Question for you all.

[padburgess]

Did some interesting reading last night and thought I might pose this question to you all.

What American WW2 fighter was used by an individual to attain the highest number of enemy kills for a single aircraft type, and who was that airman?

This aircraft was considered by some to be a failure as a front line fighter.

Paul

 

[Ickie]

if I had to guess, well I'd say the F4U corsair, it took the British to tame the beast. As to its pilot, Pappy Boyenton?

 

[norab]

The export version of the Brewster Buffalo the B239, used by Finnish pilot Hans Wind, for 39 kills with the type

 

[padburgess]

Hi Icke

Sorry, but no banana. I do agree though that the F4u was somewhat tricky at first and went on to attain an amazing record. Also one of my favorite aircraft and one that I personally consider to be the best American fighter of the time.

I'm off to bed now so I'll leave this open until tomorrow. See what we can generate.

Cheers
Paul

 

[bobmay]

I think it might be Richard Bong in the P-38 Lightning.

 

[AndyG43]

Aleksandr Pokryshkin in the P-39 Airacobra; he scored 48 victories in the P-39 and 11 in other aircraft. Although I could be wrong of course ....

 

[Daveroo]

i googled..it was Bong in the P38 and he was killed in a P80 on the day hiroshima was bombed,Yeager says he died because he failed to read his preflight instructions...quite the claim

 

[AndyG43]

Bong had 40 victories credited to him; Pokryshkin had 48, so I still think I'm in the right area. Also padburgess says in hs original post that the aircraft in question was considered to be a failure as a front line figter, not something that can be said of the P-38.

Incidentally Yeager talks about the P-39 in his autobiography, and retains a certain amount of affection for it; this stood him in good stead during a visit to Moscow at the height of the Cold War, able to swap anecdotes with several of the senior Soviet officers he met.

 

[stiz]

i'd have to agree with andy, my gut said p39 when i read the question.

 

[Wittpilot]

i googled..it was Bong in the P38 and he was killed in a P80 on the day hiroshima was bombed,Yeager says he died because he failed to read his preflight instructions...quite the claim

That is not at all surpising coming from Yeager...

 

[Allen]

What American WW2 fighter was used by an individual to attain the highest number of enemy kills for a single aircraft type, and who was that airman?

This aircraft was considered by some to be a failure as a front line fighter.

Well this rules out:
P-38
P-40 Maybe
P-47
P-51
F4U
F6F
F4F

Ruled in:
F2A
P-39/P-400 My money is on this one.
P-40 Maybe

Edit:
My googling says.
Grigori A. Rechkalov: 50 Kills in a 39
Aleksandr I. Pokryshkin: 48 Kills in a 39

 

[demorier]

I would have said Bong pretty much straight away. The P38 I think was considered not up to expectations initially, but after some more experimenting in simulated combat conditions other ways and means were found to take advantage of it's assets.

 

[padburgess]

Hi All

Sorry for the delay. Work and all.
Congrats to those who backed the P39. Whilst I and you may be wrong, Google and a couple of reasonable references in my library (not exhaustive by any means) pointed to Aleksandr I. Pokryshkin in the first instance and then to Grigori A. Rechkalov.
Unfortunately with the parlous state of information from Russian sources regarding WW2 I wont choose between them. I was more interested in the aircraft anyway.
Norab. I looked at the Brewster and Hans Wind did do extremely well in this old girl but I believe the P39 pipped it.

Funny though eh. Two aircraft written off as unsuitable by the western allies (and they were to a large extent) but they both did extremely well in other theaters against some of the same machines they were judged inferior to, in the case of the P39 anyway.

Thanks for the interest. Hopefully we never have to see this scale of conflict again (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_flying_aces), although I for one am not putting any money on that notion. Certainly the scores won't be as high.

Regards
Paul

 

[AndyG43]

A good one Paul, very thought provoking! It's easy to forget the scale and ferocity of the fighting on the Russian Front; I've just finished reading Antony Beevor's "Stalingrad", virtually impossible to get your head around the scale of that conflict.

 

[Daveroo]

A good one Paul, very thought provoking! It's easy to forget the scale and ferocity of the fighting on the Russian Front; I've just finished reading Antony Beevor's "Stalingrad", virtually impossible to get your head around the scale of that conflict.

i missunderstood the original question..i see now its says which american fighter...not american pilot...

 

[AndyG43]

i missunderstood the original question..i see now its says which american fighter...not american pilot...

That's what pointed me in the right direction; I knew that the Soviet's had used the P-39 to good effect, so figured that would supply me with the answer.

As I said, the fighting on that front was savage, it just chewed up men & material; it was on that front that Erich Hartmann shot down a staggering 352 aircraft, flying in excess of 1400 missions!

 

[redriver6]

Comrade Pokryshkin Hero of the Soviet Union in action....
after taking out a couple of He 111's he is jumped by the 109 escort...
using the P-39's superior diving ability he is able to turn the tables on
the Germans and score one of the Me's....:d

 

[Allen]

Funny though eh. Two aircraft written off as unsuitable by the western allies (and they were to a large extent) but they both did extremely well in other theaters against some of the same machines they were judged inferior to, in the case of the P39 anyway.

The P-39 was the best allied fighter at the outbrake of war as long as you stayed below 12,000 feet. Before the war the USAAF only let bombers and the P-38s use high altitude turbocharger. So the P-39 and P-40 retained supercharger that had big drops in performance around 12,000 feet.