What's The Best Allied Aircraft That Didn't Go To War?
 

After seeing too many documentaries about advanced late Second World War German aircraft that always tried give the impression that they were way ahead of allied designs, I don't believe this myself so I thought I would ask the learned gentlemen from this forum; Which was the best Allied aircraft that either entered service post war or never entered service at all?

I'd put my money on the de Havilland Hornet / Sea Hornet.

I'd say the de Havilland Hornet is a good shout.

The Hawker Sea Fury could quite possibly be in there too.

Vampire - entered service but never saw combat. Served as a front line fighter until 1953 and a trainer until 1966, which was a long service life in those days.

dat, maybe you should narrow the criteria, either a a first flew before the war ended or first entered service before the war ended.

One contender would by the Lincoln with a considerably higher ceiling than the Lancaster albeit not in the same class at the B29.

How about the Lockeed Neptune in service for almost 40 years.

Ok, how about fighter or fighter bomber that did enter service during or after the war but did not get near the enemy.

Tornado F3?

"taxi!!"

On so many levels.

One of the Best
 

English Electric Lightning, all Mks.

World Class Performance in the 1960s, still going well in the 1970s, obsolete by the 1980s but still doing its best to defend UK plc until 1987.

But was the "Cold War" a real war? It was in many respects a real event which produced a steady stream of losses every year as training and ops took there toll.

OK thread creep sorry

This:


Murdered by Earl Mountbottom and also by the Communists of the 1965 Labour government.....:yuk:

Ok and designed during the Second World War!

BEagle

The RAF got their revenge with the cancelation of CVA 01 but that argument is a whole thread all by itself!

Hmm, "after the war" is rather broad, but keeping it those that were flying in 1945 there are several good fighter/fighter bomber contenders that almost made it into the war:

Sea/Hornet, Vampire and Sea Fury as mentioned
Bearcat- on it's way to Japan on VJ day
P-80 Shooting Star made it to Italy and England, but did not see combat

Arguments could be made for all of the above. "Best" is subjective.

It was only a matter of time before the ol' TSR2 chestnut got its obligatory mention. I wonder what would have happened had it entered service? Would it have lived up to its considerable billing, or would we all have been whingeing about its numerous faults and shortcomings (unreliable, short range, unmanoeuvrable etc), compared to what else was on offer at the time?

The Sea Fury did of course go to war:

Hawker Sea Fury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The of course, there was The Spruce Goose

The Lincoln saw service (ie dropped bombs in anger) during Op Firedog (Malaya) and in Kenya. Unless insurgency does not count......

I am surprised this thread has got to ten posts without mention of the Wiggins Aerodyne...

OP intended discussion of types funded by VJ Day. He's so right that there were as remarkable a range as in the Luftwaffe Secret Projects books. So, in US, B-36 was underway, B-32 Dominator was in a get-well phase, both to be targeted by Republic XF-12 Rainbow, and supported by transport gargantuans Mars, Constitution, C-99.

UK programmes, additional to those noted already, included Spiteful/Seafang, Wyvern, Sturgeon, Spearfish, Firebrand, Shetland, SR/A.1, Windsor.

My A to OP Q: Bearcat +(Sea) Hornet; Lincoln + (in European/Mediterranean Theatres: ) B-29. That lot, even without Fat Man, would have concentrated German minds.

Or the Cavendish Hopper..... Reach for the Sky?

Best Allied Aircraft Flown but no WW2 Service
 

Douglas A1 Skyraider, Designed and built and flown during WW2 but just too late to see combat, but sure did fight in almost every outing from then until the 1970s, and served on until the early 80s in some air arms.

Ordered by the US Navy in 1944, first flight in March 1945, in service 1946.

Douglas A-1 Skyraider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think you'll find that the Wiggins Aerodyne has been used extensively in support of 24SAS and 49Para operations.

Martin Baker MB5.

Ditto... Was just going to add that.

Both the Lightning and the Tornado F3 went to war. The Lightning in Yemen with the Saudis and the Tornado F3 in the Gulf War.

...but did manage to fly several combat missions prior to VJ-Day. One B-32 also managed to be shot at (but not shot down) by some diehard Japs tooling around in some 'Georges' after VJ-Day!

Just out of interest, which Allied aircraft were comparable to the Me 262, Ar 234C, Me 263, Go 229, Bv 238, Ta 152C/H etc? All these aircraft flew (Me 263 as an unpowered prototype only), and some flew combat sorties.

OPSEC, AA, OPSEC... ;)

The Martin Baker MB5 in my not so humble opinion. ;)

Another one was the Grumman F-7F Tigercat.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...P_Tigercat.jpg

I would vote for the Republic Super Thunderbolt.....amongst a few others.

Good one, SASless.

I have to feel sorry for Curtiss. So many attempts that never made it in that video.

In post war tests the Me262 was considered superior to the Allied jet types. But against that the allied pilots were better trained and their jets more reliable and better built.

Its a tribute to the British Aircraft industry that it was never outclassed by the potentially larger German Aircraft Industry.

Alongside the MB5 what about the Supermarine Spiteful?

Not aircraft but submarines but indicative to the problems Germany had.

A friend was passage crew on some Germany submarines being ferried to Russia as part of the spoilts of war. The valves had to manipulated everyday to stop them seizing up for they were not made of brass as allied submarines were.

Shortage of rare metals probably did for much German production.

Considering that the British aircraft industry didn't have the significant disadvantage of bombs raining down upon it for the last four years of the war, one might say that the British aircraft industry should have been streets ahead of the German, rather than just 'never outclassed by'...

Torque

That is an interesting point !

And could also be said about the US industry although
they seemed to be into pumping out the planes as fast as
they could once they found something that worked.

Quantity has a quality all of it's own.

Agree, when it came to dropping thousands of dumb bombs from 1000 planes at once, you don't need the top of the range to do it.

I would've plumped for MB5, dH Hornet, XF-12 Rainbow (surely one of the most beautiful designs), HK-1 Spruce Goose, but one not mentioned so far is Hughes XF-11, which I always thought could have been if it had been fully developed.

S41

I'm gonna jump back to between the wars and suggest the Hawker Fury or Bristol Bulldog

Didn't the Vampire see action in the Rhodesian civil war?

Hornet, MB5, Rainbow all too easy.....
 

....more prosaic but very practical. I give you the Bristol Brigand.