Le "Meilleur", ça ne veut pratiquement rien dire. Il n'y a, par exemple, aucune comparaison possible entre un P-47 et un Me 109 où Spit. Pourquoi? Le P-47 a des taux de montées et de virage de camion. C'est une formidable machine d'attaque au sol, mais en chasse pure, il est carrément mauvais!
Si vous vous donnez la peine de lire ce long document
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/109myths/, vous verrez que, du point de vue du pilote, Allemands et Alliés, le Me 109 est vu comme un des tous meilleurs parceque le plus FACILE à piloter (conduite moteur et pas d'hélice automatisé, pratiquement indécrochable, injection, etc...)
Entre le Spit et le 109, de la même époque, le pilotage pur est quasi équivalent, mais le 109 monte mieux, la conduite "systémes" est bien plus facile, au total, pour le pilote, le 109 est meilleur.
Le P-51 a de belles qualités de chasseur d'escorte, long rayon d'action, confortable, MAIS ne monte ni ne tourne mieux qu'un 109, de la même époque....
Quelques extraits de la page citée:
"Unexperienced pilots hesitated to turn tight, bacause the plane shook violently when the slats deployed. I realised, though, that because of the slats the plane's stalling characteristics were much better than in comparable Allied planes that I got to fly. Even though you may doubt it, I knew it [Bf109] could manouver better in turnfight than LaGG, Yak or even Spitfire."
- Walter Wolfrum, German fighter ace. 137 victories.
Me 109 E:
"During what was later called the 'Battle of Britain', we flew the Messerschmitt Bf109E. The essential difference from the Spitfire Mark I flown at that time by the RAF was that the Spitfire was less manoeuvrable in the rolling plane. With its shorter wings (2 metres less wingspan) and its square-tipped wings, the Bf 109 was more manoeuvrable and slightly faster. (It is of interest that the English later on clipped the wings of the Spitfire.)
For us, the more experienced pilots, real manoeuvring only started when the slats were out. For this reason it is possible to find pilots from that period (1940) who will tell you that the Spitfire turned better than the Bf 109. That is not true. I myself had many dogfights with Spitfires and I could always out-turn them. This is how I shot down six of them."
- Erwin Leykauf, German fighter pilot, 33 victories. Source: Messerschmitt Bf109 ja Saksan Sotatalous by Hannu Valtonen; Hurricane & Messerschmitt, Chaz Bowyer and Armand Van Ishoven.
