WW2 Fighter Aircraft
The dogfight, fighter plane and the "ace" were all alive and well in the thunderous battles that made up the air war of World War 2.
There are a total of 163 WW2 Fighter Aircraft in the Military Factory. Entries are listed below in alphanumeric order. Flag images indicative of country of origin.
1933
The ANF les Mureaux series of light observation aircraft first appeared during the inter-war years between World War 1 and Wo...
1940
The Arado Ar 240 was designed to an RLM 1938 response to replace the twin engine, two seat Messerschmitt BF 110 Zerstorer hea...
1934
The Arado-production of the Ar 68 signaled a stepping stone for fighter design in the German Luftwaffe. With the air force br...
1944
The Ar E.381-series of prototypes was submitted in 1944 for review by the German Air Ministry. Whilst a plethora of companies...
1936
The E.500 was a proposed heavy fighter design put forth by Arado Flugzeugwerke of Germany. The system was designed as early a...
1937
The Arado Ar E.561 was on the drawing boards as early as 1937. Classified as a heavy fighter, the type would have lived and d...
1944
Once the Volksjager competition came around in 1944, Arado Flugzeugwerke went back to a 1943 design it had had and touched it...
1944
The Arado Ar E.581.4 was conceived of as a single-seat jet fighter utilizing a delta-wing shape. The system was not a "true" ...
1943
The Arado Ar E.654 was proposed as a heavy fighter / destroyer platform designed from another Arado product - the Ar 240. Th...
1944
The Arado "Projekt I" was intended to be a two-man jet-powered night fighter. The aircraft featured a slender yet short fusel...
1945
The Arado Ar Projekt II was a proposed jet-powered fighter of considerable size. It carried a basic classification of nightfi...
1943
The Arado Ar TEW 16/43-15 concept was born out of an in-house research project studying the possibilities of jet-powered figh...
1943
With development of the advanced twin-engine, jet-powered Ar 234 "Blitz" bomber coming along, the Arado firm turned its atten...
1943
The single-seat, jet-powered Arado Ar TEW 16/43-23 design was penciled sometime in 1943. Categorized as a fighter, the type m...
1924
The Armstrong Whitworth Siskin (a siskin being a smallish yellow-tinged finch) was the primary air mount of many-a-Royal Air ...
1934
The Czechoslovakian Avia B.534 series of biplane was a highly regarded though often forgotten product of the European nation....
1941
The Bell P-39 Airacobra is yet another in the long line aircraft studies stemming from World War 2 in the "what-might-have be...
1942
The Bell-produced P-59 Airacomet series is one of those aircraft that becomes more of a study in American jet pioneering than...
1943
At its core, the Bell P-63 Kingcobra proved a modest improvement over the relative failure that was the P-39 Airacobra. Thoug...
1940
The XFL "Airabonita" was a Bell Aircraft Company product developed in parallel with the P-39 Airacobra, a land-based USAAF de...
1945
In 1942, with World War in full swing across Europe and the Pacific, work began on an American turbo jet-powered aircraft to ...
1939
The Bloch MB.150 was a family of modern, all-metal monoplane fighter types developed for the French Air Force prior to World ...
1932
The P-26 became the first all-metal fighter design for the United States. Appearing similar to the later "Gee Bee" series of ...
1937
The inter-war years saw a vast shift to more modern and potent aircraft platforms. The Boulton Paul Defiant followed as only ...
1937
The stubby F2A Buffalo series became the United States Navy's first operational aircraft of monoplane design. Despite this ho...
1939
Serving until the 1960s with the Royal Air Force, the Bristol Beaufighter (or simply "Beau") became a national hero through h...
1942
The Commonwealth Boomerang (also known as the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation - or "CAC" - Boomerang) was of completely Aus...
1936
A pair of Ca.301 prototypes served as the basis for a new Italian attack aircraft. The original design sported a low-set mono...
1933
The A-12 was an inter-war product of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company first appearing in 1933. The type became the fir...
1938
The Curtiss P-36 Hawk aircraft saw considerable operational service in the years leading up to, and during, World War 2. Its ...
