Which WWII fighter would you fly?

Depends on the time. If you mean during WW2, I pick a mustang for the simple fact that we won the war, hence I have a better chance of living. If you mean purely for fun, I would have to go with the ME262 or the Komet. The 262 because I think it out distanced other tech to an extreme that has not really been seen in war before or since (I am talking worldwide, not like the poles charging tanks with horses). The komet would be cool just because of the rapid climb. I bet most of those pilots could taste thier colons when that thing took off.

German tech during the war was unbelievable. It took us to the 80s to develop the stealth tech the germans had 40 years prior. And when we did develop it, we just stole thier idea.

@whoman69:

I always liked watching Baa Baa Blacksheep so I voted Corsair. I also like the look of the Flying Tigers P40s with the sharks teeth painted on.

good show. i would probably go with the mustang the sister (or brother) of the spitfire.

Arado 234 Jet Bomber so i can bomb UK and never get intercepted by lousy Spitfires. After the Meteor came out id have a run at the eastern front. The song “aces high” from the battle of Britian movie would be playing in the backround… on an endless loop

NOTA…
(None Of The Above)

I chooose the Heinkel He 100 fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_100
Projekt 1035 set at an astounding 700 km/h (435 mph). Keep in mind that fighters with this sort of performance didn’t appear on the battlefield until 1944.

To ease production the new design had considerably fewer parts than the 112, and those that remained contained fewer compound curves. P.1035 was made of 969 unique parts and was held together with 11,543 rivets, in comparison the 112 had 2,885 parts and 26,864 rivets. Otto Butter reported that the reduction in complexity and rivet count (along with the Butter brothers’s own explosive rivet system) saved an astonishing 1150 man hours per wing.

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_other/he100.html
On the 30th of March 1939 a prototype of the new Heinkel He 100 fighter design streaked into the record books at 746.6km/h — the new world absolute speed record. Surprisingly it took the record away from a plane with well over twice the horsepower, and beat it by over 40km/h. Heinkel built the world’s fastest plane, and it was suitable for use as a fighter (unlike many racing planes).In 1939 the He 100 was clearly the most advanced fighter in the world. It was even faster than the Fw 190, and wouldn’t be bested until the introduction of the F4U in 1943. Nevertheless the plane was not ordered into production…(politics.)

He 100D-0
Notable changes included a larger vertical tail in order to finally solve the stability issues, higher cockpit and larger canopy with excellent vision in all directions. The armament was reduced from the C model to one 20mm MG/FF-M in the engine V firing through the propeller spinner, and two 7.92mm MG17’s in the wings close to the fuselage.

He 100D-1
The final evolution enlarged the horizontal stabilizer.

The big change was the eventual abandonment of the surface cooling system, which proved to be too complex and failure prone. Instead an even larger version of the retractable radiator was installed, and this appeared to completely cure the problems. The radiator was inserted in a “plug” below the cockpit, and as a result the wings were widened slightly.

While the plane didn’t match it’s design goal of 700km/h once it was loaded down with weapons, the larger canopy and the radiator, it was still capable of speeds in the 400mph range. A low drag airframe is good for both speed and range, and as a result the He 100 had a combat radius between 900 and 1000km compared to the Bf109’s 600km. While not in the same league as the later escort fighters, this was at the time a superb range and may have offset the need for the Bf110 to some degree.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/he100.html
(670 kph/416mph)

Vought F4U (I know this is ancient.) 470 miles an hour is my kind of airplane (non-jet).

I’d want to give the P-61 a try.  It seems like an interesting airframe to manipulate.  And, I have a copy of the pilot’s manual.

German tech during the war was unbelievable.  It took us to the 80s to develop the stealth tech the germans had 40 years prior.  And when we did develop it, we just stole thier idea.

Actually Zooey, The Northrop M1M flew succesfully BEFORE the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, it was classified. Northrop had numerous “Flying Wing” designs and by virtue of their design, had low radar signatures, as well as long range, and high speed. Many of the German  “Stealth” designs had low radar signatures, because they were built out of wood. Aluminum was difficult to find towards the end of the war. The piston engined B-35 Bomber, and its jet powered developement, the YB-49, suffered a political death. Although there were some developmental problems, the official story of the cancellation, was due to the low bombing accuracy. The lack of accuracy was caused by the tendency of the airplane to “Yaw”, which is like sliding sideways. This caused the bombardier to site the target slightly off the line of flight. This problem was fixed by “Little Herbert” a stability augmentation computer. Its likely, that the Luftwaffe would have had the same problems, if their Horton flying wings were allowed to develop. Sorry, just another one of my un-solicited history lessons…. I’ll be good now.

Although, it did take a while for us to get BACK to the flying wing design, I am proud to say the we got it right with the B-2. I’m also proud to say that I was a part of that program, Both at Secret City, (Pico Rivera) and Plant 42, Palmdale.

As far as going into combat with a plane, probably the P-51 Mustang. As for just a joyride, ME-262… Though my loyalties would probably steer me to the P-61

I must admit I don’t know the stats of what each plane are. So I would have to vote based on looks so I would say the P-38 b/c it just looks uniquely bad a** with the twin tales.

Put me in a Hellcat and let me go at it!