A Brief History
On October 26, 1943, the aptly named Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, or Arrow, made its first flight. Sleek and menacing looking, this unique fighter had an engine and propeller on both the front and the back of the fuselage and had the performance to match its appearance.
Digging Deeper
Today, we offer you a list of candidates for the meanest looking plane of World War II, but feel free to add your own choice.
Bell P-39 Airacobra
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
Dornier Do 335 Pfeil
Junkers Ju-87
Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
North American B-25H Mitchell
Northrop P-61 Black Widow
Supermarine Spitfire
Vought F4U Corsair
Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka
Question for students (and subscribers): What is your pick as the meanest looking World War II airplane? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Eden, Paul. Encyclopedia Of Aircraft Of WW2. Amber, 2004.
Holmes, Tony. World War II Fighter Planes Spotter’s Guide. Osprey Publishing, 2021.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Ad Meskens of a Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (Arrow) in the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington DC, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