1941
The P-40 Warhawk / Kittyhawk / Tomahawk series of aircraft was the further development of the P-36 Hawk platform (detailed el...
1929
Originally based on the existing P-1B series of aircraft, the P-6 Hawk series was a first-line pursuit aircraft for the Unite...
1944
Curtiss Aircraft enjoyed success with its inline piston-engined P-40 "Warhawk" series of fighters which went on to serve in m...
1941
The smallish XP-46 was to be the answer for the deficiencies encountered in the P-40 Warhawk platform. Unfortunately for Curt...
1943
The XP-55 Ascender was an unorthodox attempt by the Curtiss-Wright company that produced just three prototype models. Answeri...
1942
Discussions of war-winning World War 2 aircraft regularly seem to leave out one of the most famous and successful of the conf...
1936
The D.500 series, as a whole, was merely a stop-gap design for France - bridging a gap between two eras of aviation resulting...
1939
The Dewoitine D.520 was a single seat piston-engine fighter designed and built for the French Air Force. Developed from lesso...
1937
The Dornier Do 17 was a medium-class bomber fielded primarily by the German Luftwaffe in the years leading up to World War 2....
1939
The Dornier Do 215 was originally intended for export, beginning life as a redesignated version of the Dornier Do 17 light/me...
1942
The Dornier Do 217 was a multi-faceted performer for the German Luftwaffe that ended up fulfilling various roles from bomber ...
1945
The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (or "Arrow") was one of the more unique prop-driven designs of the Second World War. Designed and pa...
1941
The Douglas A-20 Havoc served Allied forces through most of World War 2, fighting for British, American and Soviet forces. Th...
1943
The Fairey Firefly was a hugely successful, two-seat, carrierborne fighter aircraft serving with the Royal Fleet Air Arm thro...
1938
Arguably the best biplane fighter of Italian design before the start of the Second World War. The plane was also built for ex...
1939
Despite its by-gone era appearance, the Fiat CR.42 Falco (meaning "Falcon") played a crucial role in the early war years for ...
1938
The Fiat G.50 Freccia (meaning "Arrow") series provided the Italian Air Force with a then-modern monoplane fighter featuring ...
1943
Undoubtedly, the Fiat G.55 Centauro (Centaur) served as Italy's best fighter design of World War 2. The type made use of a li...
1943
General Motors became a major player in the American manufacturing realm when World War 2 arrived for the United States. With...
1937
Despite demonstrating some impressive performance statistics from underpowered engines, the Focke-Wulf product Fw 187 Falke (...
1939
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 single-seat fighter is held by some to be the best German piston fighter of the Second World War - and ...
1945
The Focke-Wulf Ta 152 was a short-lived, high-level interceptor fielded by the German Luftwaffe in the latter part of World W...
1944
The Ta 154 Moskito ("Mosquito") was another product of the Focke-Wulf aircraft design firm operating for the Third Reich. The...
1945
By late in World War 2, German authorities had already made a stout commitment to the production of fighters over bombers. Se...
1938
Designed by Anthony Fokker in 1935, the Fokker D.XXI first flew on March 27th, 1936. The system was originally intended to fi...
1938
The Fokker G.I "Reaper" began as a private venture in 1936 under the leadership of Dr. Erich Schatzki, head engineer at Fokke...
1944
The Gloster Meteor became Britain's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. It reached operational status in the latt...
1935
Gloster Gauntlet origins lay in a Gloster design appearing in the late 1920's for the Royal Air Force and served throughout t...
1937
The Gloster Gladiator was a product of the Gloster Aircraft Company and a design of one Henry Phillip Folland. Achieving firs...
1945
The Gotha P.60 was a highly-modified version of the famous Horten Ho 229 "flying wing" appearing in the latter stages of Worl...
1945
The Gotha Project 60C nightfighter was another late-war "paper airplane" design attempt intended to defend the Reich from the...
1940
The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the unsung hero of the Allied Pacific Theater campaign in the early years of World War 2. Often o...
