I'll start off. I personally think the F-15E is the best fighter for the jobs it does. Its not a close ranger fighter like the F-16 and it cant turn on a dime like the F-22 but it can carry a buttload of ordinace and is pretty much the fastest fighter thats not a million years old (mig 25). With the exception of the F-22 it has the best thrust to weight ratio of any fighter. It can kill you from 20 miles away. And man what a sweet startup sound, if you have never heard it you need to find a f-15 base immediatly and see if you can get a tour. Its also huge and powerfull looking with alot of wing area, which helps its ability to fly over 60,000ft if needed. Plus going supersonic strait up(with no load of any kind lol) is a cool feature. The plane will definatly let you know its there because it certainly isnt quite, unless its going fast then your dead before you get a chance to identify the plane. Thats about it.

The SR-71... Show me one that's ever been shot down?

I am confused...the XXth century or the XXIst?

has to be a fighter, less than 80 feet long with a wingspan less that 70 feet. and starting from WW1

I'm just wondering: What are the criteria for naming this "Best Fighter"?
Number of kills? What about kills for losses? Number of aircraft made? Service life? Ability to handle multiple mission tasks? War Record?

The P-51 Mustang. She had 19 klls for each loss (against the Luftwaffe, that's pretty d*mn good) destroying 4850 aircraft Europe There were 14, 819 made for the US Army. They were used as dive-bombers, bomber escorts, ground-attackers, interceptors, for photo-recon missions, trainers, transports (with a jump-seat), and after the war, high performance racers.

The F6F Hellcat with 5154 kills by the Navy and Marine Corps in WWII. It had the highest kill/loss ratio of all fighters of all services in the War. She was the plane that won the Pacific away from the Japanese Navy.

The F-86 Sabre. The fighting in the valleys and over the Yalu in Korea...shooting down 810 enemy fighters, 792 of them MiG 15's. In three years of fighting, she scored a 12-1 kill ratio against some of the best pilots the Communist Bloc could produce.

There's still the SPAD, Sopwith Camel, Messerschmitt 109, Focke-Wulfe 190, Mitsubishi Zero, F-4 Phantom II, MiG-21, F-18 Hornet, MiG-3, Fokker Triplane...Let's pull them all out and see what we get.

There should be two winners. One for best tactical fighter and another for best dogfighter. Post and Pre Vietnam maybe?
Anyways, I agree with McChord for the best tactical fighter. The F-15 is in a class of its own and its capabilities are truly amazing.
For me the best dogfighter is a tie between the Me-109 and the P-51. They dueled it out in Europe throughout the war and were amazing machines.

there is no right and wrong answer here, its all opinion, something we all have. yes the p-51 owned everyone. lol

I repeat Harm's question....

20th or 21st Century?!

Judging by performance, it is obviously the F-22. This is the most advanced fighter plane of all time(albeit, also the most expensive). It is amazing to me that many of the figures are still classified. The air force just says a 60000+ ft. service ceiliing and Paul Metz, the chief test pilot, says it can "easily go over 1600 mph"(with more thrust than the Blackbird, I don't doubt it might be able to nudge 2000 mph). It also has thrust vectoring and will out-maneuver any plane out there. Oh yeah, and don't forget stealth.

I wonder if the best fighter we have or ever had is top secret.

IMO, It's the Spitfire, first piston to break the 300MPH barrier, and generally a ledgend.

I agree with Karl. The Spitfire changed history in a relatively short period of time. If the Brits had lost the Battle of Britain history would have been different, I think. God bless the people who designed, built, maintained and flew that wonderful little airplane.

I have to put my money of the F-86. A good record against MiG's for it's time was no easy task.

Didn't the Hawker Hurricane shoot down a majority of the planes claimed by the RAF (1,593 out of 2,739 total claimed) in the Battle of Britain? I mean, she was the backbone of the RAF during the battle of France and the Battle of Britain. The first allied ace flew a Hurricane.

Not to impugn the fine and glorious name of the Spitfire, which I believe IS one of the best fighters ever, but let's not forget her older sister. I've a couple of funny stories of the hurricane from one of my aunts, who as a girl, was sent to Dover before the blitz. I've always thought that men who went to fight Germans armed with a fighter made partly of linen had some real bal-...uh...guts.

Fw-190 was actually a better plane than the Spitfire, it came too late and in too little numbers to actually affect the course of the war.

