What was the best WWII fighter plane ? Me Bf109 E ? Spitfire ? Zero ?

P 51

The charactaristics most prized in fighter aircraft were speed of climb and the capacity to turn inside the ark of the opponent in combat.

Actaully, and though the Spitfire recieved more press, the Hurricane was superior to the Spitfire in these things. It certanly took out more the of Luftwhafa.

The most manufactured and most destroyed plane of that war was the ME-109. Early in the war it was superior to American fighters and probably took out more "heavies" than any other fighter. But the P-51 Mustang, once it was fitted with the Roll-Merlin engine was the finest of the WWII fighter aircraft. German fighters would not engage them over water owning the likelihood of spashing.

I think this is right.

Some say the Mosquito others the Spitfire.

There is a program on the History Channel (called 'The Best') which examines these things against a checklist and comes out with a top 5 for each catagory. Sounds dull but it's not!

P-51 Mustang,...it was the best prop fighter ever built,.....next best, P-36 (but difficult t0 fly). The Me 109 was the best by far at the beginning of the war, in early '37, but not after the Spitfire ('39, which performed beautifully, but was notoriously difficult to master flying). The US planes did not arrive until years later, but reflected much learning from the beginning years of combat.

The great success of the Brits in the Battle of Britain had more to do with their innovative radar and code-breaking intelligence (ENIGMA-Blechley Park), and the legendary stamina, skill, and bravery of their pilots, than with the aircraft themselves. Although the Hurricanes and Spitefires performed magnificently, of course. BY the end of the war in 44-45 the technology of fighter aircraft had changed substantially.

everybody is forgetting a aircraft the Focke-Wulf FW 190.

engineered by Kurt Tank and a design team that also contain pilots. It could outmaneuver the spitfire and was very sturdy build with a heavy armament equip.

It was even built and used after the war by the french as the NC 900.

Messersm. Bf 109.... 6 of their aces had over 200 kills. One of them, Erich Hartmann, destroyed 352 Russian planes. They flew, and racked up staggeringly high scores over North Africa, France, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Poland, and, in the end, Germany itself. Two hundred aerial victories each. By comparison, the top U.S. aces of World War Two achieved twenty or more.

The highly advanced Me Bf 109

Yeah, there's no question about that one: The P-51D...they're still using them to win races at Reno and they are almost 60 years old! Not to mention, they haven't even changed the engines; they keep repairing the old ones and modifying them to take the upgrades of modern fuel/RPM's/pressures

Speedwise, it's the F4U Corsair

Range + performance wise - P51D Mustang

the Spitfire, as this won the battle in the sky's PLUS it is British