Top 10: Surprisingly successful planes of World War 2

Designed by the genius **Teddy Petter** (1908-1968, whose other designs include the Whirlwind, Canberra, Gnat and Lightning), the **Lysander** was built, after much consultation with aircrew, to emphasise extremely **short take-off and landing** and good **visibility** from the cockpit. Though not elegant, it was an imposing aircraft with advanced features, and the rather stylish feature of machine guns mounted on the undercarriage spats.

The Lysander was designed for the Army Co-operation role, which included **artillery spotting and reconnaissance**. Experience in France was brutal, of the 170 plus Lysanders sent in 1939, around **120 failed to return**. After the Fall of France, the Lysander was largely relegated to anti-invasion reconnaissance patrols.

8: Westland Lysander

Though the Lysander proved less than ideal in its intended role, once it turned to the exciting (often rather too exciting) world of **running agents** in and out of occupied Europe it proved **excellent**. Flying deep into occupied territory, often under cover of darkness, to insert or extract agents or equipment, the Lysander was the ‘**James Bond**’ of Second World War aircraft.

No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron was a secretive unit of the Royal Air Force, carrying out **shadowy missions** as part of the Royal Air Force Special Duties Service; From 1942-44 they used the Lysander. Their Lysanders (alongside Hudsons) delivered and extracted agents on the ground (the other aircraft types in 161 were utilised for parachute delivery). It is impossible to calculate the full effect of agents on the war, but it is sizable, and the Lysander was a **key part of these special operations**.

7: Gloster Gladiator

The **Gladiator** was from an earlier generation than the Spitfire and Hurricane, despite predating the latter by only 14 months. The **biplane** Gladiator was little more than a **convenient stopgap** to keep up the numbers until the Hurricane and Spitfire came on stream in sufficient quantity, so it was released for export at a fairly early date.

The Gladiator pops up in an unusual number of **imbalanced conflicts** far from its home where it was forced to operate in the face of **numeric and technological superiority** – invariably heroically and to great propaganda value – thus pithily illustrating the general experience of the biplane fighter in the Second World War.

7: Gloster Gladiator

The Gladiator **stoically defied the odds** with the RAF against the Italians over **Malta**. More prosaically, when operated in numbers against a similarly equipped enemy it performed **excellently**, and a situation developed over Africa similar to the CR.32–I-15 one in Spain: it clashed regularly with the Fiat CR.42, which, though slightly faster, did not handle as well as the Gloster.

Despite being the RAF’s last biplane fighter, it was also that service’s first fighter to sport an **enclosed cockpit**. Not many aircraft have been simultaneously in the vanguard of development while also totally obsolete. Despite it being such a dated design, it scored **304 victories** in RAF service.

6: Polikarpov Po-2

You don’t need the highest performance or technology to get results, something the **Po-2** proved time and time again. This simple aircraft was a **small biplane**, far more significant than its rather unassuming appearance might have you believe. Deployed at night at low altitude, with little engine sound it flew **below the stalling speeds** of German fighters.

Due to its flight profiles, size, and **wood and canvas** construction, it was virtually **undetectable** to contemporary radar. The ‘**Night Witches**’ were an all-female bomber regiment much hated by the Axis forces that endured their sleep-depriving harassment raids. The ‘Night Witches’ flew the Polikarpov Po-2. To frozen bewildered Axis ground forces, the Night Witches seemingly appeared from nowhere, dropped their bombs, strafed, and disappeared.

6: Polikarpov Po-2

Just before sunset, Po-2s (initially known as U-2) were deployed to forward operating bases, under cover of darkness, and the aircraft then performed their short-range harassment raids. They then returned to re-arm and then re-deploy; on one occasion U-2 crew **Yekaterina Ryabova** (1921-1974) and **Nadezhda Popova** (1921-2013) flew **18 missions in one night**…

The Po-2 had excellent **short take-off and landing (STOL)** performance and was **easy to manufacture**, both extremely useful in a huge, desperate war. No biplane has been produced in greater numbers than the Po-2, with estimates of the total number-built ranging from **20,000 up to 30,000**. The Po-2/U-2 is often overlooked but was a significant aircraft of the Great Patriotic War.

5: Curtiss P-36 Hawk

By far the **best American fighter** in operational service in 1939, and by far the **shiniest aircraft** on this list, the **Hawk 75A** scored the **first aerial victory on the Western Front** of the Second World War. Two years later, the Curtiss made history again by scoring the **first aerial victory for the US over Pearl Harbor**.

Despite seeing very little service with US forces, the Hawk 75 flew **successfully over France**, scoring a third of all French victories though making up only 12% of the fighter force. Survivors were then used to great effect by **Finland**. In the RAF Mohawks fought the Japanese until the end of 1944 and Argentina only withdrew theirs in 1954.

5: Curtiss P-36 Hawk

The determined **Finnish Air Force** may not have had the best fighter aircraft in the world, but what they did have, they used **extremely effectively**. The Hawk was much loved in Finnish service, earning the nickname **Sussu** ("Sweetheart"). Finnish Hawks claimed **190⅓ kills** between 1941 and 1944, for the loss of only **fifteen**.

