World War II fighters

In 1940, Hurricane and Spitfire fighters of the British Royal Air Force fought one of the most important air battles of the war, the Battle of Britain. Fighter pilots battled hundreds of German bombers and fighters, including Bf 109s. In this battle, British pilots had the benefit of a new invention: radar. Radar gave early warning of incoming enemy aircraft, so ground controllers could direct fighters to intercept them.

Fighter pilots had to adapt their tac­tics as air battles became faster and more deadly. In the 1930s, pilots flew in rigid formation, often in groups of three airplanes. By 1940, German pilots found it was better to fly in pairs or groups of four, and their example was followed by many Allied fighter pilots. Allied pilots in Europe also used tricks to provoke combat. “Rodeo” meant flying over enemy territory to entice enemy fighters. “Circus” was sending in a decoy force of bombers to draw enemy fighters into the air, then pouncing on them from above. Fighter aircraft that flew in support of ground attacks were called fighter-bombers. They shot troop con­voys, tanks, and trains and bombed fuel depots, highways, and airfields.

Designers strove to produce faster fighters with longer range and better armament. Outstanding aircraft of World War II were the German Bf 109 and Fw 190; the Japanese A6M2 Zero; the British Spitfire and Tempest; and the American P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang. These were all single-engine planes. There were also twin-engine, long-range fighters, such as the P-38 Lightning that was used widely in the Pacific, and twin-engine night fighters, such as the P-61 Black Widow, the first U. S. fighter to be equipped with radar.

In the Pacific, the main fighter battles of World War II were between carrier – based airplanes. The U. S. Navy met the challenge of the Japanese Zero with the

F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair. The Corsair was said by many Japanese fly­ers to be the best U. S. combat aircraft they faced.