Top 10 Ultimate Piston-Engine Fighter Aircraft

A brutal survival of the fittest ensured a rapid evolution of these characterful machines; the final fighters were over six times faster and around ten times heavier than the first generation.

Whereas the first fighters had only a single rifle-calibre weapon, the Tigercat of 1943 had an awe-inspiring arsenal of four ‘.50 Cals’ and four 20-mm cannon. The Tigercat also had forty times more horsepower than a World War I fighter. The era of classic fighter planes ended on a high with huge, powerful masterpieces. We look at the zenith of ‘prop’ fighter design and choose the ten most formidable machines.

Faster and possessed of greater range than the Spitfire Mk XIX, the German Focke-Wulf Ta 152H was possibly the finest piston-engined fighter in the world at high altitude. The Ta 152H was an evolution of the Fw 190, which had been the best fighter in the world when it entered service in 1941 and had proved a nightmare for the RAF to counter.

Had the war lasted and the high-flying Boeing B-29 Superfortresses of the US been committed to Europe then the Ta 152H would have been its nemesis. The Ta 152H’s 30mm automatic cannon was hugely destructive and backed up with two formidable 20mm autocannons.

Key to its remarkable high-altitude performance was the use of the GM-1 nitrous oxide (laughing gas) injection system, this could take it to a breath-taking 472mph. At low level its speed was aided by MW 50 (Methanol-Wasser 50) - a 50-50 mixture of methanol and water sprayed into the supercharger.

Other features that lent the type its immaculate high altitude performance was a pressurised cockpit (never quite perfected) and a longer span wing than other fighters to help generate more lift in the thin air of high altitude. Luckily for the Allies, the type first flew in January 1945 so was too late to be used to great effect. Only 69 were built.

The ultimate operational Soviet piston-engined fighter and the go-to aircraft for low and medium altitude operations, the La-11 represented the zenith of the superlative Lavochkin series of combat aircraft. The La-11 is one of the few aircraft on this list to have seen a serious amount of use on combat operations.

Last of an illustrious line, it scored a hat-full of Cold War air-to-air kills, including at least two P-51 Mustangs. The La-9 may have been more pleasant to fly, but the La-11 marked the apogee of the Soviet piston-engined fighter.

With an impressive top speed of 419mph and a three-cannon armament, the La-11 eked performance out of rugged basic design dated back to 1940. This was unlike the agile Yak fighter series, made by the rival Yakovlev bureau, which came to an end with the wartime Yak-3.

The Lavochkin La-11’s success came despite the fact it arrived as late as 1947, and was a piston-engined fighter in the jet era.

The German Dornier Do 335 was very unorthodox. It featured two tandem engines in the fuselage and a unique ‘push-me/pull-you’ propeller arrangement with a propeller at the front and one at the rear. The power of a two-engined aircraft combined with the small frontal area of a single-engined aircraft resulted in an insanely fast aeroplane, with the remarkable top speed of 474 mph.

The Do 335 was certainly no slouch, and this was hardly surprising with the two engines delivering a combined total of 3800 horsepower. Though fast, it was not as manoeuvrable as the Spitfire or Ta 152H, with a notably inferior sustained turn rate (the turn rate achievable without loss of speed or altitude).

Not just fast, the Do 335 also had a fearsome punch with a formidable arsenal of one 30mm- and two 20mm - automatic cannon. It was a large effective aeroplane, weighing around 10 metric tonnes but, like the Focke-Wulf Ta 152H, it arrived too late to deliver much to Germany’s war effort. Fortunately, we will never know what this amazing machine was truly capable of, though the performance of the pre-production aircraft was spectacular.

A handful served on operations, but little is known of what they achieved. Had the jet engine not burst onto the scene, it is likely that a spate of designs would have aped its revolutionary layout.

Were the final Spitfires really Spitfires? With so little left of the Mk I, it is fair to say probably not, but they were formidable beasts in their own right. With a relatively small airframe, twice the power of the original Spitfire and an updated wing, the Spitfire remained a world-class fighter to the end of its development.

The ‘24 was almost identical to the ‘22, barring small details like cannon barrel length. The marks 21, 22 and 24 were considered by Supermarine a common airframe, but the 24 shall represent the ‘Super Spitfire’ for our list.

Were the final Spitfires really Spitfires? With so little left of the Mk I, it is fair to say probably not, but they were formidable beasts in their own right. With a relatively small airframe, twice the power of the original Spitfire and an updated wing, the Spitfire remained a world-class fighter to the end of its development.

The ‘24 was almost identical to the ‘22, barring small details like cannon barrel length. The marks 21, 22 and 24 were considered by Supermarine a common airframe, but the 24 shall represent the ‘Super Spitfire’ for our list.

The Grumman F7F Tigercat was an awe-inspiring machine with over 4000 horsepower, a great range, a superb climb-rate, and a tremendous top speed of 440mph. For a twin-engined aircraft it was also highly manoeuvrable, with a superior sustained turn rate to both the single-engined M.B.5 and F8F. It is therefore surprising to learn that it scored only two kills (and they were slow vulnerable biplanes).

Interestingly the F7F was intended to be named ‘Tomcat’ but this was deemed to be too sexually suggestive, the name would later be used for the F-14 made famous by the Top Gun movie.

