As much as anything else, Germany's perpetual shortage of fuel kept many Luftwaffe fighters grounded, especially late in the war. Those destroyed on the ground in allied strafing attacks probably didn't have much gun camera footage to show.
Watching this I can't help but think about all the times we hear how dangerous that celebratory small arms gunfire is, since what goes up must come down. It must have been positively raining lead below one of these dogfights.
Seriously? The later versions of the Fw-190 A, and especially the Dora 9, were excellent fighter planes, capable of holding their own against any plane the Allieds had at the time. Attrition of the German pilot cadre, and shrinking of the training program later in the war, saw to the marginalization of the Luftwaffe's fighter corps. When fuel was available however, the Germans still had a dangerous air arm, especially against bombers, right up to the last weeks of the war.
We'll have to disagree there. From all that I've read, the Dora-9 was highly respected by the Allies as an excellent fighter aircraft, easily the equal of any Allied fighter craft of the time except perhaps the later versions of the Spitfire. The reason the Dora-9 didn't make more of a difference in the air war was because more and more, it was piloted by a novice who just didn't have a chance against more numerous opponents. According to the German pilots who faced the Western Allies, the P-47 Thunderbolt was the most feared because of its massive firepower, phenomenal durability, and high diving speed. Next was the highly maneuverable Spitfire, with the P-51 being regarded as coming after those two in terms of one-on-one capability. The Mustang's main claim to fame was its long-range fuel capacity and very good (but not excellent) all-around usability; in the hands of an inexperienced pilot, the Mustang could be a bit tricky to fly, while the Spitfire was regarded as having excellent flight characteristics.
I agree with what Perplexed is saying; the Fw190 was one of the best planes of WWII, and only suffered from inexperienced pilots more than any mechanical or design shortcomings. Happens to probably be my favorite fighter of that conflict, and also had a very good high-altitude sibling in the Ta152.
Facts don't lie. But I just can't imagine a Thunderbolt out performing a P-51 Mustang. No way in Hell...
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Bigger, slower, and heavier, but would take a lot more damage.
I've thought about that watching movies, original footage, or visiting museums. I assume many of the dogfights just happened to occur over farmland / sparsely populated areas as the bombers and escorts headed to/from their targets.
I found this narrative recorded by the BBC.