1943
The F6F Hellcat was the successor to - and a logical evolution of - the capable F4F Wildcat series of carrier-borne aircraft ...
1945
In many ways, the Grumman F8F Bearcat was the pinnacle of United States piston-engine fighter design. The aircraft arrived wi...
1942
Destined never to win beauty contests, the Grumman TBF Avenger series of aircraft would go down as one of the most potent tor...
1941
Firmly entrenched as an aircraft supplier to the United States Navy, the Grumman aircraft company set about to supply an equa...
1931
The Hawker Fury was the mainstay of Britain air defense throughout the 1930's until being replaced by the Gloster Gladiators....
1937
The Hawker Hurricane was indeed the true star of Britain's march against the Third Reich. Often overshadowed by the sleeker a...
1945
The Hawker Sea Fury was developed out Hawker's Typhoon and Tempest aircraft designs utilized by Britain during World War 2. T...
1941
The Hawker Sea Hurricane appeared in 1941 in an effort to protect British merchant ships from German naval attacks. Basically...
1944
The Hawker Tempest originally appeared as an improved Hawker Typhoon, the war-winning aircraft that effectively failed in its...
1939
The Hawker Tornado was born of the same initiative that brought forth the Hawker Typhoon of World War 2. The initiative itsel...
1941
The Hawker Typhoon (affectionate known as the "Tiffie") was initially intended as a dedicated interceptor and set to succeed ...
1935
The Heinkel He 112 was the only serious threat (next to the Messerschmitt Bf 109) to becoming Germany's first modern monoplan...
1945
The He 162 Volksjager (the "People's Fighter") was developed as a quick solution to stem the tide of the major Allied advance...
1943
The advanced Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" (meaning "Eagle-Owl") was an impressive dedicated night-fighter platform serving the intere...
1941
Though never produced in any operational format, the Heinkel He 280 series was the world's first turbojet fighter aircraft de...
1935
The He 51 was a product of the German Heinkel firm and a design of the Gunter twins, Walter and Siegfried. The Gunters became...
1945
1944 proved a critical year for Germany and its fabled Luftwaffe. Once a master of the skies, advanced products fielded by th...
1945
Germany's Emergency Fighter Program was enacted in the middle of July in 1944 in response to the Allied bombing offensive tak...
1941
The Henschel Hs P.75 appeared in 1941 as a possible contender to the outmoded and outclassed Messerschmitt BF 110 "Zerstorer"...
1945
The Horten Ho IX (or "Horten Ho 229" - sometimes wrongly designated the "Gotha Go 229") maintains a certain level of celebrit...
1944
The Horten Ho X (10) continued the Horten Brother's love affair with the flying wing concept. The concept was notably solidif...
1941
When first unveiled in 1938, the Romanian-produced I.A.R. 80 (IAR = Industria Aeronautica Romana) piston engine, single-seat ...
1943
Despite some early setbacks in design, the Kawanishi N1K1-J "Shiden" (or "violet lightning" - codenamed "George" by the Allie...
1945
Despite being produced in severely limited numbers (thanks in large part to the Allied bombing campaigns in the Pacific), the...
1944
The two-seat, twin-engine Ki-102 was classified as a close-support/heavy fighter aircraft and developed by the Kawasaki conce...
1944
Despite serving in limited numbers, fielded with no search-finding radar and appearing as the only Imperial Japanese Army nig...
1942
By 1937, interest in a twin-engine fighter had peaked for the Imperial Japanese Army so much so that a requirement was put fo...
1943
The Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien (meaning "Swallow" and codenamed "Tony" by the Allies) was another of the oft-forgotten yet impressiv...
1943
During the height of World War 2 (1939-1945), all major participants undertook various programs to further evolve existing we...
1945
The unorthodox Kyushu J7W Shinden ("Magnificent Lightning") was a "wonder-weapon" of the Empire of Japan in the closing mon...
1940
Design of the Lavochkin La-5 series of low-to-medium altitude fighters was spurred on by a need for equipment capable of matc...
1940
The LaGG-3 piston-engine pursuit fighter (the LaGG in the designation coming from "Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov") was one of th...
