1. Douglas DT
   Fairey Albacore
2. Avia B-534
   Yokosuka B4Y

The lesser-known Czech Avia B-534 engaged in two air force battles before winning the final aerial fight as a biplane in World War II. Prior to the victory, the fabric-covered plane was used primarily for training and aerobatic drills.

1. Mitsubishi B5M
   Boeing P-12
2. Aichi D1A
   Fiat CR.25

The Boeing P-12 pursuit plane functioned best at low altitudes. The 95th Pursuit Squadron stationed at San Diego's Rockwell Field in 1930 usually performed operations as high as 30,000 feet but lowered the standard altitude to 26,000 feet for the P-12.

1. Potez 63.11
   Curtiss P-36/Hawk 75
2. CAMS 37
   Douglas Dolphin

A Curtis P-36A was responsible for demolishing the first destroyed Japanese aircraft during World War II. The United States Army replaced the small Boeing P-26 Peashooter with the Curtis P-36A.

1. Loire 501
   Gloster Gamecocks
2. Potez 452
   Saro London

British soldier Douglas Bader flew Gloster Gamecocks with No. 23 Squadron. Bader was so severely injured in a 1931 crash that he needed both legs amputated. Nevertheless, the Royal Air Force accepted him back as a pilot at the start of the Second World War.

1. Short Empire
   Sikorsky S-40
2. Grumman Wildcat
   Tupolev MTB-1

U.S. carriers included Grumman F4F Wildcats and Grumman F6F Wildcats, both of which were popular monoplane fighters during World War II. Based in Long Island, New York, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Company launched in 1930 manufacturing seaplane parts.

1. Hawker Demon
   Beriev Be-2
2. Farman NC.470
   IMAM Ro.44

The British Royal Air Force used the Hawker Demon, a two-seat version of the Hawker Hart. A propeller from a downed Hawker Demon bi-plane flown from Thornaby, England during World War II is displayed at the town's central library.

1. Levasseur PL.15
   Mitsubishi F1M
2. Polikarpov
   Watanabe E9W

Known as the Night Witches, Soviet female pilots flew the Polikarpov during World War II. The pilots were connected to a bomber crew that bombed German military sites at nighttime.

1. Avro York
   Ansaldo
2. Caproni Ca.111
   Douglas DC-3

An SPA 6A 200-horsepower engine powered the Italian Ansaldo aircraft mass-produced in 1917. At least 100 more horsepower was added in subsequent model years. The Russian military used the Ansaldo regularly starting in the Russian Revolution.

1. Bell P-39 Airacobra
   Ford Trimotor
2. Gotha Go 244
   Junkers G 24

America's Bell P-39 Airacobra is the predecessor of the Huey Cobra aircraft. Nearly half of the 9,558 Airacobras that were manufactured were sent to the Soviet Union during an era of wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet bloc.

1. Handley Page Halifax
   Kokusai Ki-59
2. Bloch MB.150
   Messerschmitt Me 323

Marcel Dassault founded his airplane manufacturing company in 1929. When World War II began, the French quickly learned that the Bloch was no match for German aircraft, like the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

1. Percival Petrel
   Short Stirling
2. Boeing P-26 Peashooter
   Tachikawa Ki-54

Produced for the U.S. Army Corps, the Boeing P-26 Peashooter was the first monoplane comprised of all metal. Introduced in 1931, the plane initially flew in March 1932. The aircraft reached a top speed of 234 miles per hour.

1. Brewster F2A Buffalo
   Bloch MB.81
2. Fieseler Fi 156 Storch
   Hanriot H.182

The Brewster F2A Buffalo was introduced to the U.S. Navy as its first monoplane fighter in June 1938. The original F2A's included a 950 horsepower Wright R-1820 engine, which the Navy upgraded to a 1,200 horsepower model.

1. IMAM Ro.63
   CAC Boomerang
2. Laville PS-89
   Miles Falcon

Immediately after the Japanese bombed Darwin in the Second World War, the Royal Australian Air Force scrambled to assemble the CAC Boomerang with whatever parts that were available at the time. Friedrich David engineered the aircraft around the engine of a torpedo bomber.

1. Dewoitine D.520
   Northrop Delta
2. Rearwin Sportster
   Piper J-4

Called "Mademoiselle France" because of its stylish design, the Dewoitine D.520 was considered France's best battler in 1940. Sous-Lieutenant Pierre Le Gloan of GCIII/6 scored 18 confirmed wins and three probables with the fighter during the war.

