Top Tens (Part 2: Fighter Planes)

Ever since they were developed in World War 1, each warring faction wanted to have superiority of the skies. As long as it has the capability to fly high, and fast as well as the ability to defeat its opponent, that superiority shouldn't be hard to achieve. In this wiki page, we will talk about the episode of the Military Channel's docuseries; Top Ten. This is about the episode where they list the top 10 best fighter planes in history based on capability, product application, and its role in history.

## 10. FA-22 Raptor

The FA-22 Raptor is currently the frontline jet fighter for the USAF. Designed to carry over 12 missiles, this is definitely a force to be reckoned with. It is also partially stealthy as it's very difficult to detect it by means of radar. Though, the Raptor, like the Abrams tank, has yet to see a challenge from a worthy foe, even the episode has its "5-point matrix" where it scores 0 points in several categories. So, the FA-22 Raptor could be waiting for a while before it can get its chance at some hard combat.

The Raptor has yet to see combat, but the next fighter plane has seen combat in its heyday.

## 9. Sea Harrier

At a time where nobody can predict the end of the Cold War, and also the fear that any NATO base can be destroyed by a pre-emptive strike by the Soviet Union, Great Britain came up with this fighter plane; the Sea Harrier. It has a feature that was considered unique for the time; it was able to fly vertically, giving it more freedom to take off virtually anywhere, even on the deck of a ship. By 1982, the Harrier got it's first and probably only taste of combat as the British were at odds with Argentina over the Falkland islands, a small island in the South Atlantic where the British laid claim to since the 18th century, when things got out of control, the Royal Military sprung into action, and the Harrier was at the forefront in the first stages of the Falklands War as it shot down an incredible amount of Argentinian aircraft for no losses. Though, the only weaknesses it has is that it isn't a very fast aircraft, the wings are very small (and that is to make sure it can fly vertically) and it doesn't carry a large weapon load. Despite it's shortcomings, the USAF adopted it and became the supporting aircraft in the US Marines.

The Sea Harrier may have had a unique capability, but the next fighter plane is the oldest and also had a revolutionary design.

## 8. Sopwith Camel

Most of the action in World War 1 was on land, but there were some battles in the air as well. The Sopwith Camel was the pride of the early Royal Airforce. Made mostly from wood and Canvas, it was lightweight so it can stay in the air more easily, though it wasn't an easy aircraft to fly as it was powered by a Clerget Rotary Engine which was air-cooled and it can overcome the pilot and go into a spin which can cause the aircraft to crash (as it had with many pilots). It also had a revolutionary capability when it came it its weapons. It carried 2 .303 Vickers Machine Guns that have been made to synchronize to shoot through the front propeller so the pilot doesn't have to worry about embarrassing himself and shoot his own plane. Though air battles in World War 1 was sporadic, but the Camel has proven itself worthy against some of Germany's own fighter aircraft.

Going from one World War to the next, the next fighter plane was too a revolutionary design.

## 7. ME-262

With the Nazis ever wanting to overpower the allies with their latest in technology, they built this in 1944; the ME-262. It was revolutionary for the time as it's the world's first jet fighter, using jet engines and a swept wing design which made it go faster than any allied aircraft during the war. It brought a sense of fear and admiration to all who seen this "propeller-less plane" as it was first described. Though, this was a very hard aircraft to manufacture as it used jet engines (which was radical for the time) and many of them were destroyed in either training exercises or allied bombings. The allies also exploited a weakness it had, it was vulnerable at take off and landings. Though, it was used by Germany until the surrendering of the Nazis in 1945, ME-262s were used by Czechoslovakia until the 1950s.

Staying in World War 2, the episode goes from a fighter plane that fought for only 1 year, to another WW2 fighter plane that has seen some serious action in the war.

## 6. Supermarine Spitfire

First produced in 1938, the Supermarine Spitfire had a good wingspan for the time and good maneuverability. It wouldn't be long until it had a chance to really shine as it would be taking on the might of the Nazi Luftwaffe over the skies of Great Britain, this would be called the Battle of Britain. Evenly matched by the ME-109, but it saved the island nation from falling to the Nazis. But it's .303 browning machine guns only did light damage and because of this it had a substantially lower kill ratio than Britain's other frontline aircraft; The Hawker Hurricane, and it also didn't have the range to support the Allied Bombers on their bombing raids over Nazi occupied Europe. Nevertheless, it proven itself a formidable fighting machine, though not the best as the episode implies.