1944
Alexander Lippisch (1894-1976) became an important figure in aviation research, having earned his "wings" as an aerial photog...
1939
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, nicknamed the "Fork-Tailed Devil" - Der Gabelschwanz Teufel - by the Germans, was the brainchild...
1945
The Lockheed P-80/F-80 Shooting Star is undoubtedly the world's most successful first generation jet-powered fighter. Appeari...
1942
The XP-49 was a development of the Lockheed Corporation and a possible replacement for its successful line of P-38 Lightning ...
1944
The XP-58 "Chain Lightning" was initially envisioned as a larger version of the successful Lockheed P-38 Lightning twin-boom ...
1938
The Macchi M.C.200 Saetta (or "Lightning") was the main production fighter in the Italian military when Italy entered the Sec...
1941
The Macchi C.202 Folgore ("Thunderbolt") served as one of the top Italian-designed fighters during the critical middle years ...
1943
The XP-67 was the first attempt by the McDonnell corporation to build a fighter for the United States Military. The same corp...
1937
In the years leading up to and during World War 2, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the principle fighter of the German Luftwaffe...
1939
The twin-engine Messerschmitt Bf 110 Zerstorer (or "Destroyer" or even "Heavy Fighter" in some sources) was initially designe...
1944
The German Messerschmitt Me 163 "Komet" was perhaps the most unique frontline, operational-level fighter design of World War ...
1943
The Messerschmitt Me 209-II was a proposed successor to the far-reaching Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. The Bf 109 was the sta...
1944
The Me 262 Schwalbe (or "Swallow") is a good case study in the "what if" category centering around poor production design and...
1942
The Messerschmitt Me 309 was one of two fighters (joining the later Me 209-II) developed by the German concern during World W...
1944
The "parasite" fighter had long held an interest within the minds of aircraft engineers, particularly as new methods of propu...
1944
The Messerschmitt Me P.1101 was a swept-wing, single-seat, single-engine jet-powered fighter aircraft under development for t...
1944
In 1944, Messerschmitt (among other German aircraft firms) was hard at work penciling out design concepts for the German Air ...
1941
Despite being one of the fastest Soviet piston-engine designs in the early years of the war, the MiG-3 was dogged by less-tha...
1937
The Mitsubishi A5M (code-named "Claude" by the Allies) became the world's first shipborne monoplane fighter aircraft when it ...
1942
With a design history beginning as early as 1937, the A6M series (commonly referred to as the "Zero" or by the Allied codenam...
1945
Japanese engineers developed many fine fighter designs during the height of World War 2 including the famous "Zero" carrier-b...
1944
The Mitsubishi Ki-109 was a specialized derivative of the Mitsubishi Ki-67 heavy bomber. The Ki-109 was designed specifically...
1941
Since May of 1937, the Empire of Japan - both the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force and the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service...
1938
The Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 was a single engine, piston-powered, single-seat fighter appearing just before the outbreak of ho...
1942
The Nakajima J1N1-S series was a dedicated nightfighting aircraft based on the J1N1 Gekko ("moonlight") reconnaissance aircra...
1945
The Nakajima Ki-115 Tsuguri ("Sword") was a simplistic single-seat, single-engine suicide fighter aircraft development undert...
1937
The Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" (known early on as "Abdul") was a successful low-monoplane, all-metal with stressed skin fighter de...
1942
By 1937, it became apparent to the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) that a more modern replacement for the Nakajima Ki-27 was nee...
1941
The Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki (meaning "Demon Queller" and codenamed "Tojo" by the Allies) was a single engine monoplane intercept...
1944
Out of the many fine fighters available to the Japanese Army in the closing months of World War 2, none were of greater impor...
1940
The North American P-51 Mustang proved an invaluable addition to the Allied cause in the latter half of World War 2. The syst...
1943
The Northrop P-61 Black Widow became the United States' first aircraft specifically designed from the outset as a platform de...
1943
The XP-56 "Black Bullet" was designed by the Northrop company to an Army Air Corps proposal known as the R-40C. The XP-56 sto...
