Worst looking AFV of the War

[Iron Chef Sakai]

There were many different versions of the FW-190. I can't remember off hand but i know they were faster then the P-47. The FW-190's also had nitros, wich gave them significant speed boosts.

Did any of those TA-152's ever see action? i've never heard of them before, and i was pretty surprised. They kind of look like a stretched Fw-190.

Now getting back to the ugliest plane award.....my vote goes to the P-47, wich instead of being called the "thunderbolt" should have been called the "flying sherman".

Wait, did'nt alot of pilots call them flying bath tubs or something?

[busboy]

The Ta-152 did see some very limited combat. It looks like a stretched FW-190 because, well, it is! It was designed by the same fellow who designed the 190, Kurt Tank (the "Ta" designation was in his honor)

The Ta-152 was designed to be a high altitude bomber killer. The FW 190s had very short wings (which gave 'em TREMENDOUS rates of role) However, a smaller airfoil means reduced sustained turning, and less lift in the thinner air. The Ta-152 also had a larger liquid cooled engine designed for high altitude performance.

The P-47 is a powerful looking beast, nicknamed "the Jug" for its resemblence to a milk jug, OR short for Juggernaut. The P-47 actually was the fastest plane in the U.S. inventory at high altitude (though the acceleration of the 7 ton monster left something to be desired) No plane, with possible exception of the P-38, could out-dive a P-47.

While the FW-190D9 (the "Dora", long nose with the liquid cooled engine) was very fast, the P-47 was faster than the lot of FWs.

Ugliest aircraft? Thats hard to say, as most anything that flies has some form of elegence and power. However, I think the Brewster Buffalo really looked like poop.

[Cpl Carrot]

Thing to remember when comparing top speeds is that they never seem to be at the same altitude. Some are at their best at sea level (say the Typhoon) and some are at their fastest at high altitude (eg Dora 9)

[Affentitten]

Speaking of funny pods mounted on wings, check this baby out, the Bell XFM-1 Airacuda. In front of each of the nacelles for the pusher props was a 37mm gun position. The cannon were remotely aimed and fired from the cockpit, but each of those stations was crewed by a loader who could also take over and fire the guns manually. In the event of damage, the gunners would have had to bail out in front of the props! It was designed in the early 40's when America was worrying about having to defend the USA and maybe Britain from huge waves of Axis bombers.

[Ogadai]

Iron Chef and Busboy, there were two major versions of the Ta152 and one must be careful to differentiate between them because of their very different types of performance.

The "h" was designed as a high-altitude fighter and so had a very wide wingspan of narrow aspect ratio, so that it had adequate lift above 40,000 feet, where it was able to outperform most Allied fighters. Several squadrons were equipped with and used primarily (and perhaps inappropriately) on airfield defence duties for the Me262 squadrons.

The "c" was as I suggested, perhaps the fastest production fighter. Although far fewer reached frontline squadrons than the "h" it was generally considered an extremely "hot" fighter. If the Zerstorer version had reached production, it would have been armed with no less than 5 x 30mm Mk108 cannon, making it the most heavily armed, single-engined fighter in the war. Normal armament though, was to be only 1 x 30mm and 4 x 20mm (or 3 x 30mm and 2 x 20mm) was pretty heavy, anyway.