March Madness WWII Fighter Plane matchup (ROUND ONE)

After my battleship matchup, I begin to think what other March Madness WWII topic would make a good topic for our discussion. I decided on the WWII Fighter plane. I have picked planes that had a lengthy career in WWII, so many of the planes to appear in the closing days of the war have been left out. Sorry guys no jets. A few twin engine bombers/fighter made the list to honor the night fighters of WWII, which seem to get forgotten. I stopped the list at 32, for the list to get any closer to fifty was adding unneeded weight. Sorry if I left any planes out, a few of the planes on my list may not turn heads, but the awsome story of WWII could not be told without them. Once again, sorry for all of you Me-262 fans, no jets.

P-51 vs Soviet I-16
                         
British Mosquito vs. Ki-43 Oscar

Gloster Gladiator vs  P-39

Yak-9 vs. Nik-j George

Me-109 vs F4 Wildcat

P-61 Black Widow vs. P-38

A6M Zero vs. Hurricane

Beaufighter vs Ju-88C

IAR 80 vs Yak 3

F4U Corsair vs. Typhoon

ME-110 vs Ki-61 Toney

British Spitfire vs Soviet MiG 3

P-47 vs. Macchi C. 200

Macchi C. 202 vs. Dewoitine D… 520

La-5 vs F6 Hellcat

FW-190 vs P-40

@Fishmoto37:

@wittmann:

Hi Worsham.
P51
Mosquito
P39
George
109
P38
Zero
Beaufighter
Yak 3
Typhoon
110
Spit
P47
Macchi 202
La5
190

   You have got to be joking Witt. Typhoon over an F4U? LA5 over an F6F? When are the regionals?

I wanted to make some of the face offs difficult and somewhat odd. And lets give the La-5 and the Red Air Force some love. After all the highest scoring Allied ace was from the Soviet Union.

How can you ignore jet aircraft when you place some of the best piston engine planes (not all that much inferior to early jets) to the early piston planes, which frankly, sucked?
it’s the first round, top notch planes face off against lesser ones, saving the best for the later rounds.

As for some of the planes that ‘suck’, the I-16 had a lengthy service counting the Spanish Civil War, China’s opposition to Japan in the 30’s and the Soviet-Japanese conflict in North China.

The Gladiator made the list for the heroic defense of Malta. The bi-plane still serviced every air force at the start of the War and the Gladiator was the best representative.

And to best answer the jet question, WWII wasn’t a jet war. The war could have been, but as fate had it the Jet was the encore of the great air war not the main player.