1. Focke-Wulf 190
   Piper J-4
2. Miles Falcon
   Porterfield 35

The Spitfire Mark IX was rush-produced in direct response to the German Focke-Wulf 190. The Focke-Wulf 200 had a larger engine and achieved higher capacity and performance than earlier models.

1. RWD 13
   Stinson Voyager
2. Tugan Gannet
   Hawker Typhoon

The Tempest and the Hawker Typhoon were the only two production aircraft equipped with the Napier Sabre engine. The rocket-ready Typhoon didn't turn out to be a good fighter, but it proved to be a substantial low-to-ground bomber with four 20 millimeter cannons.

1. Shcherbakov Shche-2
   Kawanishi
2. Gotha Go 242
   Maeda Ku-1

The superior Kawanishi N1K was the only World War II-active floatplane that was capable of surpassing 300 miles per hour. Kawanishi planes were more prominent in World War War I and were used mostly as land fighters in the Second World War.

1. Slingsby Hengist
   Laister-Kauffman TG-4
2. Koolhoven F.K.58
   Fleet Fawn

German Engineer Erich Schatzki designed both the single-seat Fokker and the Koolhoven F.K.58. Although the Koolhaven offered innovative retractable landing gear, the aircraft was difficult to handle and cost twice as much as the Fokker.

1. Miles Magister
   LaGG-3
2. North American NA-16
   SAIMAN 200

During the Second World War, Semyon A. Lavochkin designed the LaGG-3, the La-7 and the La-5. Lavochkin upgraded the LaGG-1, which he manufactured in 1940, with heavier artillery which weighed down the newer creation, the LaGG-3 produced in 1941.

1. VL Viima
   Praga E-39
2. Letov S-218
   Maachi C.200

The Italian Macchi C.200 aircraft was outfitted with 12.7 millimeter machine guns set above the engine and roughly 20 inches apart. The guns fired at a rate of 575 rounds per minute each.

1. MAVA Heja
   Boeing P-12
2. Grumman Goblin
   Hawker Fury

The MAVA Heja, or "Hawk," was the Hungarian version of the Italian Reggiane Re. 2000s. Of these, Hungary ordered 70 with a license to build them. The Royal Hungarian Air Force rushed to develop the modern fighter-bomber, which became the country's principal plane during World War II.

1. Reggaine Re. 2002
   Ambrosini SAI.207
2. CAC Boomerang
   Fiat G.55

The Reggiane Re.2002 was based on the Russian Seversky P-35. In spring 1939, the Reggaine firm of Italy produced the prototype, the Re.2000 Falco, or "Falcon," which looked exactly like the Seversky P-35.

1. Hawker Hurricane
   Lavochkin La-5
2. Seversky P-35
   Mitsubishi J2M

Alexander Prokofieff de Seversky was a member of the Russian aristocracy who became an American warplane engineer. He launched the Seversky Aero Corporation in 1931 in Farmingdale, New York. The P-35 inspired a number of replicas and derivatives in America and abroad.

1. Nakajima Ki-84
   Polikarpov I-16
2. Reggiane Re.2005
   Messerschmitt Me-262

German test pilot Fritz Wendel flew the third Messerschmitt Me-262 prototype on July 18, 1943. The jet aircraft was the first to include tricycle landing gear. After his test run, Wendel commented, "Seldom have I been so enthusiastic during my first flight with a new aircraft."

1. Heinkel He 280
   Yakovlev Yak-1
2. Bristol Beaufighter
   IMAM Ro.57

Two 1,102-pound-thrust HeS-8 engines powered the Heinkel He 280, which flew for the first time on April 2, 1941. The He 280 achieved a top speed of 500 miles per hour, and it inspired the creation of the Heinkel He 162 developed toward the end of the Second World War.

1. Kawasaki Ki-102
   Potez 630
2. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 1 250
   Westland Whirlwind

The frame of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 1 250 was comprised of stressed aluminum metal. The Soviets approved its prototype in October 1944 before launching the aircraft for first flight on February 26, 1945.

1. Junkers Ju 88
   Mitsubishi A5M
2. Dornier Do 335
   Fairey Fulmar

Fred David was an Austrian Jew who fled to Japan to escape the Nazis. In Japan, he helped to develop the Mitsubishi A5M, which the Allies dubbed "Claude." Japan's secret military police grew suspicious of David, and he later escaped to Australia when World War II began.

