French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets Biography
The Second World War featured fighter combat on a larger scale than any other conflict to date. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel noted the effect of airpower: "Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success." Throughout the conflict, fighters performed their conventional role in establishing air superiority through combat with other fighters and through bomber interception, and many fighters were also pressed into service in additional roles such as tactical air support and reconnaissance.
The long-range Mitsubishi A6M Zero typified the highly maneuverable, but lightly armored, fighter design
The approach of different belligerents to fighter design varied widely, with the Japanese and Italians favoring lightly armed and armored but highly maneuverable designs such as the Japanese Nakajima Ki-27, Nakajima Ki-43 and Mitsubishi A6M Zero and Italy's Fiat G.50 and Macchi MC.200. In contrast, designers in Great Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States believed that due to the increasing speed of fighter aircraft, the twisting and maneuvering typical of World War I dogfights would create g-forces unbearable to pilots. These nations' fighters instead were optimized for speed and firepower to allow pilots to quickly engage, dispatch and disengage with opposing aircraft. While light, highly maneuverable aircraft did have some advantages in fighter-versus-fighter combat, those could usually be overcome by sound tactical doctrine, and the design approach of the Italians and Japanese made their planes ill-suited as interceptors or attack aircraft.
Macchi MC.200 in the markings of 372° Sq. Regia Aeronautica
[edit]European theater
During the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France, Luftwaffe fighters—primarily the Messerschmitt Bf 109—held air superiority, and the Luftwaffe played a major role in German victories in these campaigns. During the Battle of Britain, however, British Hurricanes and Spitfires proved roughly equal to Luftwaffe fighters. Additionally Britain's use of radar and the advantages of fighting above Britain's home territory allowed the RAF to deny Germany air superiority, saving Britain from German invasion and dealing the Axis their first major defeat of the Second World War.
This Supermarine Spitfire XVI was typical of World War II fighters optimized for high level speeds and good climb rates
On the Eastern Front, Soviet fighter forces were overwhelmed during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa. This was a result of the tactical surprise at the outset of the campaign, the leadership vacuum within the Soviet military left by the Great Purge, and the general inferiority of Soviet designs at the time, such as the obsolescent I-15 biplane and the I-16. More modern Soviet designs, including the MiG-3, LaGG-3 and Yak-1, had not yet arrived in numbers and in any case were still inferior to the Messerschmitt Bf 109. As a result, during the early months of these campaigns, Axis air forces destroyed large numbers of Red Air Force aircraft on the ground and in one-sided dogfights.
In the later stages on the Eastern Front, Soviet training and leadership improved, as did their equipment. Late-war Soviet designs such as the Yakovlev Yak-3 and Lavochkin La-7 had performance comparable to the German Bf-109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Also, significant numbers of British, and later U.S., fighter aircraft were supplied to aid the Soviet war effort as part of Lend-Lease, with the Bell P-39 Airacobra proving particularly effective in the lower-altitude combat typical of the Eastern Front. The Soviets were also helped indirectly by the American and British bombing campaigns, which forced the Luftwaffe to shift many of its fighters away from the Eastern Front in defense against these raids. The Soviets increasingly were able to challenge the Luftwaffe, and while the Luftwaffe maintained a qualitative edge over the Red Air Force for much of the war, the increasing numbers and efficacy of the Soviet Air Force were critical to the Red Army's efforts at turning back and eventually annihilating the Wehrmacht.
Meanwhile air combat on the Western Front had a much different character. Much of this combat was centered around the strategic bombing campaigns of the RAF and the USAAF. Axis fighter aircraft focused on defending against Allied bombers while Allied fighters' main role was as bomber escorts. The RAF raided German cities at night, and both sides developed radar-equipped night fighters for these battles. The Americans, in contrast, flew daylight bombing raids into Germany. Unescorted B-24 and B-17 bombers, however, proved unable to fend off German interceptors (primarily Bf-109s and FW-190s). With the later arrival of long range fighters, particularly the P-51, U.S. fighters were able to escort daylight raids far into Germany and establish control of the skies over Western Europe.
By the time of Operation Overlord in June 1944, the Allies had gained near complete air superiority over the Western Front. This cleared the way both for intensified strategic bombing of German cities and industries, and for the tactical bombing of battlefield targets. With the Luftwaffe largely cleared from the skies, Allied fighters increasingly served as attack aircraft.
Allied fighters, by gaining air superiority over the European battlefield, played a crucial role in the eventual defeat of the Axis, which Reichmarshal Hermann Göring, commander of the German Luftwaffe summed up when he said: "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up."[9]
[edit]Pacific theater
Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero Model 22
Major air combat during the war in the Pacific began with the entry of the Western Allies following Japan's attack against Pearl Harbor. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service primarily operating the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service flying the Nakajima Ki-27 and the Nakajima Ki-43, initially enjoyed great success, as these fighters generally had better range, maneuverability, speed and climb rates than their Allied counterparts.[10][11] Additionally, Japanese pilots had received excellent training and many were combat veterans from Japan's campaigns in China. They quickly gained air superiority over the Allies, who at this stage of the war were often disorganized, under-trained and poorly equipped, and Japanese air power contributed significantly to their successes in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and Burma.
Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat, early 1942
By mid-1942, the Allies began to regroup and while some Allied aircraft such as the Brewster Buffalo and the P-39 were hopelessly outclassed by fighters like Japan's Zero, others such as the Army's P-40 and the Navy's Wildcat possessed attributes such as superior firepower, ruggedness and dive speed, and the Allies soon developed tactics (such as the Thach weave) to take advantage of these strengths. These changes soon paid dividends, as the Allied ability to deny Japan air superiority was critical to their victories at Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal and New Guinea. In China, the Flying Tigers also used the same tactics with some success, although they were unable to stem the tide of Japanese advances there.

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets

French Fighter Jets