[Gort]

Some WWII warbirds were good to excellent and played a vital role in the defeat of Japan and Nazi Germany (and Benito Mussolini’s Italy). Axis birds vigorously tried to smash the allies in return. And yet, for sundry reasons, many of these aircraft failed to grab the limelight as opposed to their flashier hangar mates.

Choose the bird (or birds) below (add your own if it's not on the list) that you think were/are the most underrated warbirds of WWII (those that made significant contributions to the war effort but failed to get their deserved glory and fame), and tell us why.

I'll start things off ...

The Il-2/10 Shturmovik killed more enemy combatants and AFVs than any other plane out there. Though the West has a bias against anything Soviet made, I believe this plane deserves loads more credit that it gets.

Your turn ....


Aichi D3A ‘Val’
Arado AR 196
Arodo AR 234Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
Bell P-39 Airacobra
Bell P-63 Kingcobra
Blohm Und Voss BV 138
Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Bristol Beaufighter
Consolidated PB2Y Coronado
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Consolidated BPY Catalina
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
Curtiss SB2C Helldiver
Dewoitine D.520
Douglas A-20 Boston/Havoc
Douglas A-26 Invader
Douglas SBD Dauntless
Douglas TBD Devastator
Douglas C-47 Skytrain
Fairey Firefly
Fairey Swordfish
Fiat G.55 Centauro
Focke-Wulf Fw-189 Uhu
Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor
Gloster Gladiator
Gloster Meteor
Grumman F4F Wildcat
Grumman F6F Hellcat
Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger
Handley Page Halifax
Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Tempest
Hawker Typhoon
Heinkel He-111
He 177 Greif
Heinkel He-219
Henaschel Hs-129
Il-2/10 Shturmovik
Junkers Ju 52/3M
Junkers Ju 87 Stuka
Junkers Ju 88
Kawanishi H8K Emily
Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein
Lavochkin LaGG-3
Lavochkin La-5 and La-7
P-38 Lightning
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
Macchi M.C.202 and M.C.205V
Martin 187 Baltimore
Martin B-26 Marauder
Martin PBM Mariner
Messerschmitt Bf 110
Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-1 and Mig-3
Mitsubishi G4M Betty
Nakajima Ki-48 Hayabusa Oscar
Nakajima Ki-84 Frank
Northrop P-61 Black Widow
Petlyakov Pe-2
Polikarpov I-16
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Savoia-Marchetti S.M. 79 Sparviero
Short Stirling
Short Sunderland
Tupolev Tu-2
Vickers Wellington
Vought Vindicator
Westland Lysander
Westland Whirlwind
Yakovlev Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9

[Martin Baker]

I think both the Hawker Typhoon & the hawker Tempest were very underrated
Typhoon done a great job on D-Day & till the end of the war as a ground attack fighter
The Tempest was the best piston engine fighter 1944/45 & could hold it own shooting down V1 & Me 262

[mustangdriver]

The Piper L-4, and A-20.

[david cotton]

The P47 Thunderbolt. This is the aircraft that destroyed the Luftwaffe in the west...... but the Mustang gets all its credit.

[Captain Eddie]

I'm not going to vote for THE most underrated, but the P 47 could be one. Seems to me it does get some glory, but not like the P 51. And I'll bet that Jim would vote for the P 40 which was/is not especially appreciated, but was a lot better than most would think. What say you, Jim?

[jim]

Originally Posted by Captain Eddie

I'm not going to vote for THE most underrated, but the P 47 could be one. Seems to me it does get some glory, but not like the P 51. And I'll bet that Jim would vote for the P 40 which was/is not especially appreciated, but was a lot better than most would think. What say you, Jim?

I am watching and waiting my friend, watching and waiting. THEN I WILL STRIKE.

[Cardinal]

I'll have to say that the most underrated aircraft was the 'Wooden Wonder' aka the Mosquito .

[Epapazian]

It's tempting to cite much maligned planes like the Brewster Buffalo, which was a dud for the U.S. Marines at Midway but a big success for the Finns against the Russians or the P-39, which was a flying coffin for U.S. airmen but did well for the Russkies. However, in both cases these were not very good planes and their late-blooming successes were probably due to weak opposition ( the Finns often faced second line Russian planes and pilots with their Buffalos ) or changed roles ( the Russians tended to employ their P-39s in the ground attack rather than the interceptor role, as we also did ). So let me nominate the following: The U.S. B-26, Great Britain's Swordfish, Italy's SM-79 and , finally, Japan's Betty. So why these planes? The B-26 was a scary plane to fly and land at the outset and earned a terrible reputation until pilots were properly trained to handle it. Once that was accomplished, however, the B-26 did a very good job primarily in the ETO. As for the Swordfish, it was seen as hopelessly antiquated until it sank or put out of action three Italian battleships at Taranto and crippled the mighty Bismark , allowing the Royal Navy to sink this monster of a ship. Italy's SM-79 is often overlooked as just another of those quaint three-engined planes that emerged from the drawing boards of 1930's designers but it turned out to be one of the best torpedo bombers of the war. Last, but not least, we have Japan's Betty. In order to extend its range the Betty carried as little extra weight as possible, which meant that it didn't have self-sealing fuel tanks and burst into flame the moment it was hit by a burst of gunfire. However the Betty could be a formidable weapon, and was used effectively in China, Malaya and the Solomon Island battles.

[jim]

I wouldnt argue with any of that , however!

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by jim

I wouldnt argue with any of that , however!

However, what... ? Surely you're not going to mention the P40 ... are you ? .