VOTE: What is the most important US made aircraft in RAF history?
This is a discussion on VOTE: What is the most important US made aircraft in RAF history? within the Air Force & Aviation forum, part of the Global Defense & Military category; After the tremendous success of our last RAF Benevolent Fund poll, in which the Tornado won the vote for the ...
VOTE: What is the most important US made aircraft in RAF history?
After the tremendous success of our last RAF Benevolent Fund poll, in which the Tornado won the vote for the RAF’s greatest post-WW2 fighter jet, we have decided to run another poll.
This time the vote is to decide:
What is the most important US-made aircraft in RAF history?
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The Mustang was designed in Britain, fitted with a Merlin engine and built in the US. Not sure whether the RAF flew Mustangs. For long range work requiring a fghter to escort the night time bombing raids they used Mosquitos. For CAS they used Typhoon and Tempest.
The P51 was based on the Curtis P-40 which was a 100% American design by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
The british refitted it with a much more powerfull Rolls-Royce engine, but the P-51 is still an US design.
I would have have voted for the "Little Buddy" myself, as a long range daylight bomber escort it was invaluable.
The P-51 was based on the Curtis P-40 which was a 100% American design by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
The British refitted it with a much more powerful Rolls-Royce engine, but the P-51 is still an US design.
I would have have voted for the "Little Buddy" myself, as a long range daylight bomber escort it was invaluable.
The RAF did fly Mustangs, its main importance comes from the fact it was designed for the RAF and thus came about because of them though admittedly it's main impact in the war was with the USAAF.
I would have to agree that the B-24 Liberator was the most important aircraft for the RAF. It arrived at a time when the activities of the U boats in the North Atlantic was a major threat to England's ability to carry on the war. The range of the B-24, when it arrived, allowed Coastal Command to close "the gap" in the Atlantic so that there was no part of the North Atlantic that was safe from air attack for the submarines. Thus it could be argued that the Liberator guaranteed the continued existance of the RAF at the time.
While the P-51 served in the RAF it was never a major part of it's fighter strength. This role was fulfilled by the various versions of the Spitfire. The long range of the Mustang was not a major requirement for the RAF at the time as it conducted night bombing which did not have the same requirement for fighter cover that the day bombing by the U.S. had.
The P-51 was based on the Curtis P-40 which was a 100% American design by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
The British refitted it with a much more powerful Rolls-Royce engine, but the P-51 is still an US design.
I would have have voted for the "Little Buddy" myself, as a long range daylight bomber escort it was invaluable.
You are right, the Mustang was designed in the US to British specifications at a fixed cost, and the RAF did fly them.
And the Herc is in front with 145 Votes followed by the Phantom with 112 votes while the Chinook languishes in fourth place after the Liberator with 28 votes.
After strong demand we have added the Douglas Dakota to our vote to find the most important US-made aircraft in RAF history.
At the moment the Hercules and Phantom are battling it out for top spot, with the Liberator and Chinook a good way behind. Five other choices are scrapping it out for the remaining votes.
Please add your vote now and let us know what you think. Just visit:
In my opinion it was the Liberator as It boasts the record of U-Boats sunk by any warplane during WWII, (around 72, I believe, including shared victories) helping to win the longest battle of that conflict. It was also chosen by Winston Churchill himself as his personal transport.
[QUOTE=riksavage;181497]The Mustang was designed in Britain, fitted with a Merlin engine and built in the US. Not sure whether the RAF flew Mustangs. For long range work requiring a fghter to escort the night time bombing raids they used Mosquitos. For CAS they used Typhoon and Tempest.
Hi,
As far as know the P-51 was designed in the US to fulfil a RAF requirement, during the dark days of the Battle of Britain, in a record 122 days timeframe.
Then came the Merlin-Mustang formula that we all are familiar with.
The P-51 was based on the Curtis P-40 which was a 100% American design by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
The British refitted it with a much more powerful Rolls-Royce engine, but the P-51 is still an US design.
I would have have voted for the "Little Buddy" myself, as a long range daylight bomber escort it was invaluable.
Hi,
I think the P-51 was designed by North American Co. not Curtis to a novel laminar-flow wing desing.
The Liberator 
P-51 is pretty much an American Product 
