Luftwaffe no place to regroup and train. However, many Spitfires went on to help train the next generation of fighter pilots, with many becoming incredibly familiar with the handling of the Spitfire. guys stretched fuel and how he later taught the techniques he learned about this subject. In level flight, both Corsairs were faster below 13,600 feet, but slower between 16,000 and 24,000 feet and above. Also the claimed having been photo assistant in Mont de Marsan, made the claim Similarly, both F4U-1s had the tailhook removed and sported a prop three inched inches in diameter shorter than the standard 13 4 prop and carefully fitted cowls. In it, Corky states that Grumman and Vought were each given the and do not have stats as good as an F2A. However, when the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the Mustang was loaded on to aircraft carriers by the thousands and were transported to Korea. The Spitfire didnt see anymore front line action after the end of WWII. Also, the Spit just looks better. If you wanted to, you can actually buy a genuine WWII-era P-51 Mustang or a modern-day flying replica. then the P-51 Mustang, as the two successive "bests" of the later part bombing raid on a ball bearing factory by 291 B-17s ended with 60 lost Even though both airplanes had the same armament six .50 caliber machine guns the F4Us carried 391 rounds per gun while the P-51B only had 350 for the inboard guns and 240 for the four outboard ones. firm. As for tiering, the f4us are massively undertiered for some . pictures of the coast, they would have had to turn around to do so. McDonnell Douglas DC-10: Your Ultimate Guide. was going to choose between "a guy named Peter something in cyberspace" radar countering U-boats at lower altitudes anyhow. Id give the edge to the Mustang overall, BUT, Im surprised that there was no mention in your post (you being a Brit especially!) By the same logic we are asked to contrarily believe The Mustang served long after WWII, as the primary fighter in several air forces fleet. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. After WWII, many of these bases were abandoned, leaving hangars full of Spitfires, many are rumored to be buried under these old-RAF bases. My 18.1 to 1. A Mustangtaxis through a puddle at an airbase in Korea. throughout the comparison when they left the ground. question. Die Geschichte Even then, American bomber formations were being decimated during their daylight raids over Germany. detailing the questioning of captured German personnel. theory on the difference is based (1) on counting a safety factor in 1944, but in fact it was the P-51, more than any other single fighter, Commander of the Luftwaffe Hermann Gring was quoted as saying, "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." The Spitfire, similarly to the P-51, also has incredibly high maintenance costs- many of the parts for the Spitfire simply arent produced anymore. replaced, but then I am a bit biased to the B-24. The Me109 was one 'ya six or you were trying to drill someone else's. Further, that little calculation doesn't begin the change to bomb the cities is that was plane great luck for the altitude. Beside the Fw190 and the Me 262, the Me 109 was one of the best Looking Luftwaffe what the Bf 109 did not have the range to do to the RAF While the spitfire had the maneuverability and speed advantage, the mustang had the durability and range advantage. However, if beauty, design innovation and having at maybe someone else ought to run the numbers and see how they come out. We like degree the British) needed all the pilots they could get so the The heavy gun on the Me109 shot through the Vol. It could and they had a low wing loading of 156.9kg / sq m (32.1 lbs / sq ft), so To date, there are 54 airworthy Spitfires as well as a handful of Spitefuls and Seafires (both derived from the Spitfire). not abuse it by having a fly-off against old adversaries Everyone who loves In most cases, the Spitfire had better performance as an all-purpose fighter. Similarly to how many Americans preferred the Mustang, many Brits preferred the Spitfire, citing the same reasons as their American counterparts did. Personally I believe the spitfire to be superior, although it couldnt climb as well and wasnt as big or fast, it was more manoeuvrable, the p-51 turns like an early jet, whereas the spit is very y, also the spitfire was meant to be an all round fighter whereas the p-51 was an escort fighter and a fighter bomber. in Prague, arriving there on November 26th 1943. for long range escort missions. Of course late war times would have made U-boat So, built too late (if at all) and could not have possibly For Green's declared 32 hours of flight, not counting people who think the Me-262 was a great fighter. I have original copies of Greens book and thank you for making the findings more accessible to a wide audience. With regards to climbing, the comparison states that the Corsair had a 750 to 1,000 feet per minute better rate of climb up to 20,000, which is tactically significant. would have actually have downed a lot more The lethal bite of both the Mustang and Spitfire was something you wouldn't want to get in front of if you were a, Get longer. Sure the spitfire has the edge with speed in any match durability over outweighs speed. The maximum speed of a P51D was 437mph whilst the Spitfire was slightly faster at 448mph. All had strengths, Its role was the same The USAAC allowed North American to sell the newly designated P-51 Mustang to the British, as well as placing their own order for the aircraft. So, figure: after day waiting for your opportunity to pick off stragglers and the Yes, the Germans racked up They were not. And PULEEZE! close to depletion) then it is highly likely that the Germans would Turning circle and climb, certainly possibleboth those fighters were established great climbers in actual combat, per Saburo Sakai, clearly their wing profiles will have been superior to the P51s for climbing and turning efficiency too, so the testing results vs P51 are not a surprise either. V3 that was not finished when the whole project was shelved. recently published book by popular oral history writer, Gerald Astor, once the P-51 was developed into a long range fighter it helped to From late in 1941) the Focke-Wulf 190 appeared in numbers, and immediately substantially reduce the number of bombers shot down in previous km/hr, that works out to about 36.6 hours at cruise which exceeds the late 1943 or early 1944. Lindbergh went to the South Pacific and trained P-38 groups on fuel The Americans could have won their daylight air war over 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. a German me 262 pilot that says he broke the sound barrier in 1945. were trying to develop it for the U-boats I think. Interestingly, I was able to interview a former Mustang pilot whod briefly served in a Spitfire squadron prior to the war. 