In World War II, fighters were used in four major roles. They provided close-air support for ground forces and also targeted troops and equipment. (Some few fighters were specifically designed for this ground attack role and, in the U.S. Army Air Forces, were designated "attack" planes.) At sea, aircraft carrier-based as well as land-based fighters attacked surface ships. For the Allies, perhaps the most important fighter role was escorting large bombers on strategic bombing missions chiefly over France, Italy, Germany, and Japan. These fighter escorts defended the bombers against enemy fighters playing the fourth role of this aircraft type: interdicting bombers.

For all four roles, fighters needed maneuverability. For all but the first role, they also needed speed. For the third and fourth roles, they needed maneuverability, speed, and a high service ceiling (so that they could either accompany or attack high-altitude bombers). For the third role, in addition to all of these qualities, fighters needed range. Without adequate range, they could not escort bombers all the way to their targets and back again. The progress of fighter development in World War II was directed at producing aircraft that excelled in all four areas of performance.

World War II began at the very end of the era of the biplane fighter. While all major combatant nations entered the war with a few biplane fighters still in service, most had already produced significant numbers of low-wing monoplanes. The typical monoplane fighter had a single engine, closed canopy, and retractable landing gear. Armament included, at minimum, fixed forward-firing machine guns. Some fighters also mounted cannon (increasingly important as bombers became more thickly armored), had wing racks for rockets, and could carry a modest bomb load or a torpedo. The quest for speed produced bigger, more powerful engines, culminating in early production of jet aircraft, especially in Germany. Even Germany, however, did not produce jets in sufficient quantity to make a significant impact on the air war.

While most fighters were single-engine designs, a few significant twin-engine fighters were also produced. The first was Germany's Messerschmitt Me-110, followed by the British Beaufighter and the Mosquito (which was also used as a light bomber). The United States produced the remarkable P-38 Lighting, which not only had twin engines, but twin fuselage booms, giving it a distinctive shape that prompted German pilots to dub it the "Fork-Tailed Devil." All twin-engine designs were sometimes used as night fighters, because they were large enough to accommodate the unwieldy radar equipment of the World War II era. However, the United States produced a twin-engine fighter expressly designed for the nightfighter role, the P-61 Black Widow. . .

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