We did this on another WWII site and had a lot of fun with it, so I thought I'd post it here and let you guys have a go.

Here are the rules.
1. No more than 9 aircraft
2. Must have saw combat service during WWII
3. You can pick from any country.
4. You must have 1 trainer and 1 transport

I'll start.....

Trainer: AT-6 Texan
Transport: C-47
High Altitude Fighter: Ta-152H
Fighter/Naval Fighter: F4U-4 Corsair
Heavy Bomber: B-29
Medium Bomber/Attack: B-25 Mitchell
Night Fighter: P-61 Black Widow
Recon: PBY Catalina
Attack/Fighter: P-47N

So......what would yours be?

Heres my Army Air Corps.

Trainer: BT-13
Transport: C-46 "Commando"
High Altitude Fighter: P-51D "Mustang"
Fighter/Naval Fighter: F6F "Hellcat"
Heavy Bomber: B-29 Superfortress
Medium Bomber/Attack: B-25 "Mitchell"
Night Fighter: De Havilland Mosquito Mk. IV "Mossy"
Recon: PBM Mariner "Flying Gas Tank"
Attack/Fighter: Hawker "Hurricane" MK IIB

Regards,
MARNE

__________________

"ROCK OF THE MARNE"
Sgt. James Dunigan III
Able Co., U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division(Reenacted)

All good planes MARNE....There are no wrong answers, just curious why you choose the Hurricane? There are many many very good to great attack planes. I'm not aware of the Hurricane being one of them. Am I wrong?

Oh yeah, you don't have to pick the same types as me, I just listed them out. If you want, you can pick 1 trainer, 1 transport and all fighters. (But I'm going to bomb your airfields to hell and back)

Hey Thor,

I chose the Hurricane on its two major merits that it has more than a lot of other aircraft....Survivability, you can shoot through it all day long and probably won't bring it down...due to it being mostly fabric in a lot of places...LOL... The other is weaponry the Mk IIB had four (20mm Cannons) for the ground attack role. Monty used them to great affect in North Africa raiding Rommels supply lines and harassing his armored units.

As for your Air Force vs. my Army Air Corp...hmmm...pretty evenly matched but, your bombers are goin to be pretty chewed up by my fighters the P-51 and the F6F! Remember the F6F holds the title of massing the most kills of any aircraft during WWII and its survivability rate was astonishing.

I know you'll bring up the Ta-152H, however, although my fighters can't reach that altitude...the only thing is you have to come down sooner or later!...LOL...

As for reconnaissance I've got a slight advantage with the Mariner, and the Mossy... I've deifintely got you at night light, fast, and manuverable...LOL...

Regards,
MARNE

__________________

"ROCK OF THE MARNE"
Sgt. James Dunigan III
Able Co., U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division(Reenacted)

Ah....a challenge.

Attack planes
Hurricane vs P-47N. First round TKO. Hurricane is way overmatched.

Night Fighter
Mossy vs Black Widow. I'll give it to ya, but don't let me stay behind you too long. I've got 8 .50 cals that say I would win.

High Alt Fighter
P-51 vs Ta-152. I'm going to take this one because the P-51 can't absorb damage and my cannons are going to creme you. If you get behind me, you won't catch me.

Fighter
F6F vs Corsair. Total wash. Yeah, the F6F had a very impressive kill ratio against FAR outclassed planes and pilots. Yes the Corsair was going up against the same planes, but there were more Hellcats than Corsairs (I think). Plus the Corsairs could also be used as an attack plane, a role it excelled in.

P-47N @ Corsair...attack
P-61 @ Mozzie...night fighter
Ta-152 @ Mustang...high altitude
Corsair @ Hellcat...fighter
PBY @ Sunderland...observation
B-25 @ Ju-88...attack bomber
B-29 @ Lancaster...heavy bomber
Texan*...trainer
C-47*...transport
*= only choice
@= toss-up

__________________
There's one way to find out if a man is honest-ask him. If he says "Yes", you know he's a crook. Groucho Marx

I would go with the A-26 for attack/medium bomber. I would agree with most of the remainder of calls. P-51/P-61/C-47/T-6. While it is not an amphibian, the Condor has virtues as a recon plane, but would not be useful for recovery of pilots. I would also have a tendency to go with the B17G+ for a bomber. I don't like the Lanc for daytime bombing and the B-29 had too many support needs to be an only bomber.