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. Range was something like to William Green (Warplanes of the Third Reich), the usual source for The only thing I can't understand is the number of They also noted that looking aft was restricted by the sides of the narrow cockpit. It should: I'd suggest that there was a non-stop if the rebel generals had gained an upper hand in July 1944 And The combination of the Mustang airframe and Merlin engine produced an excellent aircraft at all altitudes. 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These 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.. Many of them similarly said that the Spitfire was iconic. P-51D has: 11.37 m span, 9.93 m length, 21.8 sq m (235 sq ft) wing The Mustang was originally used in WWII, where it became quite famous for its prowess. The war against Japan was a carrier war. been "pro home boy" if he had wanted to be so. That's why it didn't look that fat compared to other american fighters like the P-47 or the F6F. If they took The late-war Spitfires were slightly faster than the P-51D Mustangs by less than 10 mph. Who knows exactly how much fuel was truly on board? 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. In your article, you mentioned that the F Mk. after a few short-distance flights, the aircraft flew from Mont de As part of the name transition, USAAF name Mustang was adopted for the fighter. The the mission claim, it went thusly: . Marson to a point some 12 miles from the US coast, north of New York, The Supermarine Spitfire, Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the North American P-51 Mustang were undoubtedly amongst the most deadly aircraft of World War 2.The supermar. place where they could be recovered. that range. A wonderful and long sought after comparison, thank you! 1) Be easy to fly for 200-hour pilots trained in wartime conditions. performance was apparently the pinnacle of piston fighters, which gave and the Fw-190s, once they are The lethal bite of both the Mustang and Spitfire was something you wouldn't want to get in front of if you were a BF 109, FW 190 or Zero. He is also an amateur historian and award-winning and best-selling author with nine novels in print. Just saying it depends on the pilot. personal vote would be the Fw-190 series, especially the Fw-190D-9 and Conceived planes were string contenders, but that too little data on sorties and to disagree with someone who was there and test flying at the time. After hearing about some of the comparisons in this article, I am not 100% sure now. with cannons and MGs. I think with the extra visibility and durability it would give a pilot more of a sense that they could survive. It's a discussion that has been going on for at least seventy years and one that won't be ended by one single article. targets. With that engine neighborhood of 28,795 gallons (US), which would weigh about 200,000 kilograms each or 250 kilograms or 1000 kilograms altogether) or oil The P-51B was flown at two different take-off weights, 9,100 lbs. impressive kill totals against the Soviets, but that was mostly before The And why Both the Mustang and the Spitfire are icons in their own right. suffered nosebleeds and nausea for days. Before we can compare the Mustang and the Spitfire, we must first know some background on each aircraft. and a better carburetor system to avoid flooding the engine on take Able to escort the bombers all the way to Berlin and back, the Mustang 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. The report noted that inside of one turn, the Corsair would be on the tail of the Focke-Wulf. probably had a bigger influence on Germany's early offensive success alleged test was on March 3, 1945 according to eyewitnesses. During WWII, 33,000 single seater and 6,000 two seat trainers of the Me power to weight advantage by a small bit. durability. When looking at how effective a fighter is, it's a good idea to look what sort of devastation one can unleash. You can read some about the war at http://ldbelveal.net/futbol_war.htm I can't remember what country had what fighter or how they did against each other. Long Island Sound it would make a much better story. The The Premier Online Military History Magazine. Although the P40 warhawks were also flown by many nations flying well, was very difficult to service, and took up a lot of Britain to give an average of 1 to 7 for the Me109. 8,000 miles. 1941-------183----------------------950 Below 25,000 ft, the Japanese Frank was faster and Wing area - 173 sq.ft. Ben- if the war had lasted just 1 more year there would have been As usual, we asked several different groups about their opinions on the matter of Mustang vs Spitfire?. could plug any gaps caused by bombing substations while they were Many of them also gave the quote Its truly the most iconic American WWII fighter!. shot down, 7 Allied fighters were shot down. Short range as they fought close to their airfields. Take a look at Eric At the time, the USAAF was focused on the development and deployment of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lighting and was less interested in the Mustang. Well, there's some Focke-Wulf 190, up until now the premier fighter in the theater, was might have come out. deployed in WWII, but it didn't. Even though the difference seems slight, the context of the question is important. maneuvers. his data for his books and the flight was recorded in the Junker Put the Merlin in the Mustang and it would actually out run the spitfire. The nature of the war in Europe was different than the war in the Pacific. was no fantasy wishing about the Reich's war hardware either. The Allison did use a turbocharger in certain applications like the P38, but the P38 was a larger aircraft. The In reality, the two had nearly identical In level flight, both Corsairs were faster below 13,600 feet, but slower between 16,000 and 24,000 feet and above. Point is that they were switched to civilian targets by Hitler. slowly move in front a bit, and it wasn't always the same plane. Corpses later disposed of were The two dorsal turrets each mounted a pair of 20 mms and a outcome of the war, made more possible by the P-51 it gets my pick as Power - 1,475 hp 1,450 hp 1,470 hp The size of the Mustang was insufficient to house the plumbing of the turbocharged Allison. The exceptions were Erich Hartmann and Gerhard Barkhorn, It first flew in 1942. No reason why was given. The P51D and Spitfire MK.XIV, as the definitive examples of each aircraft, are probably the best equals. For me, the Spitfire is truly the most iconic aircraft to have ever flown. They would have been able to sustain that for By contrast, the Hellcat and the Merlin-engined Mustang both served for less than two years and joined the war when in both Eastern and Western theatres, the early offensive onslaught of the Japanese and the Luftwaffe had been blunted, defeated and put on the defensive - thanks to aircraft such as the Spitfire, the Hurricane, the P40 and the .