That´s hard to choose, but among the WW2 fighters I would stick to the Tempest, Spitfire or P-47. I think the war propaganda placed the P-51 on a place it doesn´t belong, it really helped since it could fly over Germany, but that´s all.

S!

I do love the Spitfire..One of my favourite planes.. and it was my mums too as she was in the ack ack during the war..and she loved to see them flying over London..I have them in my Flight combat games.. and they are the planes I choose all the time although I like the Hawker Hurricane too though..

You make it sound like flying to Germany was a normal occurance before the P-51. For the bombers, maybe. When the Mustang was re-introduced with the Rolls-Royce engine, it completly revolutionized the bombing campaign over Germany. Now, the B-17's had an escort who could not only fly in with them, they could also make the trip home as well. To say the P-51 has been placed on a pedistal it dosen't belong, is pure rubbish, sir.

To pick a single fighter is far too hard for me.

Pre modern era: P-51 Mustang
Modern era: F-15 Eagle

My point is the P-51 did a great job, but if you stop and compare it to the other fighters you´ll see it was not that good.

S!

You ask how many SR-71's have been shot down? I ask you how many airplanes the SR-71 has shot down? Or, how many bombs has it dropped? It may win the most fuel burned in take off category...but I don't think its much of a fighter.

This is tough....I would say the F-22 however it's never been proven in battle. As far as hard evidence goes I would say the F-86 Sabre, F-4 Phantom, and F-14 Tomcat. However I also say there is no bad fighter if it has air-to-air kills under it's belt

F-14 Tomcat has always been the best fighter for me. Watching them taking off of a carrier always does it for me. F-14A for the 20th Century, F-14D for the 21st Century. A Fighter that went before its time

I'll have to agree with my friend Sapper on this one.

-Daniel

the P51 when it comes to classics. the FW190 may have been a great plane too, but I don't like it...
and with the modern ones....the F-16 imo

How about Eurofighter Typhhon. That thing shifts!!!!!

XX : P38 Lightning
XXI : MIG 31


MK747

Definitly the P-51.....since it shot down Jet Aircraft once upon a time ago.......... shows how good it is!

Modern- My fav F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger

-Dave

A guy from my school hit a bird with a Cessna 172... does that count?

Oh, I think that surely counts, LOL NICE!

-Dave

Well, I never saw this topic - I guess it shows how often I visit the Military forum.

But, I'll HAVE to go with the Spitfire. Without her, Britain (and perhaps a lot of the world) would be a lost cause, under a different control and our lives would be completely different. Pretty nice title to hold. Oh, and she sounds damn good.... she did a fly-by with the Lancaster and Hurricane at RIAT 2006, and also did a display on her own. I still have yet to find another aircraft like her...

I am a bit particular to the Typhoon too. That thing's amazing.... but the Saab Grippen for noise I had my ears thoroughly cleansed shall we say.

Dan.

Wrong, the FW-190 was introduced in '43. It was a better figher than the Early spits, but the XI was designed to spread FW-190s over fields like butter, and they did.

The Hurricane is a "better" all around fighter though. Cheaper, faster to built, more repairable, but in a dogfight i'd take the Spitfire. With more ammunition that thing would own everything.

I'd probably go with the Spitfire for pre-jetage, and the MiG-29 for today. Remember, missiles do the fighting now, with guns and dogfights (which is for proper fighers) the F-15E would get crunched by a lot of things. The MiG-29 and SU-27's will kill everything easily. Only one which would have a fighting chance would be our Typhoon.

Best one at carrying missilies? Probably the Tomcat.

None of the planes you mentioned has been proven against the F/A-22 Raptor. So i'd say for the time being nothing can beat the Raptor.

I'd say the F/A-22 Raptor too although the F-16 comes a very close second and the Spit an even closer 3rd!

I'd have to say a Cessna 172 with VTOL engine kit (see here), wing mounted rockets, a rearward gunner (50 cal), a couple AIM-9's, a phoenix, and a forward mounted A-10 cannon. Ownage.

Cessna..... are you listening? This is what the customer really wants! LOL

My vote is for the Spitfire (or was it the Hurricane?). It fended off the entire Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain with 4 to 1 odds against them, and they had the only (I think) eliptical wings of any fighter.