Power came from two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines, an impressive powerplant that was also used by Grumman’s single-engined Hellcat and Bearcat, as well as the Vought F4U Corsair.

Seasoned US Navy test pilot Captain Fred Trapnell stated, "It's the best damn fighter I've ever flown.” and was particularly impressed by the type’s performance. The Tigercat fought in the Korean War in both the attack and night fighter role. It enjoyed a new life as a water bomber, fighting fires in California in the 1960s and 70s.

Perhaps the greatest Allied might-have-been of the war? The British Martin-Baker M.B.5 drew unanimous praise from those who flew it for its speed, range and outstanding climb-rate. Key to its stupendous performance was its two layered contrarotating propellers which allowed it to better exploit the tremendous power of the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine.

A top speed exceeding 450mph, the best designed cockpit for pilots, and overall ease of maintenance were among the many blessings of this superb fighter. Polish fighter Janusz Żurakowski who displayed the type aerobatically at the Farnborough airshow was utterly impressed by the M.B.5 and considered it superior to even the Spitfire in many ways.

Whether it would have lived up to its obvious potential will remain unknown, having the misfortune to emerge into a world teeming with inferior but numerous Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Tempests. It could also be fairly argued that the effort required to set up a new aircraft manufacturer was the last thing Britain needed at the time.

The happy end to this story is that Martin-Baker, freed from aircraft production, went on to create ejection seats to enable crew to escape from stricken aircraft, which have saved over 7700 aircrew lives.

A bizarre machine consisting of (more or less) two lengthened P-51H fuselages joined with a new centre section, the P-82B holds the record for the longest un-refuelled non-stop flight by a propeller-driven fighter, a distance of 5,051 miles that it achieved in 14 hr 32 min. The route for this record was non-stop from Hawaii to New York, at an impressive average speed of 347mph.

The P-82 was created with long range in mind as it was intended as an escort fighter capable of protecting Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers on long-distance bombing missions. It could carry a radar and served as all-weather interceptor.

This utterly distinctive 4500-horsepower freak took part in the Korean War, where it claimed the destruction of 20 enemy aircraft, four of which in the air and 16 on the ground. As well as it being long-ranged it was exceptionally fast with a bewildering maximum speed of 482mph.

Sadly, for the USAF later models of the Twin-Mustang were powered by Allison engines rather than the superlative Merlin fitted to earlier examples (due to increased royalties demanded by Rolls-Royce) and performance was reduced as a result. The F-82 last well into the jet age, being withdrawn in 1953.

Having flown more aircraft types than anyone else, the most qualified pilot to judge a piston-engined fighter was the British test pilot Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown. He deemed the single-seat Sea Hornet the finest aircraft he ever flew. Complimenting its high speed and power Brown described it as a “Ferrari in the sky”.

Thanks to structural techniques developed from the Mosquito, a tiny frontal cross section and fuselage, and buckets of power, it was joyfully overpowered. The Hornet was essentially a modernised, aerodynamically slicker, reboot of the already superlative Mosquito freed from the weight and drag implications of a second crewmember.

The Hornet (and the Sea Hornet version for aircraft carrier use) was the zenith of the minimalist school of fighter design, which like the earlier Westland Whirlwind mated the minimum possible ‘wetted area’ (the area of an aircraft that meets the air) with the maximum power. The Hornet was an astonishing masterpiece of aircraft design.

Capable of a scorching 475mph and armed to the teeth with four 20-mm cannon, it also had an excellent range and could fly at great heights. The Hornet was the finest British twin-engined fighter ever flown.

By our judgement both the Hawker Sea Fury and Grumman F8F Bearcat are equally impressive fighters, and as such tie at number one in this list.

The British Hawker Sea Fury was the pinnacle of Hawker’s illustrious prop fighter line. The Sea Fury had everything a great fighter needs: it was tough, well-armed, fast and agile. Despite its enormous size and power (2,480 HP) it had delightful handling qualities; pilots were impressed with how spin-resistant it was, and Sea Fury pilot Dave Eagles gave it ‘top marks for agility’. The Sea Fury was sent to war in Korea, where it proved itself an excellent warplane, notably downing a MiG-15 jet fighter in 1952.

One holds the absolute climb rate record for piston-engined aircraft (the Bearcat at 10,000 feet in 94 seconds) and both have held the maximum speed record in modified uprated forms (the Sea Fury at around 517mph for many years and then Bearcat at 528mph). Both appeared as a result of the same problem – it was too difficult to operate a jet fighter from a carrier and thus piston-engined fighter development was allowed to develop to its apogee. They are so closely matched that it is impossible to choose between them.

The F8F Bearcat was the ultimate example of US company Grumman’s pantheon of piston-engined naval fighters. The company’s earlier Hellcat had been instrumental in defeating Japan, and the Bearcat was even more potent. Compact, with immaculate handling, the F8F was utterly brilliant. The Bearcat is the highest-ranking American entry partly as it actually entered service, but several evolutions of the P-47 Thunderbolt were also superlative fighters and deserve a honourable mention - as does the P-51H (for Britain, the Supermarine Spiteful and Tempest II must be mentioned).