World War II gave the world some of the most recognizable fighter planes ever made—the Spitfire, Mustang, and Messerschmitt Bf 109—but not all planes did not made it into the limelight. Some were obsolete as soon as they flew, others were badly designed, and some were even outright dangerous for the pilots who flew them. Below is a list of ten of the most underwhelming and perilous fighter planes of the war.
10. Seversky P-35 (USA)
America’s first all-metal, single-wing fighter with retractable landing gear and a closed cockpit looked impressive on paper—but the P-35 soon proved its weaknesses. Before the war started, it was already outdated. Only 76 were supplied to the U.S. Army Air Corps, and those sent to the Philippines were provided with Swedish instruction manuals and metric tools, which confused American pilots. Lightly armored, poorly armed, and without self-sealing fuel tanks, these aircraft didn’t survive very long in action.
9. Messerschmitt Me-210 (Germany)
The Me-210 was to have replaced the outdated Bf 110, but it was a failure. Its flight properties were unstable, leading to spontaneous stalls in normal flight, and defensive weapons frequently failed. Despite fewer than 400 being produced, the Luftwaffe cancelled the program and returned to the Bf 110. Its bad name was so renowned that the Me-410 was reassigned a new designation to disassociate it.
8. Focke-Wulf Ta-154 Moskito (Germany)
Patterned after the British Mosquito, the Ta-154 was promising as a prototype but unsuccessful in production. Its power plants were underpowered, so it was hazardous to fly, and when Allied bombers put the factory making its special resin cement out of commission, a weaker alternative resulted in wooden airframes that tended to disintegrate during flight. Fewer than 50 were constructed before it was discontinued.
7. Blackburn B-25 Roc (UK)
The Blackburn Roc was designed as a turret fighter but flopped royally. Basically, a slow dive-bomber with a turret bolted on top, it only reached 223 mph and was no good at shooting straight. Rocs that were made mostly never even saw action on the front lines and were relegated to towing targets or serving as immobile anti-air platforms.
6. Heinkel He-162 Salamander (Germany)
The He-162 was Germany’s “people’s fighter,” pushed into production for teenage pilots with little training. Plywood wings and various design shortcomings made it weak and unstable. It wasn’t able to fly upside down without engine loss, and crashes destroyed more aircraft than did the enemy. Its true combat performance was minimal.
5. Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Demon (USA)
Billed as the “world’s fastest-climbing interceptor,” the CW-21 was developed from a trainer plane. The U.S. Army Air Corps was not interested, but the Dutch employed it against Japanese interceptors. Underarmed and lightly armored, most of them were quickly lost. A Dutch squadron commander famously said it was “outclassed in nearly every important performance category by its opponents.”
4. Caudron C.714 (France)
A rebuilt racing aircraft, the Caudron C.714, was underpowered and lightly armed. It took over nine minutes to achieve service ceiling and had a very short range. French pilots removed it from combat after only a week, and even the Finns rejected it. Remaining units were assigned to Polish pilots, who operated them only as a last resort.
3. Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 (USSR)
Constructed of resin-impregnated plywood to save metal, the LaGG-3 was heavy, slow, and clunky. Pilots called it jokingly the “varnished guaranteed coffin.” Both superior German and Soviet rivals outclassed it, and it infuriated pilots who flew it. Later developments resulted in the La-5, but more than 6,500 LaGG-3s were produced, much to the displeasure of pilots.
2. Fiat CR.42 Falco (Italy)
A biplane in a monoplane age, the CR.42 was painfully outclassed by its time contemporaries, the Spitfire and Hurricane. Nevertheless, more than 1,700 were produced by the Italian air force. It found limited success where the opponent’s pilots were inexperienced or their tactics were poorly executed, but as the enemy learned to adapt, the CR.42 was an easy target.
1. Brewster F2A Buffalo (USA)
At the top is the Brewster F2A, also known as the “Flying Coffin” to U.S. Marines. Overweight, underpowered, and shoddily constructed, it was consistently outclassed by enemy planes. Factory defects rendered each aircraft in need of reassembly before flight. The Finnish pilots managed to have some success with weaker Soviet forces, but overall, the Buffalo failed. Brewster’s subsequent projects, such as licensed production of the Corsair, also failed, and the company folded in 1946.