1934
The Polikarpov I-15 was a biplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by the Soviet Union during the inter-war years. She ...
1935
The Polikarpov I-16 fighter proved to be quite the little aggressor before and throughout the Second World War. Initially see...
1943
The Reggiane 2000 series of aircraft was very reminiscent of American interwar designs appearing between 1930 and 1940. The R...
1942
While much of the romance of World War 2 dogfighting often heads in the direction of the USAAF's North American P-51 Mustang ...
1944
The XP-72 Wasp Major Thunderbolt was intended to be an "ultimate" design of the highly successful P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bo...
1940
When covering the range of topics concerning aviation in World War 2, it becomes accepted practice to overlook the developmen...
1945
The Ryan FR Fireball fighter was something of a unique creation in the annals of US Navy aviation. The fighter fielded two ...
1945
The Saab 21 series of fighter aircraft was of a most unique design - in more ways then one. The system was drawn up to a 1941...
1940
The Su-1 (and related Su-3) fighter aircraft were short-lived prototype developments of the Soviet Sukhoi concern - essential...
1942
When the land-based Hawker Hurricane was successfully converted into the carrier-based "Sea Hurricane", thought was given to ...
1938
The Supermarine Spitfire the legendary British fighter aircraft developed prior to World War 2. The type earned its status as...
1942
Russian aviation engineer Andrei Tupolev would lend his surname to a plethora of Soviet-era aircraft after founding his Tupol...
1943
Prior to its war with the Soviets, Finnish authorities were contemplating an indigenous fighter design to stock its fledgling...
1942
The F4U Corsair series of aircraft was one of the finer fighter developments of the Second World War, primarily seeing combat...
1943
The Vultee XP-54 was one of the more distinct aircraft creations designed during World War 2. Produced through the essentiall...
1945
The Consolidated Vultee XP-81 was a proposed long-range, high-altitude fighter design that was to be the answer for bomber es...
1944
With its origins in the Westland Whirlwind, the Westland Welkin (meaning "Vault of Heaven") was a twin-engined fighter design...
1940
The Westland Whirlwind was a most capable design that might have seen even better service numbers were it not for the choice ...
1940
Often overshadowed by its contemporaries in the West (to include the Supermarine Spitfire, North American P-51 Mustang, Messe...
1944
The Yakovlev Yak-3 was a further development of the Yak-1 series of fighters (detailed elsewhere on this site) and was well r...
1943
In line with other classic wartime fighters of World War 2, the Yakovlev-produced Yak-9 was another excellent piston-engine a...
BY DECADE:
• 1900 to 1909
• 1910 to 1919
• 1920 to 1929
• 1930 to 1939
• 1940 to 1949
• 1950 to 1959
• 1960 to 1969
• 1970 to 1979
• 1980 to 1989
• 1990 to 1999
• 2000 to 2009
• 2010 to 2019
• 2020 to 2029
• VIEW ALL
• Compare Aircraft
BY TYPE:
• Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
• Attack Helicopters
• Bomber Aircraft
• Medium Bombers
• Heavy Bombers
• Close-Air Support (CAS)
• Commercial Aircraft
• Dive Bombers
• Electronic Warfare Aircraft (EWA)
• Experimental / X-Planes
• Fighter Aircraft
• Floatplane Aircraft
• Flying Boat Aircraft
• Aerial Refueling Tankers
• Helicopters (ALL)
• Interceptor Aircraft
• Multi-Role Aircraft
• Navy Carrier Aircraft
• Night Fighters
• Reconnaissance / Scout
• Search & Rescue (SAR)
• Scout Helicopters
• Special Purpose
• Torpedo Bombers
• Trainer Aircraft
• Transport Aircraft
• Transport Helicopters