The Episode now talks about 2 cold war era fighter planes that slugged it out in the the skies over Korea.

## 5 (tie). MiG 15 & F-86 Sabre

### MiG 15

It kinda boggles my mind on why a Russian made fighter plane would be used by the North Koreans as the USSR refused aid to North Korea if they were to invade the south (which they did). Anyway, both sides of the Iron Curtain after World War 2 were studying into the Nazi technology of the swept wing design that was featured on the ME-262. The Russians came up with their very own jet fighter by the end of the 1940s, and this is what they come up with, the MiG 15. Using the same swept wing technology, the MiG 15 quickly became a fearsome opponent for the pilots and aircraft of the USAF who are beginning to look a bit long in the tooth by the time of the Korean War, in fact the MiGs were so fearsome that the USAF quickly turned to nighttime bombing (which was still considered less accurate for the time). They needed something to counter the MiGs, and they came up with their own swept wing jet fighter.

### F-86 Sabre

The United States had this; the F-86 Sabre, their answer to the MiG 15. Made from the same swept wing technology from the ME-262, the F-86 Sabre was destined to be a great dogfighter, and what a dogfighter as it went up against the MiG 15, it was no contest as the Sabre would get a substantially better kill ratio as it would shoot down over 800 MiGs with the loss of only 78 Sabres. According to the 5 Point Matrix in the episode, it points out the advantages of both fighter planes and what they also meet in the middle of (such as service length)

The Episode now moves onto another Cold War era fighter Plane, and 1 that I'm not even sure why its on the list in the first place.

## 3. F-4 Phantom

This monstrosity is the F-4 Phantom, it's a very bad handling fighter plane with 2 big engines which only adds to the weight that seemingly the wings can't take the weight of such a massive fighter plane, though the advantage there is that it allows the fighter plane to go at a very fast speed of over 1,000 MPH. But when the Vietnam war came around, it became, basically a laughing stock as it was the frontrunner in the disastrous Operation Rolling Thunder. Or perhaps the Phantom isn't all bad, the early models were built without a gun and relied entirely on missile technology as missiles were beginning to become a more reliable commodity, but because the fighter planes (including the MiG-21) were too close to use their missiles, then the E-Models of these fighter planes had the .50 Cal Vulcan canon and then changed its reputation of just a flying turkey to a substantial dog fighter, now the Phantom has a bit of a "love it or hate it" reputation.

The episode goes from a Cold War era fighter plane, to a modern era fighter plane.

## 2. F-15 C Eagle

First introduced in 1976 the F-15C Eagle saw limited combat in the first Gulf War. In just a few days into the conflict, the USAF confirmed that 34 of Iraq's aircraft were shot down, and that credit goes to the F-15C Eagle. It uses digital technology and even helps the pilot target enemies from all angels and distances, as of February of 2008 the F-15 has a record of 104 confirmed kills for no losses.

But it kinda looks like the F-15 has yet to see some real combat, which is what the last fighter plane in the episode has.

## 1. P-51D Mustang

North American Aviation has come up with a clever design to replace the Supermarine Spitfire and help take the fight back to Germany, this is where they came up with the P-51D Mustang. Powered by a Rols Royce Merlin Engine, it can go fast as any allied aircraft for the time. It fought in both Europe and the Pacific, but it has seen serious action in Europe as bombers were falling from the skies at an alarming rate, especially the B-17 Flying Fortress which it had around 16 machine guns all around it and the belief that it can defend itself with its own machine guns during daytime bombing raids would work, the belief was quite wrong as even the B-17 has limits in its own capabilities and it had become apparent that the B-17 was better off with having fighter escorts, but because the Spitfire couldn't cover their distance they were going to fly, they were , basically, flying naked when up against the Luftwaffe, the Mustang has done its job and bomber losses vanished almost overnight. The Mustang's speed was only rivaled by the ME-262 and it has achieved a great kill ratio and was feared by a lot of German pilots, even Hernan Goering (the head of the Luftwaffe during the war) was afraid of Mustangs.

Now, here's my top 10 fighter plane list

### Johnny's Top 10 Fighter Plane List

 **1.** P-51D Mustang

I have removed the Phantom and the Raptor is because of their insignificant roles and applications and the F-14 Tomcat and the F-16 Hornet due to their applications and their service records. The Japanese Zero is also on my list because before its weakness was exploited, it was a proven fighting machine especially to the Chinese and the colonists in the south pacific.

Thatll do it for this episode, in the next episode, we will talk about Top Ten's list of bombers. Until next time this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.