The Worst Aircraft of WW2
 

This is a good read:

http://worstworldwar2aircraft.wordpress.com/

A good read indeed.

Well, finally someone is wise enough not to include the P-40. Seriously, every time I see or hear something History Channel-esque disparaging the P-40 I just want to back-hand slap someone, yelling "shut the *beep* up you ignorant mutha*beep*er! You don't know what you talkin' about!"

Totally agree. The P-40 was an excellent plane.

Excellent article, thanks for sharing.

Cheers

batistadk

It's a great list! There's a few types on there I hadn't even heard of which is getting to be a rare thing. So many obscure WWII aviation types! Excellent knowledge of the material!

And completely agree about the P-40. I've read the same tired lines about the P-40s poor performance and it doesn't add up. While not a top performer and not being competitive in 1945 versus a top line fighter... the P-40 was excellent in its time and it was most certainly not a failure in combat.

The Moskite looks pretty leet.I guess if it got operational it would at least cause some trouble for the allies.

At Least Worthy of a Footnote
 

Another stinker worth mentioning is the C-87 Liberator Express. This aircraft was based on the stalwart B-24D but had technical problems that caused fatal crashes. Some 280 were built and they were in service for much of the war; notably flying over the Hump and as VIP transports. I first learned about this beauty when I read Ernest Gann's classic Fate Is The Hunter.

very interesting
 

I have often thought how often planes fail because their engines just aren't powerful or reliable enough. such a shame. This was an interesting read. Much appreciated.

I just realized that the Curtiss Seamew is classified as "bad but useful" - what was it useful at? Does anyone know? I've read a lot about the bad qualities, but nothing about the "useful" ones.