I challenge you!

[death tribble]

Pollyanna as I do not know the other at all.

 

Battle of the carrier planes

 

Dauntless SBD vs Helldiver

[Sundog]

Helldiver. The Dauntless was apparently the superior plane to fly, but the Helldiver beat the heck out of it in capability.

 

One for the ship nerds: Armoured deck carrier vs unarmoured deck carrier?

[death tribble]

Armoured deck

 

I know about the battle of Midway and the USS Yorktown would have been destroyed much earlier without an armoured deck.

 

Grumman F4F Wildcat vs Grumman F6F Hellcat

[Pariah]

The F6F Hellcat gets the edge, as it was designed to replace the Wildcat. Both impressive planes, though.

 

Do You Really Wish You Were Here?

A walk-on part in a war vs  A lead role in a cage 

[Cancer]

When there's a war, unless you're Scipio Africanus, Vladimir Putin, or Adolf Hitler, you're always a walk-on.

 

Whiskey & Soda vs Gin & Tonic

[death tribble]

I can drink Gin and Tonic.

 

Fighters again

 

P38 Lightning vs P51 Mustang

[Cancer]

Hoo boy, now you're comparing aircraft that are only nominally of the same overall type.  Which role, and which theatre, is most important to you?

 

The Mustang, once they put the Merlin engine in it, had the range, speed, and overall performance to escort the B-17s and B-24s deep into Germany against everything the Luftwaffe could put up, except the few jet and rocket aircraft that flew in the waning stages of the war.  (And those had such short range that the effective tactic was: avoid them, then fly after them when they broke off.  Once they landed, shoot up the planes and the bases, which took care of the problem.)

 

The Mustang came into its own late, and it was the 2nd half of 1943 when they started arriving in England in numbers; by contrast, the Lightning was the only fighter to stay in production and front-line use for the entire war.  Twin engine but single seat, with all its guns in the nose so they fired a parallel stream, with none of this converging fire nonsense where only at a specific distance were all the guns firing at a single point, which increased its value in ground attack and compensated somewhat for its lesser maneuverability against other fighters.  Two-engine fighters could not mix it up with the high-performance single-engine fighters in that era, so P-38s tended to get chewed up by Bf-109s and FW-190s in Europe.  But they had range, and range, and range, and in the Pacific they earned more credits over Zeros than any other allied aircraft, and it was a flight of Lightnings that shot down Admiral Yamamoto.

 

I go with the Lightning partly because of the Pacific, and partly because my uncle flew one there.

 

 

Male vocalists:

 

Frank Sinatra  vs  Tony Bennett

Edited April 17, 2023 by Cancer

[Sundog]

Sinatra. Not as good a vocalist as Bennet (whom I also love) but a better entertainer and showman, and an excellent actor to boot.

 

Tench class submarine vs I-400 class submarine

[death tribble]

I'm going with the I-400 as it had more service in World War 2. And thanks Sundog for making me do research.

 

More planes medium bombers this time

North American B25 Mitchell vs Douglas A20 Havoc

 

[BoloOfEarth]

I gotta go with the B-25, because it looks like a B-24 had a baby.  Plus, y'know, the Doolittle Raid was pretty gutsy, with those taking off from a carrier.

 

Winston Churchill vs. Teddy Roosevelt

 

 

[Cancer]

Not to mention, a B-25 flew into the Empire State Building shortly before the War ended.

 

Between Churchill and TR ... do you want the alpha or the omega?  Roosevelt swallowed Mahan's naval strategy concept hook line and sinker, and set the US on the path that would take it from "merely" hemispheric hegemony to becoming the first world superpower.  Churchill, dedicated though he was to the glory of the British Empire, had to know (though he worked against it his entire career) that in WW2 he was leading the UK in its greatest but final struggle as a Great Power, albeit against the most monstrous evil Britain had ever faced; "if necessary for years, if necessary alone."  I remember his funeral, and simply because my lifetime overlaps his, I'll choose Churchill.

 

Stunning unforeseen observed events:  GW170817 versus SN 1987A

[death tribble]

SN 1987A is a Supernova. Gotta go with that.

 

More plane power

Douglas A26 Invader vs Northrop P61 Black Widow

 

Please note that we are working on the A26 not the B26 as it was designated later

[Sundog]

P61. There were plenty of light bombers and ground attack planes, not so many good night fighters.

 

Nuclear Bombers:

 

Tupolev TU-95 vs Convair B-36

[death tribble]

Tuplolev TU-95

It is still in service and had a longer career.

 

Carrier planes

 

Grunman Avenger vs Vought Corsair

[Pariah]

I'm choosing the Corsair because of the distinctive wing shape. And they were featured in a TV program I watched growing up.

 

Fictional Fighters:

Starfury (Babylon 5) vs. Hammerhead (Space: Above and Beyond)

 

 

[Sundog]

Hammerhead. Atmosphere capable and armed with missiles as well as cannon. 

 

Battlestar vs Imperial Star Destroyer.

 

[death tribble]

Imperial Star Destroyer. 

 

More bombers

 

Dornier Do17 vs Junkers Ju88

[Cancer]

Ju-88, since more than a factor of 5 of them were built.

 

Kings whose reigns did not end well: England's Charles I  vs  France's Louis XVI

[L. Marcus]

Louis. He might have been an indecisive milquetoast, but at least he wasn't actively vicious.

 

Which had the better aliens, Traveller or 2300 AD?

[Sundog]

I'd love to call 2300, because the Kafers were quite interesting. But Traveller had the Hivers and the K'kree, which were very alien, and I like that more. So, Traveller.

 

Weapons of conquerors: Roman Gladius vs Zulu Iklwa.

[Pariah]

The Gladius is an iconic weapon by any measure, but the Iklwa lets you attack at range.

 

Trek Battle Royale: Dominion vs. Borg Collective 

[death tribble]

Dominion. Sneaky wins.

 

British bombers

Vickers Wellington vs Handley Page Halifax

[Sundog]

The Wellington had advantages in range and climb, but in everything else the Halifax outshone it. There's no way a twin-engine can match a quad in bomb weight or ceiling.

 

Swords: Sabre vs Cutlass.

[death tribble]

The sabre

There was a famous jet by the same name.

 

Twin Engined turmoil

De Haviland Mosquito vs Bristol Beaufighter

[Cancer]

Beaufighter.  Four nose-mounted 20mm cannon, plus six .303 MGs in the wings.  That's the armament I want in my car.

 

SMLE Rifle No. 4  vs.  Garand M-1