1. Nakajima Ki-27
   Heinkel He 162
2. Avro Lancaster
   Short Stirling

In the late 1930s, Japan introduced the Nakajima Ki-27 for its army air force. Dubbed "Nates," the monoplane fighters carried two 7.7 millimeter guns. The glazed-canopy plane was Japan's principal air assault machine.

1. P-51 Mustang
   Tupolev TB-3
2. Amiot 143
   Breda Ba.88

The P-51 Mustang was engineered for the British and carried an Allison engine. The sturdy engine lacked a sustainable supercharger, so at high altitudes the aircraft performed poorly. World War II pilot Gertrude Tompkins vanished in a P-51 Mustang while en route to New Jersey.

1. Caproni Ca.309
   Polikarpov I-16
2. IAR 79
   Martin Baltimore

Russian engineer Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov graduated St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1916. Polikarpov went on to produce roughly 40 aircraft, including the Polikarpov I-16, over a period of 22 years.

1. Yokosuka P1Y
   Blackburn Shark
2. Letov S-16
   Rogozarski IK-3

Test pilot Milan Bjelanovic flew the Rogozarski IK-3 for the first time in May 1938. Bjelanovic reported that the aircraft, equipped with a 980-horsepower Hispano-Suiza 12Y-29 engine, achieved a top speed of 327 miles per hour.

1. PZL.43
   Supermarine Seafire
2. Saab 17
   Westland Lysander

The Supermarine Seafire was first introduced into battle during Operation Torch, which was the invasion of North Africa that began on November 8, 1942. There were five units of Seafires that participated in the endeavor.

1. Vought F4U
   Aichi D1A
2. Douglas TBD Devastator
   Fairey Swordfish

Warplane manufacturer Chance Vought was best known for producing the F4U Corsair for the Second World War. The propeller-driven fighter was regarded as a superb ground attacker and bomber plane.

1. Loire-Nieuport LN.401
   Arado Ar 234
2. Nakajima C6N
   Yakovlev Yak-3

The Yakovlev design team unveiled the all-metal Yak-3U in early 1944. The aircraft was equipped with a M-107A engine that achieved a high speed of 447 miles per hour at a height 18,045 feet.

1. Beriev MBR-2
   Douglas Dolphin
2. Blackburn Roc
   Saro Cutty Sark

The Blackburn Roc monoplane did not perform sea operations well during the Second World War. Aircraft manufacturer Blackburn was infamous for producing other "ugly" air war machines, such as the Skua and Beverly models.

1. Short Singapore
   Supermarine Sea Otter
2. Bristol Beaufighter
   Fairey Seafox

Britain was on the brink of going to war with Germany when the Allied nation developed the aerial concept that became the Bristol Beaufighter. The multi-use fighter carried the most artillery of any Allied combat aircraft during World War II.

1. De Haviland Mosquito
   Watanabe E9W
2. Avro York
   Farman F.224

At the time of its construction, the de Havilland Mosquito was made of wood due to Britain's scarce supply of aluminum. The British government beckoned assistance from piano builders, furniture craftsmen and carpenters to help produce the lightweight aircraft.

1. Westland Whirlwind
   PWS-24bis
2. Aeronca L-3
   Cessna 165

The 32-foot-long Westland Whirlwind had a wingspan of 45 feet. The fighter carried 20 millimeter cannons and an 885-horsepower Rolls Royce Peregrine engine. The Whirlwind debuted in 1941, but only 116 were used for combat.

1. Miles Mentor
   Petlyakov Pe-2
2. Percival Gull
   Stinson Voyager

The predecessor of the Soviet's Petlyakov Pe-2 twin-engine dive bomber was called the VI-100. In May 1940, Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov and his design team tweaked the failure to produce the PB-100, which was put into service as the Pe-2.

1. DFS 230
   Slingsby Hengist
2. Sukhoi Su-2
   Laister-Kauffman TG-4

The lightweight, two-seat Sukhoi Su-2 was easy to maneuver. The monoplane featured 7.62-millimeter guns and had the capacity to carry 2,000 pounds of bomb artillery. Only 500 of the bombers were produced before the model was replaced by the Ilyushun Il-2.