When the Fw-190A came along Galland climbed out of his Bf-109F and into the Focke-Wulf. The next Messerschmidt Galland flew in combat was the Me-262 very late in the war.
The Fw-190a was tremendously armed: two 13mm machine guns and FOUR 20mm cannon. It could take down ANY plane--including a B-17 or B-24--with one well-aimed burst. One burst from a 190 would SHRED an Il-2. One reason the Bf-109 failed against the big bombers: most only mounted one 20mm cannon. (It fired through the propeller hub.)
IL-2, being the best armored plane of WW2, was protected against 20-mm canons on course angles. So I'd avoid using "shred" in this particular case. As I said, Fw-190 wasn't present on the eastern front in serious numbers, it wasn't fit for service out there. With it's lack of manueverability and enourmous firepower it was better in intercepting strategic bombers.
O rly? Remarcable plane for it's time, but not top of the line in terms of protection. Definitelly no match for IL-2 or Hs-129.
One P-47 brought its pilot home from the Ruhr Valley after 500+ 13mm hits and more than 20 cannon hits. Another did the same missing most of its tail and the entire right aileron. One pilot managed to get clear of the AA emplacement, roll over, and bail out after taking a direct hit from an 88!
Taxcutter says: Finnish Brewster 339s routinely shot down Sturmoviks, despite having a fairly light armament. The Brewster 339 was the land plane variant (no tail hook, regular main gear) version of the Brewster Buffalo that was target practice in 1942 in the Pacific. The P-47 was legendary for ruggedness. That was the point of the radial engine. The P-47 took this too far. Like everything else the ability to withstand damage comes at a price. The sturdy P-47 was very heavy and it quickly obsolesced. The Fw-190, the F6F, and the F4U were the cream of the radial engine fighters. They were always competitive and generally ruled the roost wherever they flew.
Taxcutter asks: You don't think Finnish Brewster 339s didn't shoot down Sturmoviks every time they found them?
The P-47 was an effective fighter to the end of the war. It, not the P-51, escorted bombers in most of 1944!
Taxcutter say: Actually, both planes did. And the P-40 and the P-38, and the Spitfire. People forget the Eighth had a couple of squadrons equipped with Spitfire Mk.IX fighters for a while although they were replaced as later-model P-51s became available. No plane had the range to escort the bombers on long missions entirely. The escorts worked in shifts. A daylight mission to Berlin might go 50 miles past the North Sea escorted by P-40s and Spitfires, the next 200 miles escorted by P-47s, and the rest of the way by P-51s and (diminishingly) P-38s, another shift of P-47s would meet the returning bombers, then the Spits would get them home. When Jimmy Doolittle took over the Eighth Air Force in early 1944, there was a sign over the door of the Eighth's fighter command. It said: "It's our job to get the bombers through." Doolittle had the sign taken down and replaced with one that said: "Our job is to kill the Luftwaffe." He then proceeded to initiate the "Big Week" and the Berlin campaign and put both the Eighth and the Luftwaffe in the meat-grinder. He even had the Eighth remove the green camo paint from the Eighth's fighters because he wanted to intimidate the Luftwaffe fighters. It worked. "Pips" Priller of JG26 wrote that the German fighter pilots developed a fear of US fighters - not so much because they were loaded with aces, but because they had an unending supply of competent pilots (because unlike the Luftwaffe the USAAF rotated experienced pilots back into training commands so that even rookie pilots coming into theater had an idea of what to do) , and they simply ground down the super-experienced JG26. By April 1944, the USAAF and British had effective air superiority over most of northwest Europe. Doolittle found a use for every plane in the inventory.
