Which Allied aircraft scored the most air-to-air kills against the Me 262 in WWII?
score:9
By combining the three tables, of known Me262 losses; claims by USAAF; and claims by RAF, in Foreman, Me 262 Combat Diary (1990), assuming that the German numbers are correct, and also that all the dates are as stated, I have obtained the following statistics. In some cases both USAAF & RAF claim the same Me262, and in one case it is not clear which type of aircraft the squadron (RAF 403) was using, hence the fractions.
Shot down by USAAF Mustang 92.5
Shot down by USAAF Thunderbolt 18.83
Shot down by USAAF Lightning 3
Shot down by RAF Spitfire 9.83
Shot down by RAF Tempest 5
Shot down by RAF Typhoon 2
Shot down by RAF Mustang 1.83
Shot down by unknown Mustang 1
Shot down by Russian aircraft 3
Shot down by unknown aircraft 21
---
Unsubstantiated USAAF claims 46
Unsubstantiated RAF claims 10
---
Rammed unknown Spitfire 1
Rammed bomber 3
Shot down by bomber (?) 2
Shot down by enemy flak 10
Shot down by own flak 2
Strafed when landing 1
Destroyed on the ground 34
Mechanical failure/pilot error 146
Other cause/unknown 13
Total losses 370
So 158 Me262's were shot down in the air by fighters, and of these between 60 and 74 % were P-51 Mustangs.
(The figures are not totally reliable. I have found twelve pairs of duplicate Werknummers, i.e. planes that were apparently destroyed twice. There is a newer edition of the book, but I do not have it.)
Upvote:0
I would say Mustang's shot most down, because there were more of them escorting bombers and ground strafing.
Upvote:2
Not sure about the actual numbers, but I read Pierre Clostermann's Big Show and the RAF had a specific tactic of using Tempests to catch ME262s returning to base.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Clostermann
The Tempest was very fast and could almost keep up with the jets on landing. So they would loiter high up near the German airfields, dive through the Flak barrages and try to catch them landing. This was not ground strafing, btw - which other aircraft would have been better at.
See also this old Google Groups thread, probably back from Usenet times: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.aviation.military/L7m7gZlpnKQ
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