The 10 WWII Weapons with Highest Kill-To-Loss Ratios



World War II featured a vast array of weapons, but some aircraft, vehicles, and warships distinguished themselves through exceptionally high kill-to-loss ratios, demonstrating superior effectiveness in combat. This list focuses on these notable machines and we will not include firearms, grenades, and other individual weapons. Accurately measuring these ratios is inherently challenging due to the chaotic nature of warfare and variable historical records. Therefore, the values we present are approximations that capture the overall trends of the era. Despite these challenges, these weapons left an indelible mark on the course of World War II.
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Credits:
https://3dmodels.org/360-view/?id=209890
https://free3d.com/3d-model/stug-iii-ausf-g-943-early-production-8966.html
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/aircraft/military-aircraft/brewster-f2a-buffalo-b239
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/messerschmitt-bf-109-be6d9628d86d437abf21d9d2a14374fa
https://3dmodels.org/de/3d-models/grumman-f6f-hellcat/
https://3dmodels.org/de/3d-models/curtiss-p-40-warhawk/
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/supermarine-spitfire-mk-iia-b02d5e0a190f4e3cb02426f39c8b77b7
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/ww2-us-carrier-based-fighter-f4u-corsair-fe3f17519538427bb9efb4e66e06e585
https://www.pond5.com/3d-models/item/91538725-p-51-mustang-low-poly
https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/
https://www.the-blueprints.com/
http://www.wardrawings.be/
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50 thoughts on “The 10 WWII Weapons with Highest Kill-To-Loss Ratios”

  1. Comparing your own actual loss with the victories claimed by your pilots make no sense at all, and it's clearly how this video was made.
    There is no way the kill ratios of P-51 and Spitfire can be that high against technologically similar opponents. Other sources provide vastly different numbers.

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  2. I admire the Brewster Buffalo as Finland “sporterized” it by removing a lot of the weight added by the Navy for US Carrier use. Also realize the Buffalo earned its statistics two years before the USA even entered the war. We were still flying P-36 and P-40 as front line fighters at that time.

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  3. Of all the ships the type 7 sunk how many of those were able to put up a fight. 703 were built and one survived the war. I am sure the 15000 sailors who died on the type 7 are stocked they made the top ten.

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  4. Ridiculous. The P-51 was up against untrained pilots in aircraft that were ordered to attack bombers.
    The Buffalo had extremely well trained pilots against unevenly trained pilots often in superior aircraft.

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  5. No, Type VII U-Boats did not 'distinguished itself primarily by sinking military vessels, excluding merchant ships.'. The U-221 sunk the Fagersten (Norwegian Steam merchant), Ashworth (British Steam merchant), and the Senta (Norwegian Steam merchant) on it's first mission without survivors making it off any of the ships. Every single one of those 'Wolfpacks' were against convoys of merchant ships. Someone needs to give you guys a history book.

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  6. Deeply flawed, mathematically unrepresentative of the realities of each weapon mentioned and dotted with factual mistakes. Meaningless. Bill H.
    P.S. I'll be 'buzzing off' from this channel.

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  7. If the kill ratio is calculated based only on the direct reported records of individual pilots, the ratio is much higher than the actual number. Japanese pilots also reported three or four times more than they actually shot down. For example, in the air battle in March 1945 when New Japanese Shidenkai fought with the F6F for the first time, each side reported they shot down 40 to 50 enemies. But actually, each side had loss of 16 or so.

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  8. Fact is that the hawker hurricane had three times the numbers of the spitfire and although slower was the backbone of the RAF in the battle of britain. It shot down as many planes as the spit and was predominantly the reason you dont goose step down the road to the shops! The RAF upgraded the spit several time and concentrated on it rather than hurricanes.

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  9. It should be noted that claimed kill ratios for air combat are often highly exaggerated , partly because multiple pilots/gunners might be credited with the same kill, or an aircraft beleived destroyed actually made it back to base or used a deceptive tactic . Postwar examination of loss records is the only way to be certian and often this doesn't occur for decades, if at all

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  10. The Hellcat had a higher kill rate and lower loss rate than the Corsair, as awesome as a fighter it was. The Hellcat made ordinary pilots aces, due to its ease of handling and toughness. Corsairs required more experienced pilots, but yeah they were kamikaze killers too.

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  11. Strange: the spitfire and the Messerschmitt bf 109 were both produced during the whole war. The bf 109 is the most produced fighter plane worldwide of all times. The spitfire is the most produced british fighter of WW2. How do they end up having both highly positive kill ratios with 13:1 and 21:1 if they were paired against each other?

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  12. Interesting facts and stats, but they are only valid when viewed as one part of the larger picture. Crew's training and experience, leadership, how the weapons are utilized, how many saw combat, and enemy quality being faced all enter into the picture. If Germany had a smarter leader or more factories and soldiers, we may all be speaking German or Japanese now.

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  13. A pair of corrections…location is in Lee County SC, not in Congaree National Park. It is Scape (no R) Ore swamp, not scRape Ore swamp. Bishopville SC has a Lizardman festival the last Saturday in June every year.

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  14. To mention the German Submarines is really ridicolous. The Kriegsmarine lost 30'000 of 40'000 sailors. Maybe the U-Boots have been a success at the beginning of the war. From 1942 an on the Atlantic was a sloughterhous for the subs. The submariners where the troops with the highest lost ratio of all.

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  15. Hmmm… at one point, the narrator says, "planes lost," and at another, she says, " Pilots lost." I don't know why the verbiage was changed, but it does have an impact. Comparing apples and oranges.

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  16. Spitfire Battle of Britain numbers are LIES. Spitffire suffered officialy 303 Cat.3 Battle Casualties, but when considering Cat.2 it was together at least 699, most probably more in combat. Real number of victories (destroyed + severely damaged enemy aircraft) was just above 1:1 ratio. I dont know who is doing this shit, but it wasn't historian at all.

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  17. Hmmm, the Nazi submarine was given a 15 to one rating, very impressive! Up until the Nazi Enigma code fell into the Allies' hands when a captured sub was unable to sink itself in time. After that they were sitting ducks, and over 700 unsuspecting, brave young German men suffered horrible deaths in them, how does that relate to your silly rating?

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