I believe the word you are looking for is " floccinaucinihilipilification ". (A comparison of something to nothing.)

I liked the Spitfire, very much, as they were also my mum's favourite plane , but I am sure that i
Contrary to popular belief, it was the Hurricane, not the Spitfire that saved Britain during the dark days of 1940. The turn-around time (re-arm, refuel etc.) for the Spitfire was 26 minutes. That of the Hurricane, only 9 minutes from down to up again. During the Battle of Britain the time spent on the ground was crucial and as one fitter/mechanic of No. 145 Squadron quipped: "If we had nothing but Spits we would have lost the fight in 1940."

The Spitfire was an all metal fighter, slightly faster, had a faster rate of climb and had a higher ceiling, while the Hurricane had a fabric covered fuselage, was quicker to repair and withstood more punishment. With the for's and against's of both fighters they came out about even. The majority of German planes shot down during the four month period were destroyed by Hurricanes. For much of the Battle of Britain, the Spitfires went after the German BF 109s at the higher altitudes, while the Hurricanes attacked the bomber formations flying at lower altitudes. This cost the enemy a total of 551 pilots killed or taken prisoner. During the war a total of 14,231 Hurricanes and 20,334 Spitfires were produced. The famous Rolls-Royce 'Merlin' engine evolved through 88 separate marks and was fitted in around 70,000 Allied aircraft during the six years of war.

Mine...The old Dinosaurs of yesteryear....The Northrop Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Being English, i'm gonna have to go with the Spitfire!

For me, I would choose the SU-30 and ofcourse the F-15!

Regards,
HamiltonAir

Where do you begin.............

You would have to do number crunching to find a definitve answer. Like how theMilitary Channel did with top 10 Tanks episode.

Base the scores off of 5 or 6 ereas. For instance...

Manueverability at lower speeds
Manueverability at High Speeds
Speed (during its time of active duty)
Payload/Armament
Cost(lower = more points)
Service life ( newer aircraft would be done by subtracting a few years off suspected Service life)
Upkeep (repairing servicing)
Intimadation Factor

I would also seperate Jet from Prop planes and get the best of each.

Here are my personal ones
Jets would probably be the A10 for me. With the F16 second. The F-15 was not a straight fighter, it plays dual roles.

The prop best for me would be a tie . The P51B or the A6M Zero.

The Air Force Ones of the world!

The F-22 and F-35 is what I believe as revolutionary.

Regards,
Smile

my thinking, i LOVE the F-15 being the fastest jet fighter 2.4-2.6 mach(i might be wrong here)...
but in a tactical dogfight, i would go with F-14 Tomcat...

I think that the best fighter would go to the F-35. She is sexy and stealthy and can kill you before you can kill her

My first post and my favorite topic- military aircraft!!

I'm going to break it down by era- WWII, Korea, etc....

WW II- P-51 Mustang. Rommel once said, when he saw the Mustangs over Berlin, he knew the war was over. Sleek, powerful, fast, sexy- what a beautiful, honest airplane.

Korea- no brainer, F-86 Sabre. Went up against more manuverable MIGs and proved itself with a great kill ratio.

Vietnam- This one was tough for me. I always loved the Phantoms, but the F-8 was the "last of the Dogfighters". Even having said that, I'll go with the F-4, big, tough, fast, and still in service until just recently.

Gulf War- This one belongs to the A-10. Oooops, not a fighter. OK, fine, I'll go with the F-15. I see these regularly out of Otis AFB in Mass, and they are an awesome plane. It fights where others fear to fly. But the Warthog was definitley the most intimidating aircaft in Iraq!!

I would have to say the F-16.........my rationale?....

Fly by wire

Manueverability

Armament.....sidewinders/sparrows/bombs/serious gun(cannon?)

Speed....Mach 2+
And flown by many airforces throughout the world.................................................

What's the BEST? Performance? Effectiveness?

According to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the fighter that has effected the outcome of the battles it was in more than any other plane was the Supermarine Spitfire and its campaign against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.

The single best performer up until 2000, was the F-15 C Strike Eagle. The first, and still the only plane to ever accomplish continuous vertical accelleration to its service ceiling. It still holds the time to altitude record, it would climb faster even than the SR-71 Blackbird. Just wait until the F-22 has a go at it.

Let's settle this debate, once and for all.

SOPWITH CAMEL!

SPAD XIII

Priceless