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
• Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs)
COLLECTIONS:
• 4th Generation Fighter Aircraft
• 5th Generation Fighter Aircraft
• US X-Planes
• Classic US Warbirds
• French Military Helicopters
• Grumman "Cats"
• Howard Hughes Aircraft
• Indian Air Force
• Israeli Air Force
• Libyan Aircraft
• Modern Chinese Aircraft
• Modern Chinese Fighters
• Modern Military Aircraft
• Modern North Korean Aircraft
• Modern Trainer Aircraft
• Modern US Aircraft
• Mikoyan Aircraft
• Sukhoi Aircraft
• Syrian Aircraft
• Top 10 Fighter Aircraft of All Time
AIRCRAFT BY CONFLICT:
• Arab-Israeli War (1948)
• Cuban Missile Crisis (1959-1962)
• Falklands War (1982)
• Indo-Pak War (1965, 1971)
• Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
• Lebanon War (1982)
• Operation Allied Force (1999)
• Operation Desert Storm (1991)
• Six Day War (1967)
• Spanish Civil War (1936)
• Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989)
• Yom Kippur War (1973)
MISCELLANEOUS:
• Aircraft Cockpits
• Aircraft Manufacturers List
• Aircraft Production
• Aircraft Timeline
WORLD WAR 2:
• 1939 Aircraft
• 1940 Aircraft
• 1941 Aircraft
• 1942 Aircraft
• 1943 Aircraft
• 1944 Aircraft
• 1945 Aircraft
• 1946 Aircraft
• Australian Aircraft
• Battle of Britain Aircraft
• Bombers
• Four-Engine Bombers
• British Aircraft
• British Bombers
• British Transports
• Dive Bombers
• Canadian Aircraft
• Fighters
• Chinese Aircraft
• French Aircraft
• German Aircraft
• German Fighters
• German Flying Boats
• German Jets
• Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe
• Italian Aircraft
• Imperial Japanese Aircraft
• Imperial Japanese Fighters
• Mitsubishi Bombers
• Navy Aircraft
• Pearl Harbor
• Polish Aircraft
• Romanian Aircraft
• US Aircraft
• US Bombers
• US Navy Aircraft
• Soviet Aircraft
• Torpedo Bombers
• Trainer Aircraft
• Transport Aircraft
• Tuskegee Airmen Aircraft
• W.A.S.P. Aircraft
• WW2 Aircraft Ranked by Speed
• VIEW ALL
WORLD WAR 1:
• 1914 Aircraft
• 1915 Aircraft
• 1916 Aircraft
• 1917 Aircraft
• 1918 Aircraft
• Aircraft Timeline
• Austro-Hungarian Aircraft
• Bomber Aircraft
• British Aircraft
• Fighters
• Flying Boats
• French Aircraft
• Imperial German Aircraft
• Italian Aircraft
• Scout Aircraft
• Russian Empire Aircraft
• US Aircraft
• WW1 Aircraft Ranked by Speed
• VIEW ALL
KOREAN WAR:
• Australian Aircraft
• Korean War Aces
• Korean War Jets
• North Korean Aircraft
• US Military Aircraft
• VIEW ALL
VIETNAM WAR:
• Helicopters (ALL)
• Transport Helicopters
• North Vietnam Air Force
• US Airpower
• VIEW ALL
COLD WAR:
• 1950s French Aircraft
• British V-Bombers
• Cold War Bombers
• Soviet Aircraft
• Soviet Bombers
• Soviet Interceptors
• Soviet Helicopters
• Strategic Air Command
• US Aircraft
• US Bombers
• US Interceptors
• VIEW ALL
©2013 www.MilitaryFactory.com • Content ©2003-2013 MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Site Contact Email: militaryfactory at gmail dot com. The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® trademarks and protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws.
Top MF Stuff: 2013 Military Pay Scale | Military Ranks | WW2 Weapons | Sniper Rifles | Kts to Mph | WW1 Aircraft | Automatic Rifles | Aircraft Cockpits | Vietnam War Weapons | Main Battle Tanks | Submachine Guns | Shotguns | French Military Victories
Most photographic images appearing on this site are courtesy of the United States Department of Defense and are approved for public use. Other images acquired through the public domain. Digital art work courtesy of Dan Alex. Business Consulting by Kyle Williams. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance or general operation. Please consult manufacturers for such information.
