Im gonna say 190 the most brutish looking aircraft out there :D

Yup. It doesn't have to be ugly, just business-like (i mean, the mosquito is good looking but it's still manly enough :-P ). When i see elegant lines i think more in terms of "private pilot's ride" than "killing machine". That's why i also prefer the early mustangs and 47s to the late ones (i like the razorback look) or the 47s and 38s to the mustangs overall.

Nothing to do with the aircraft's actual capabilities of course, just a matter of taste :grin:

As a final note i'd have to agree with Krupi.
The 190 takes the cake because the bad-guy looks match the "stats" (firepower, durability and way of employment). It's what i was flying in the previous IL2 series almost exclusively (mostly the Antons, not so much the Doras) even when i wasn't that good in it initially or was outclassed by other fighters.

It helped me learn a lot, because by sticking with one ride against all kinds of match-ups and being determined to make it work i had to read up on all kinds of different tactics.

In CoD i'm a bit more flexible because we don't have 190s yet and also because the aircraft have a lot of individuality and it's a pity to miss it now that the systems are also modeled, plus the bombers are way too much fun to ignore.

Well, fun times ahead is all i can say. :grin:

It's a brutal beauty. :)

Gotcha. Those early model P-47's definitely had a distinctive, no-nonsense look about them.
For purely looks, my vote for American planes would go to the P-38. I love the look of that plane.

For the people who think 109s are 2nd rate aircraft. Watch the fourth video especially but the whole thing is the best "Battle Of Britain" Documentary I've ever seen :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDDeLRy7UM0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5D49ohukdA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IHLZzEe5L4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8FsRU0fv_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MW0irwx8A4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIcWxowigxY

I'll have to watch these when I get in tonight, but thanks for posting the vids.

Regarding the 109, I personally haven't heard or read of anyone regarding them as second rate, but I was watching the Dogfights program on History one night when an American pilot, I forget who now, said they referred to the 109 as "easy meat." He had a bit of a cocky attitude which I didn't like.

I felt that the remark was quite disrespectful not only to the 109, but also to the German pilots, who were by that time mostly young, poorly trained and hopelessly outnumbered.

he was probably one of the late stage pilots, by 1944 most of the experten were gone. But yes, in the end even pilots are human beings, and respect was a bit hit and miss on all sides..

Approximately 2/3 of the Experten with 50 or more claims survived the war.

I'm to lazy to count it up


http://www.acesofww2.com/germany/Germany.htm

Ha...one of my favourite pages on the internet.