I’m going to finish this one in the morning (UK time - currently 2020 here, so you can work out from that your local time), since this one doesn’t seem to have much interest about it.
2-1 to the P-39 with about 12 hours left
Dont give up on these BDL, I for one enjoy them and they are a good ww2 topic, probably the only one here for a while now.
Good stuff mate.
Won’t mate, I think interest will pick up again when some of the more obscure fighters are gone.
I second that! I’ve been reading the posts with great interest. I don’t know enough about most of them to form an opinion so I stay quiet. This is an excellent topic: relevant, well presented and fascinating.
Maybe someone like hosenfield can expand on this and give us the best tank of ww2? That would be good too.
I can start working on a couple more threads tomorrow if people are interested? I’m on leave this week, so I’ve got plenty of time on my hands.
P-39 vs MiG-3 is now closed, P-39 takes the win, 2-1.
I’ll sort the next one out this afternoon/evening.
MB152 (France) v FM-2 Wildcat (USA)
MB152 (France)
Maximum speed: 315 miles (509 km/h)
Range: 373 miles (600 km)
Service ceiling: 32,810ft (10,000m)
Rate of climb: 1,935ft/min (590 m/min)
Armament: 2x 20mm cannon and 2x 7.5mm MGs or 4x 7.5mm MGs
Developed from the Bloch MB.150 (which was so underpowered it was unable to take off!), the MB.152 equipped six fighter groupes of the Armee de la Air during the Battle of France. Although the armament was relativity heavy for it’s day, the MB.152 was outclassed by more modern fighters like the Bf-109, due to it poor performance (particularly at higher altitudes) and short range. The Mb.152 was also very complicated to build, and although 482 had been completed before the French surrender, many of them lacked items such as propellers and gun sights and never left the ground.
F4-F Wildcat (USA)
Maximum Speed: 318mph (512km/h)
Range: 770 miles (1239km)
Service Ceiling: 34,000ft (10,638m)
Rate of Climb: 1,950ft (594m) per minute
Armament: 6x 12.7mm (0.50in)
The first all metal monoplane fighter bought by the US Navy, and also supplied in large numbers to the Royal Navy, the Wildcat proved to be a very dependable fighter, much loved by both its pilots and maintenance crews. Although the Wildcat was slow and unmavoeuverable compared to its main opponent, the Zero, it was more than able to hold its own until replaced by the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair in 1943.
F4-F Wildcat. It flew with the US Navy and US Marines in all of the major Pacific battles, and in North Africa with the Navy.
Bloch (renamed after the war in Dassault) MB-152 was outclassed by Bf 109 in the Battle of France like BDL said.
France could compete with Bf only with Dewoitine 520 (delivered unfortunatelly too late and too few).
To be mentioned that in December 1940, two F4-F of Royal Navy made history by becoming the first American-made aircraft to down a German plane in WW2.
My vote goes to F4-F.
Edited: Tiger said already about F4-F!
2-0 to the Wildcat up to now then. I’ll make my choice in the morning, and if no one else is interested in this one, I’ll sort the next one out.
Wildcat for me, although I’m not totally convinced. The Bloch was never really tried so you can’t make a proper evaluation unfortunately.
I tend to agree with PDF, but the Widcat gets my vote. Its a Grumman after all. It held its own against the mighty Zero in the early pacific campaign and served throughout the war in many a guise.
A tough little robust stubby wingerd fighter that could take a hell of a punishment and still bang onto the carrier.
Did I mention it was a Grumman? In my opinion the best producers of naval aircraft for many a year!
Wildcat for me too.
I’d have to go for the Wildcat as well - proven in combat, and held it’s own against it’s opponents.
5-0 to the Wildcat at the close of voting
I’ll do the next one later on.
Sorry am a bit late to this one. Been a bit tired on the evenings from starting new job. All very worth it though. Still don’t believe they pay me either! 
Add another for the Wildcat. At the risk of sounding similarly smitten as Firefly, it’s a Grumman. Tough as old boots and gets the job done with a minimum of flair and a maximum of… well… undercarriage.
The Wildcat was a hugely influential aircraft and did the job asked of it. Its rival in this vote did not.
Wildcat.
Fw-190 D-9 (Germany) v F6F Hellcat (USA)
Fw-190D-9
Max Speed: 440mph (709km/h)
Service Ceiling: 40,000ft (12,191m)
Rate of Climb: 2,362ft (720m)/minute
Range: 520 miles (837km)
Armament: 2x 20mm cannon, 2x 13mm cannon. Some variants also carried anti-bomber rockets
Considered by many pilots to be Germany’s finest piston engined fighter of the war, the Fw-190 was envisaged as a replacement for the Bf-109, although enough could never be built to replace the Messerschmidt. The Fw-190 was an extremely fast and agile fighter, which caused both the RAF and USAAF problems until the end of the war, although the lack of fuel and pilot training by the end of the war blunteed their effectiveness. Many German pilots considered the Fw-190 more than a match for the Mustangs and Spitfires they were facing. Some versions of the Fw-190 were equipped with radar, others were used as torpedo bombers (the USSR used a number of them in their Baltic Fleet, probably until about 1949) and others were built as fighter bombers.
F6F Hellcat (USA)
Max Speed - 380mph (612km/h)
Service Ceiling - 37,300ft (11,369m)
Rate of Climb - 2,980ft (908m) per minute
Range - 945 miles (1521km)
Armament - 6x 12.7mm (0.50in) MG or 2x 20mm cannon and 4x 12.7mm (0.50in) MG. Up to 1,000lb of bombs
The main US carrier fighter for the last two years of the war, the Hellcat was a development of the Wildcat, which had been outclassed by the Zero in the Far East. The Hellcat was developed to counter the superior Japanese fighters and far surpassed them. It was very manoeuvarable for such a large machine as well as being extremely well armoured and rugged. The Hellcat was creditted with 6,000 kills during WW2, including 160 in one day at the ‘Marianas Turkey Shoot.’
OOh, this requires some thought and research. A bad match up in the first round in my opinion. Both were excellent at what they did and the hellcat was, an er grumman, did I mention my love of Grummans? My heart says Hellcat, my head says FW… I will ponder long on this one…
It was a completely random draw mate, although I’d have liked to have seen this in this later stages to. I’m going to give this one a good few days, because I think it’s maybe the closest match up we’ve had yet.
I know, and I know, its still a toughie though, i go to sleep with my big book of german Fighter and the history of the Grumman Iron Works… How could the draw be so cruel!
Fw-190 for me - the Hellcat did an immense amount to win the war in the Pacific and has a fantastic record, but IMHO the Fw-190 is simply the better fighter.