If you wanted to get laid you flew a Mustang.  If you wanted to sleep with the same chick twice you flew a P-47.

A1 Skyraider

That would depend on what you're calling a bubble.. the Zero's canopy was more of a greenhouse. The style was experimented with even in WWI though.

If you're going with a "true" bubble (i.e. no bracing aside from the edges) I don't even know what would be the earliest. Wellesley maybe?

The Jug

True, I would still probably go with the P-51's it was a true formed piece, your correct, but I wasn't referring to the Zeros as a bubble, I should have been more clear. The thought process started with the design of the Zeros, the Zeros, was well thought out, with how the pilot sat, the layout, etc. apparently the zero had a few firsts? Kurt Tank was impressed by the visibility of the pilot in the Zero, but he didn't like the frame work (green house). He sought to improve it, which was what he put on his 190 series,  the British didn't like the Mustangs canopy so they improved it with the P-51C which was the Malcom hood or bubble, which was inspired by Kurt Tanks design on the FW190, North American took it further with the famous hood we see on the D series.
ETA, if you look at the Wellesley you can see the pilots seat then compared to the Zero, then the FW190, P51/P47, it sort of shows how the layout was, the process for manufacturing the Malcom Hood, as well as the P51/P47 was the exact same as the Wellesley though, they did get that from it. The ME262 also had a bubble, but it was traditional Messerschmitt being that it was hinged.

F4U, especially the -1C with quad 20mm cannon, or P-47. Both heavy, durable energy fighters with a ton of firepower.

This

Yep !

I chose the P-38 but would prefer the Spitfire, as it was more maneuverable and was effective.

If I'm trying to kill enemy I'll take the P-51.
If I'm trying to kill them from a boat then F4U.
If I'm just trying to survive then the P-47.
If I'm applying to the airlines later then the P38.
If I hate my life then I'll take the P-40.
The only cat I've got love for was the Bearcat.

If I'm going back in time, I might as well be flying an F-16 Fighting Falcon with Sidewinders.

To this day, THE BIGGEST FACTOR in air-to-air (non-missile) combat is...












stick time.

The sub-subject here is a piston engine plane against a MiG.
Not just any jet. A MiG.

And I stand corrected with the Corsair v MiG in Korea.

What if you used a Rolls Royce Merlin 60?

P-51.

Come back, hop in the P-47 and go after some trains and supply convoys.

Then lunchtime.

I chose the Hellcat.

It was a big improvement over the F4F Wildcat, which really caught the Japanese by surprise, as they didn't know about it beforehand and the lines/shape of the F6F looked very similar to the F4F.

I believe the F6F Hellcat is credited with the most kills of WWII, which says something about it.

Didn't the Corsairs do a ground attack role too?

Corsairs could do it all, even from a carrier, hence the best all around fighter of the war.

I agree, but all of these losers are talking about shooting up trains with "Jug this, and Jug that."

I was just recalling the sight of bombs and rockets hung underneath Whislting Death.

Thanks for the back up. You can be my wingman.

P-51 had range.  It also had a drag bucket which appears on a graph of angle of attack vs drag force.  When the angle of attack was low drag dropped substantially due to it's wing design and the P-51 developed some serious speed.   Over Europe, the P-51 reigned supreme.  Especially once the army airforce figured out that dog fighting was a waste of fucking time.  The true value of the P-51 was in killing German pilots and aircraft on the ground.

Mustang

Just replying to what I quoted, which was obviously wrong.

Not Exactly Right, but Very CLOSE - The XP-39 was originally designed to have a Turbo Supercharged Allison V-12 V-1710 (like the two in the P-38 Lightning).  

However the engineering officer (Fighter Projects Officer Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey) supervising the "Light Interceptor" (The P-38 Lightning twin engine being the 'Heavy interceptor') was sent to Europe in 1940 to study what was actually happening with the air war.  While he was away, the decision was made to remove the Turbo Supercharger from the P-39 and retain only the simple single stage mechanical supercharger of the Allison (just like in the P-40 and the early P-51 / A-36 Mustang)...  

The Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 of fame for the Spitfire & Later "B" model onward p-51 Mustangs had a TWO speed mechanical supercharger which continued to provide maximum power at much higher altitudes than the simple single speed blower of the Allison...

Had the Production P-39 been completed using the specified Turbo Supercharger of the original design which could maintain full power from the ground to above 30,000 ft ...  Well it would have been a much better performing aircraft...

The Russians loved the P-39 for their air war, which was mid to low altitude where the lack of high altitude performance was not missed.  The P-39 was very agile at low altitude and the weapons one 37mm auto cannon and two .50 cal browning M-2s fired straight and true from the nose for more accurate and dense firepower like the P-38 (not having to deal with gun convergence required on wing mounted guns).  The Russians took the extra wing pod mounted guns off their P-39s to maintain the very quick roll rate in exchange for those two added on .30 cal machine guns.

Several of the Top Soviet Aces flew the majority of their kills (against very skilled and experienced Luftwaffe pilots in bf109 & FW-190s) in the P-39...  Just saying...

I have some great pictures of the remaining flying P-39 from down in Texas I'll try to find...

But if it was my butt in any seat flying and fighting for my life.   P-47 because...  'Merica!!

Skip to :30 for a firewalled pass

Actually that is misleading, at Hellcats time, most of Japan's great pilots were dead, their pilots were nothing compared to ours and we had a allot more Hellcats than they had Zeros, some of their late war planes were much more capable than the Hellcat or Zero, they just didn't have good pilots or enough of them.

If the Japanese would have had the N1K George or Rex two years earlier...

That is one skinny bitch.

Even as a navy guy, and as much as I like the other choices, I'd have to go with the P-51D.

P-51 Mustang