Warbird Information Exchange

The F7F Tigercat would have fared extremely well had it been put into service earlier. IIRC, the first operational F7Fs were on their way to the war zone when VJ Day occurred, so I don't know if that still counts. It was as fast as the Mosquito, as rugged as the Invader or Havoc, very heavily armed in the day fighter role, could carry a respectable load of bombs and rockets in a ground attack role, and was versatile enough to be a two-seat night fighter. It did well as a night intruder in Korea. It also enjoyed a long post-war career as a fire bomber. It's only drawback was that it was never quite carrier-ready. Only the final F7F-4s were truly carrier capable, and not many of them were produced.

For early war, I'd vote for the A-20. It was one of the few American types available in the early parts of the war that was truly a world class plane...certainly the equivalent of its German contemporary the Ju88. Until the introduction of the Mosquito the "Boston" (as the RAF called it) was the light bomber of choice. Historically, the A-20/DB-7/Boston has been a very underrated and very overlooked airplane.

How about the Hornet - basically a Super Mossie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Hornet

The He219 and P61 Black widow