What would a "Best of the lot" 1943 fighter aircraft look like?

Deleted member 1487

How would the Hirth 9-2281 turbocharger work without it?
Part of the problem is that Germany lacked enough of the required raw materials to make it, but the turbo had technical problems:
https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/123593-fw-190-v18-variant/
The turbocharger scheme had some similarities to that on the US Republic P-47 Thunderbolt but wasn't as clean, resulting in a large assembly on the belly that gave the type the nickname "Kangaruh (Kangaroo)", since it suggested a kangaroo's pouch. The program was finally abandoned in the fall of 1943, the turbocharger systems having proved unreliable.

This though is what I mean by a clean FW190C:
The latter was to be pressurized and armed with 2xMG152/20 in the roots of wings and 2xMG131 with cap. The V16 prototype equipped with a compressor Daimler Benz "standard G" was tested in Langenhagen at the end of November 1942 and immediately gave satisfaction from the point of view of the performances. It went up to 12200 meters with a climbing speed of 22 m/s and reached 724 Km/h in smooth configuration with 7000 meters. Although promising, these performances were declared unsatisfactory for Technische Amt which suddenly claimed a practical ceiling of 13700 meters.

The GM-1 equipped versions outperformed the turbo-charged ones.
 

Wimble Toot

Banned
P-51 with 4 cannons and early 2-stage Merlin on-board (almost got the P-78 designation): picture

The US could not manufacture enough Hispano Mk IIs (let alone Hispano Mk Vs) to make the design viable. I'm guessing the disruption of the airflow over the wings meant a performance penalty, too...

If the P-51B was manufactured under licence in the UK, then maybe...
 
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There's no citations on the Fiat G.55 wikipedia page with regard to the claims made on its behalf.
There is one in the very first paragraph, but it's to some Italian book. Still I see your point.

If it was that good - it took 15,000 manhours to manufacture - why were only 274 made during WW2?
It was introduced in 1943, area bombing of Italy's industrial heartland began in spring 1942, Italy proper was invaded in mid 1943, the armistice and civil war soon followed, all the while Italy continued its bizarre plan to go ahead producing all three Series 5 fighters, and keep in mind that this is Italy we're talking about*. Had the Italians dropped everything else they still probably couldn't make many more than that.

*in 1942 Italian aircraft production was only 18% of German production that same year, and the following year it was only 4% source: The Second World War A Short History by R.A.C. Parker
 

Wimble Toot

Banned
in 1942 Italian aircraft production was only 18% of German production that same year, and the following year it was only 4% source: The Second World War A Short History by R.A.C. Parker

And there were not enough DB605s in production to meet the needs of the Luftwaffe, let alone FIAT.

And what there was was being disrupted by allied bombing.
 

Deleted member 1487

The FW190C - a fighter so excellent the RLM placed 0 production orders.
They placed the orders for the exact same aircraft in Jumo engine. The engines were very similar, but the state owned Jumo, while Daimler was a private company that had feuded with the RLM about a number of things, while the Jumo 222 fell through, so Milch wanted to give them orders for a back up. There was a ton of backroom politics and bureaucracy around aero-engines, so the issue wasn't the technology, it was the bureaucracy. The FW190D-13 when it was finally ready in 1944 was a great aircraft and would have been even better had it come out in 1943 when material shortages and the mature DB603 engine were ready, but the Jumo was still teething.
 

hipper

Banned
What technology in the MB-5 was not available in 1943?

The mission AIUI is: using the tech of 1943, make the best fighter.

If yo mean the best tech in Production then I'll stand by the Spitfire XIV as the best fighter. If you put the Griffon in a mustang then you might get a faster fighter but without the spectacular climbing performance.
 

hipper

Banned
in 1943 it would, yes.

The only advantage the Vampire would have over the Spitfire, is the magnificent view out the cockpit, with no massive Griffon out front.
In 1943 there were three prototype Vampires while there was a squadron of Spit 14s in service by the end of 1943
 
I don't think there was any part of the Focke-Wulf Ta 152 that was not available in 1943, perhaps a de-specialized and properly teethed variant of it could be a contender.
 
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The US could not manufacture enough Hispano Mk IIs (let alone Hispano Mk Vs) to make the design viable. I'm guessing the disruption of the airflow over the wings meant a performance penalty, too...

If the P-51B was manufactured under licence in the UK, then maybe...

US was producing ~450 Mk.II Hispanos monthly already in summer of 1942 just for the needs of Mustang Ia and P-38, and exactly zero 2-stage Merlins. Mustang was not that finicky (re. ditruption of the airflow) with 4 cannons installed: link

Hawker Tempest MkVI with a Sabre engine capable of 2,600hp it will eat anything alive below 30,000ft

Not in 1943 ;)

I don't think there was any part of the Focke-Wulf Ta 152 that was not available in 1943, perhaps a de-specialized and properly teethed variant of it could be a contender.

Main part of the Ta-152 - the Jumo 213E - was not available in 1943, neither was in better part of 1944.
 

nbcman

Donor
F4U Corsair. It was first introduced in 1942 and was still in use 20+ years later.

EDIT: In use by USN through 1953, other majors through 1960s, final combat missions in 1969 in the Football War.
 
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FBKampfer

Banned
Well, if we're going for stuff that was actually in use, and purely for air superiority in a squadron size engagement

Fw 190 fuselage, mounting a P&W R-2800 using a Kommandogerät, with elliptical wing planform off the Spitfire.

Mg 131's for the cowling armament with Hispano Mk II's in the wings.

If we're talking experimental, I'd say take the vampire airframe and slap an HeS 011 in it. Unless the HeS could push the 262 up into the 600mph category, at which point I'd say the 262 takes back over.

Mg 213's for the armament.
 

Deleted member 1487

There is no DB-603L in 1943. Germany was lagging in development and production of 2-stage engines. Jumo 213E and F, DB 603L and LA, DB 605L were at least a year too late to matter.
Still could make a DB603E work, they'd just lack the very high altitude performance.
 
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