__________________
Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.

P 38 Lightning

Catalina as a "recon" aircraft.

Mossie.


IIL-2 as a tank buster

C-47 as Transport.

B-29 heavy bomber.

Texan as a Trainer.

[ 10. January 2007, 07:36 AM: Message edited by: FramerT ]

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Ok, I'll bite.

Trainer: AT 6 Texan I think this one is hard to beat for an advanced trainer.

Transport: Lockheed C-69 Constellation The world standard in piston engined transport for almost 3 decades. While the C-47 out lasted it, the C-69 hauls far more far further. The first truly transcontinental transport aircraft. Plus you can get an AEW aircraft out of it.

Fighter, land based: P-51D Mustang Range counts. If you want to win you have to take the fight to the enemy. The Ta 152H and some other late war aircraft might be a bit better (that's debatable but for another thread) but if you can't get to the fight your fighter is worthless. See the Me 109 or Spitfire for excellent proof of this. More recently, Mig 21 or F-104 both of which proved of very limited value offensively.

Fighter bomber, land and naval: F4U-3 or 4 Corsair Nothing comes close in this dual role.

Heavy bomber: B-29 Superfortress In a category of its own. A generation earlier I'd have taken the Lancaster.

Attack bomber: FB various Mks Mosquito 2000 lbs or more of bombs, lots of guns up front (when mounted), and 400 mph. The Nazi wet dream they could never quite duplicate.

Maritime patrol: PB4Y Privateer More range, electronics, bombload, guns, and armor than anything else in the category. The ulitmate WW 2 patrol bomber.

Nightfighter: NF 30 Mosquito US electronics equal to none mounted on what had to be the best aircraft for the job. The side-by-side seating, great view, heavy armament, speed, and maneuverability to get the job done like nothing else. The P-61 is a flying dump truck by comparison.

109 & Spit had no prob finding a fight for the most part in the war. Spit found it in BoB, cross channel Rhubarbs, North Africa, Med, Pacific near Australia, Burma, & even after Normandy invasion. True it couldn't follow bombers all the way to Berlin, but most campaigns it did just fine finding a fight.

Tigermoth
Ju-52
Ta-152
Halifax, Hurcules powered
Kawanishi H8K, long range recon
Fw-190A , ground attack
Westland Whirlwind, looks nice
Dewoitine 520 had lots of potential
B-25 , med bomber and attack bomber

__________________
Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Thor,

Since my first post I've thought about it and heres what my boys at Avro, Boeing, Consolidated, Curtiss, De Havilland, Douglas, Gloster, Grumman, Hawker, Lockheed, Martin, Messerschmitt, North American, Republic, Vought, and Vultee has cooked up for me...

Army Air Force:

Trainers:
Boeing PT-13 "Stearman"
North American AT-6 "Texan"
Vultee BT-13 "Valiant"

Fighters:
Messerschmitt Me-262 "Hornet"
Lockheed P-80 "Shooting Star"
Gloster "Meteor" Mk. I
North American P-51D "Mustang"

Night Attack Aircraft:
North American P-82 "Twin Mustang"
De Havilland "Mosquito" Mk. IVFB

Ground Attack Aircraft:
Republic P-47 "Thunderbolt"
North American A-36 "Apache"
Hawker "Hurricane" Mk. IIB

Medium Bombers:
North American B-25 "Mitchell"
Douglas A-26 "Invader"

Heavy Bombers:
Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress"
Boeing B-29 "Superfortress"
Avro "Lancaster"

Reconnaissance Aircraft:
Lockheed F-5 "Lightning"
North American F-6 "Mustang"
Consolidated F-7 "Liberator"

Cargo/Transport Aircraft:
Curtiss C-46 "Commando"
Douglas C-47 "Skytrain"
Douglas C-54 "Skymaster"

Navy/Marine Air Arm:

Trainers:
Boeing N2S "Stearman"
Douglas SNJ "Texan"
Vultee SNV "Valiant"

Fighters:
Grumman F6F "Hellcat"
Grumman F8F "Bearcat"
Vought F-4U "Corsair"

Bombers:
Consolidated PB4Y "Liberator"
Consolidated PB4Y-2 "Privateer"

Torpedo Bombers:
Grumman TBM/TBF "Avenger"

High Level Dive Bombers:
Douglas SBD2 "Helldiver"

Reconnaissance Aircraft:
Martin PBM "Mariner"
Consolidated PBY "Catalina"

Regards,
MARNE

__________________

"ROCK OF THE MARNE"
Sgt. James Dunigan III
Able Co., U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division(Reenacted)

High alt / escort fighter : P-51D (TA152 has better performances at high alt, but too few were used, P-51 has more than proved its qualities).

