Top 8 WWII Fighters with Highest Kill-to-Loss Ratios

The Buffalo had a high success rate due to the Finnish pilots vastly outclassing their Soviet enemies. In the Pacific, it was the opposite story with allied Buffaloes being massacred by the Japanese who had better aircraft and better trained pilots early in the war.

Any victory scored by a Brewster Buffalo was due to the pilot's skill, not the aircraft!

If you ever want to win drinks at a bar, that Brewster Buffalo kill ratio is the way to go. I would have laughed at you in the face if you told me that.

Surprised there was no mention of the P-47 Thunderbolt...

The Bf-109 was also the original fighter plane of the Israeli Air Force, equipped with 109's built postwar in Czech factories not wiped out by the Allied bombing campaigns.

In Finland, Buffalo kill ratio was 33:1 and BF-109 42:1

The P-51 was the aircraft most lost to friendly fire. It resembled the Bf-109 from a distance and at least 9 were lost to B-17 gunners mistakenly believing they were 109s. Lone P-51s who got separated from their squadrons had to approach the bombers very cautiously if they didn’t want to receive a lead salute.

The Hawker Hurricane was responsible for more downed enemy planes than the Spitfire. But the Spitfire gets all the credit. Same thing with the B-17. The B-24 dropped more bombs but the 17 gets the credit.

When my uncle was serving in the Pacific theater with VMF-214 (a.k.a. Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington’s squadron), he told me that the pilots flying the Corsair scared the Japanese pilots away, sometimes without firing a shot. They would shoot down and chase them as far as they could before needing to return home for fuel.

It was not the Buffalo F2A, but Brewster Model 239, denavalized version of the F2A-1 Buffalo, ordered by Finland in 1939 as a means of acquiring a modern fighter plane. Unlike the US Navy F2A-1, the plane was lighter, turned better and had better overall performance due to being stripped of arresting gear and all other equipment necessary for carrier landings, together with a more powerful Wright R-1820-G5 engine producing 10 hp more compared to the US Navy Buffalos. The planes themselves arrived too late to participate in the Winter War, but were used extensively in the Continuation War all the way to late 1944 when they were withdrawn from service. Finnish pilots regarded the plane as very maneuverable, easy to fly, and also not requiring extensive maintenance. LeLV 24 had a score of 26:1 using B-239 as they claimed 477 Soviet planes shot down for a loss of just 19 B-239s. The real kill rate in air combats was actually 32:1, if counted B-239s downed by AAA, it goes down to 26:1.

Once i heard the pronunciation of Corsair in this video, had to question the validity of the entire production 🥴

The Bf 109 was in German production from 1936-45. The most produced fighter ever. It remained in service after the war in several air forces. The Czechs even built a version ofthe 109 for Israel.

Would be very suspect of some of the numbers quoted here. The P-40 had an 18-1 kill ratio? No chance.

Keep this in mind folks... 1/3 of the P-38s were used as PHOTOJOEs.. I.E. no guns. So there were not a lot of P-38s go to around. It served in ALL theaters. PTO, MTO, ETO, CBI, Aleutians, etc... everywhere! Served as a escort fighter, air superiority fighter, fighter/bomber, bomber (droop snoot), & photo recon! And that was from Dec. 1941 through the end of the war in Aug. 1945!

interesting fact I have dug up on those Finnish Buffalos and I quote . "A stripped-down, more manoeuvrable, and significantly lightened version of the American Brewster Buffalo was the FAF's main fighter until 1943. Results with this fighter were very good, even though the type was considered to be a failure in the US Navy and with British and Dutch Far East forces. In Finnish use, the Brewster had a victory rate of 32:1 – 459 kills to 15 losses." it looks like they Figured out a way to improve what many said was a failed fighter. the Finn also fielded Hawker Hurricanes and even Curtiss Hawk P75's that given to them by the Germany have captured them in Europe. it is also worth remembering they supported the AXIS powers. once Germany invaded Russia they were then given BF109 G series Aircraft and other Axis Fighters Fiat G.50 . in their continuation wars against the Russians following on from the winters wars of 1939/40 finally in 1944 Finland agreed a peace deal with the Russians on conditions that they would expel all German force out of Finland to avoid been invaded themselves. So it looks like those Finns are good pilots even been able to turn a bad plane into a good one.

Time in service is a massive factor here !

No Hurricane, no Zero, no FW190, Yak9......seems very American biased

A USMC Corsair was the first aircraft to shoot down a North Korean jet during the Korean War,

You missed the De Havilland Mosquito fighter/night fighter which had a kill ratio of 12:1

Where is the FW190 which is a better and tougher aircraft than the 109. Seems like this list is extremely biased.