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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[christoffermonikander]

The fact that the Brewster Buffalo is number 1, just proves that Kill to Loss ratios are a ridiculous standard to measure the effectiveness of a weapon system. The Buffalo was no more than decent when introduced, obsolete when the war started and got slaughtered when up against modern fighters such as the Zero. But because so few numbers of it took part in world war two, and because the Finns had great success against equally obsolete soviet fighters and bombers, a mathematical quirk makes it the best fighter of the war. It is a cool plane but it wasn't good, and far from best.

[imghoti]

When she opened with, "The elephant..." I thought she was taking us back to Hannibal, the Alps, and the Second Punic War over 2, 000 years ago!

I thought, "Dang! This is gonna be a loooong video!" 😂

[Applekrate]

just short of 3 min into, there is a claim for Corsairs being introduced at Guadalcanal Feb 13, 1942. It was more likely- Feb 13, 1943

[nekonohige]

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.

[ScoutSniper]

Fat Man and Little John, each lost by 1 and with a kill ratio of approximately 94, 000 to 1 bomb each.
Smokes the hell out of the runner ups and for miles in every direction.

[StumpkillerCP]

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.

[blank]

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.

[mataharitattoo]

I recently have a Patient who was Commander and gunner of a Stug 3. Damn, His Stories are amazing...

[leonardogoulart]

How come both the spitfire and bf-109 have such high k/d ratios? They mostly fought each other.

[jenniferusher]

There is a complaint that Soviet weapons are not mentioned in this video with their kill ratios. But WWII is much like today and it isn't fair. Today, Russian tanks of various types have destroyed an astonishing number of Ukrainian mines, drones, javelins and artillery shells.

[Yakko]

The Type VII U-boat did exceptional damage. The Battle of the Atlantic was among the last to turn in the Allies favor. The U-Boat menace was among the few things that reportedly caused Churchill to lose sleep. That said, by the end of the war, the U-Boat force had something like a 70% loss rate. About the only unit with a higher loss rate would've been the Kamikaze Corps.

[haltux]

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.

[steveclarke]

If you had bothered to do the research you would find out that post war statistcs proved that both allied and axis airforces overclaimed by atleast 50% on Air to Air kills, so your video would plainly be a fail if you submitted this as an essay for your history degree.

[RoaroftheTiger]

It was the excellance of the Finnish Pilots .... As for saying that the capable performance of the Brewster Buffalo was mediocre, is too kind. Where is Brewster now ? 'Nuff said.

[FarmerDrew]

It's not even just that the Corsair had 2 more guns and a way better climb rate, it's that they had cool songs like "Wings Over The Navy"

[danielh]

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.

[vita]

Erich Hartmann. fucking Legend with around 352 Aerial Victories. Survived the War, joined the West German Airforce and taught Flying in Air Schools till september ´93 before finally resting.

[ukusagent]

Technically it wasn't the Elephant when it went into battle at Kursk, It was the less Modified Ferdinand version of it

[Thirdbase]

Since the Iowa class battleships sank at least one enemy ship and suffered no losses, doesn't that give them the highest kill to loss ratio?

[bubute]

You forgot italian 'Maiale', kill ratio: 2 battleship + 1 tanker vs 3 mannen torpedo