Finnish Hawk pilots included **Altto Kalevi "Kale" Tervo** (1919-1943), with 14 victories in the Hawk. **Kyösti "Kössi" Karhila** (1921-2009, scored 13 victories in the Hawk. The Hawk 75 was **tough and nimble** – notably **more manoeuvrable than a Spitfire or Hurricane** at high speed. It was well-armed but never quite fast enough. It did far better than many expected.

4: PZL P.24

The **P.24** was a Polish **gull-wing all-metal fighter** that first flew in 1933, armed with two Swiss 20-mm Oerlikon cannon and two 7.92 mm Colt-Browning machine guns. One of the most successful Polish aviation exports, it was sold to Bulgaria and Greece, alongside a production license to Romania and Turkey.

**Romanian** P. 24 aircraft fought against the Soviet Union. **Greek** PZL P.24 fighters saw a **great deal of action**. When Fascist Italy attacked Greece on 28 October 1940, a force of 24 serviceable planes (out of 36) rose to repel Italian bombers and fighters. The Greek air defenders, seemingly outmatched, proved **surprisingly effective**.

4: PZL P.24

On November 2 1940, 15 Italian bombers, with fighter escorts, were intercepted by Greek PZL P.24s and three of the bombers were shot down. When the surviving bombers turned to return to base, Greek pilot **Lieutenant Mitralexis**, out of ammunition, **intentionally rammed one**, sending it out of control. Forced to make an emergency landing himself near the crashed bomber, he **captured four enemy aircrew using his pistol**!

The Greek P.24s shot down a total of **37 Italian and three German aircraft**. Mitralexis's ramming of an Italian Z.1007 bomber became immortalised in Greek history books. In total, **97 P.24 production aircraft were built in Poland and 52 abroad** under license. The only survivor can be found in a museum in **Turkey**.

3: Vickers Wellesley

It is widely acknowledged that cracking Germany’s **Enigma code** was hugely important to the eventual Allied victory. Key to cracking the code was obtaining a codebook and an Enigma machine, both of which were recovered from the German submarine **U-559**, thanks to a dramatic combined operation which featured an RAF Sunderland and four Royal Navy destroyers, and – of **pivotal importance** – a **Wellesley**.

At 12:34 p.m. on 30 October 1942, the **47 Squadron Wellesley** spotted the periscope of the U-559 and attacked with **depth charges**. The submarine crew eventually surrendered without having time to destroy the coding equipment, providing the greatest **intelligence windfall** of the War.

3: Vickers Wellesley

And that’s not all, two years earlier it had also performed a **vital mission**. When Italy declared war on Britain and France in 1940, it left Egypt extremely vulnerable. The Italians had an alarming local naval force which was composed of nine destroyers and eight submarines, as well as a squadron of fast torpedo boats.

Though the British lacked the most advanced warplanes in this region, there was a Wellesley force. On 11 June 1940 **nine aircraft from No. 14 Squadron** mounted an audacious raid against the Italian naval base at **Massawa** in Eritrea. The resultant fire destroyed an estimated **8000–10,000 tons of fuel**. The nine plucky aircraft and their extremely brave crews achieved a **great deal** in their bold **sunset raid** on Massawa.

2: Focke-Wulf Fw 200

Described by Churchill (perhaps apocryphally) as the ‘**scourge of the Atlantic**’, the **Fw 200**, did much to **disrupt vital supplies to the Allies**. With the Fw 200 the Germans **sank over 300,000 tons of shipping** in less than a year. This modern but fragile machine proved alarmingly effective thanks to its excellent **range** – a legacy of its pre-war role as an **airliner**; in August 1938 it once flew non-stop from Berlin to New York City.

As well as destroying shipping, its presence, which was never in large numbers, meant the Allies had to devote precious resources to creating **catapult aircraft merchant ships (CAM)** and **escort carriers**. In terms of money spent to economic damage both in destruction and investment in countermeasures by the Allies, it is likely among the **most effective aeroplanes of the war**. Yet it was vulnerable and weak.

2: Focke-Wulf Fw 200

It was intended to be the U-boats’ ‘**eye in the sky**,’ spotting merchant ships and vectoring the submarines to their targets. However, interservice **rivalry** between the Luftwaffe (air force) and Kriegsmarine (navy) meant that Fw 200s were often directly assigned to the targets. This won **Göring** kudos but was perhaps less effective than if submarines had been sent.

Author of ‘Focke-Wulf 200’, **Matthew Willis** noted, “It was also successful as a **transport aircraft**, making Rommel’s Spring 1942 advance possible through petrol deliveries across the Mediterranean, and airlifting critical supplies to Axis troops in the Kuban pocket in 1944”. It was also a popular **VIP transport** in Nazi Germany: **Hitler** had his own personal modified Fw 200 with an escape system; other senior leaders to have a personal Fw 200 were armaments minister **Albert Speer** and SS chief **Heinrich Himmler**.

1: Fairey Swordfish

Somehow a small number of **slow, open-cockpit biplanes** with the top speed of a modestly souped-up Vauxhall Corsa, managed to deliver a **crushing blow to the Italian Navy**. The **Battle of Taranto** took place on the night of 11 November 1940. It was the **first all-aircraft ship-to-ship attack in history**, using 21 **Fairey Swordfish** from the aircraft carrier **HMS Illustrious**.