The Best WW2 Fighter That Never Saw Combat: de Havilland Hornet.

In this video, we talk about the de Havilland Hornet, a late-World War 2 twin-engine fighter from Great Britain that very well may have been the best fighter constructed during the war. We first go on a brief detour to Britain’s battles in the Pacific War and talk about the Burma Campaign. We then go back to the Hornet and its predecessor, the de Havilland Mosquito. We compare and contrast the two designs – their performances, designs, construction processes, etc. – before looking at what the Hornet would be used for in Britain’s battles against Imperial Japan. We then talk about how its use in the war never came to fruition and what the plane ended up doing in the decade after the war, largely seeing use in training, air races, and record attempts. We also look at a carrier-based variant known as the Sea Hornet. We compare the Hornet to other famous and well-known fighters from the era, like the P-51D Mustang, P-80 Shooting Star, Me 262, and Do 335, and how I believe the Hornet stacks up. We end with the testimony of pilot Eric Brown and his feelings on the design.