Interceptor : Me 262 : fast, efficient weapons against heavies (way better in this role than .50), could have been improved for better reliability, gotta be used with an efficient ground control interception net tho

Jack of all trades fighters : F-4 U / F6 F / La-7 / Late Spifire / FW 190 D / Late Bf 109 G (no particular order) : good performances, good maneuverability, good weapons (the US fighter being less versatile in this domain) in a very wide range of speeds, alts and situations and all more than proven designs.

Heavy bomber : B-17 (B29 is better but in a WWII context, I'm not sure it's more cost effective than the B-17, if it's the case, I'd go for the B-29. the Lancaster is pretty close)

Attack : IL-10 : great firepower and performances. I for sure don't want to fly over the battelfield in a Hurricane, with paper armor, limited payload and a garden snail topspeed (without external bombs or rockets that is !!)

Transport : C-47, if you give me another plane, I'll resign from my Air Commander job.

Floatplane : HK8

Trainer : Yak7 is a no brainer, you train then fight in the same plane.

Dive bomber : Pe-2. Stuka was maybe better because of excelent flying caracteristics providing unmatched accuracy in dive bombing. SBD flew like the pregnant crate it looks like. Aichi Val was already old in 41 ! SB2 was a design failure, it owes its success to the number built.

Medium bomber : A-20 (Ju-88 and B-25 were good but got old and slow, in a 1940-41 context I'd pick the Ju-88 I believe.)

Torpedo plane : TBF Avenger : I like my torpedo planes to be carrier based, this one was a very innovative design, before it went operational, the Japanese B5 was the best.

Fighter/bomber : P47D / FW 190 (mostly F) / Tempest (over the typhoon)

I forgot Night fighter and Recon : Mosquito for sure !

[ 12. January 2007, 05:15 AM: Message edited by: chocapic ]

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http://www.costnet.com/images/skyhawk-pic.jpg

Right - here's the BAF :-

Trainer : Me262B-1a
Transport : Ju52
High-altitude fighter : P-51D
Fighter : Spitfire MkIX
Heavy Bomber : Lancaster / B-17 ( sorry ! [img]redface.gif[/img] I love 'em both equally..... )
Medium Bomber/Attack : Mosquito FBVI.
Night Fighter : Heinkel He219
Reconnaissance : Mosquito PRXVI
Attack/Fighter : Hawker Typhoon.

NB : This list is PURELY SUBJECTIVE. I just plain like these aircraft and would be very happy to have them all in my own personal collection at Duxford airfield.....

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

MARTINS SCHOOL OF PILOT TRAINING

Why learn to fly in a biplane when you can start off in a jet ! Fly with the eagles ! Sign up today and have a thrill of the life time !

(disclaimer, only three pilots have survived so far but don't let that fool you. The other three are now safe and warm on the Russian front.)

__________________
Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

I forgot to include the Ki-84 Frank into my list.

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http://www.costnet.com/images/skyhawk-pic.jpg

Trainer CAC Wirraway

Fighters Spitfire XIV
Mustang P-51D
Me-262

Lt Bomber Mosquito FB VI

Med Bomber Mitchell B25J

Hvy Bomber B-29A

Maritime Sunderland

Transport C-46 Commando

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Whe're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of OZ - 6 Australian Infantry Div, Bardia January 1941

I just had to fit the Me262 into my list somewhere ! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

MARNE,

Uhhhh, I think the rules state to pick no more than 9 airplanes, not nine from each country!!! ha

I see you have been blinded by un-natural elements Martin

you have picked the ill fated Uhu again as night fighter ....... arg with a capital A

think Ju 88G-6 superior in almost every way, or better yet the Me 262

well I am jerked almost off the face of the earth my two volumes on the moskito hunters is on definate hold but I will continue to pursue my " Im Schatten des Mondes liegen "

Ich bein ein Geist !

I did say that my choice was PURELY SUBJECTIVE - I just think the 'Uhu' looks nice [img]smile.gif[/img] ( and the ex-pilot of one that I met was so proud of it ! )

To be honest, I think even the Bf110G-4 was more effective but hey - it's my aircraft collection ! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

true he was a co