Favorite ground attack aircraft?

[gad11]

Hi all.

 

Just getting back into IL-2 and really enjoy the ground attack part of the game. Strafing, dive bombing, etc. Curious what everyone's favorite ground attack aircraft is? So far I enjoy the IL-2 with rockets as well as the Pe-2. What are your thoughts on the Hs 129 B-2? I see it's on sale and looks fun for ground attack.

 

Thanks!!

[Gambit21]

Jug

A-20

IL2

Pe-2

190

[gad11]

I want to try the A-20. Looks fun!

 

I will also add i love the U-2. So fun to bomb stuff in. Looking forward to playing tonight as I see today's patch added it to career mode with night missions.

[Gambit21]

Oh yeah...U2 for sure.

Forgot to add that one...which is funny because I just built a mission for it.

[40plus]

While there are more capable aircraft for this role, I have the most fun ground pounding in the Spit Mk9. I just find that its maneuverability allows me to bring my guns back around so quickly that I'm almost always firing at the target. . . . . good fun

[Legioneod]

IRL most definitely a P-47. In-game I enjoy the Il2.

[-SF-Disarray]

It really depends on target for me. The P-47 is a good all around attacker but it isn't all that good for anti tank work. For that I find the IL-2 really good and, oddly enough, the A-20 and JU-88 are good too. The later two can carry a lot of decently sized bombs that can, if appropriately applied to the target kill a lot of tanks.

[Gambit21]

9 minutes ago, Legioneod said:

IRL most definitely a P-47. In-game I enjoy the Il2.

 

The namesake of the sim gets too little attention IMHO.

I've always enjoyed flying it.

[WheelwrightPL]

HS 129 B-2 i s definitely worth a buy. It is extremely easy to fly (no radiators, mixture or engine-governor to worry about in automatic mode). However: once you become more experienced with it you can squeeze some extra performance by manually adjusting propellers' pitch, engine-boost and mixture. Also HS 129 B-2 has overall the best guns for ground attack: in one of previous patches I managed to destroy an entire train in one pass with guns only.

[CanadaOne]

The IL2, the whole IL2 and nothing but the IL2. 

 

Was it ever really in question?

 

 

[MasserME262]

3 hours ago, WheelwrightPL said:

HS 129 B-2 i s definitely worth a buy. It is extremely easy to fly (no radiators, mixture or engine-governor to worry about in automatic mode). However: once you become more experienced with it you can squeeze some extra performance by manually adjusting propellers' pitch, engine-boost and mixture. Also HS 129 B-2 has overall the best guns for ground attack: in one of previous patches I managed to destroy an entire train in one pass with guns only.

Yet the 129 is a beast for ground attack, I cant learn to fly it properly. Really struggle so much with engines performance, that I usually dont fly it nor try to do so above 500 metters. Just stay low and shot, but really cant climb with it, its engines makes me dont want to fly it. Is it just me or happens to you as well?

[WheelwrightPL]

36 minutes ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Yet the 129 is a beast for ground attack, I cant learn to fly it properly. Really struggle so much with engines performance, that I usually dont fly it nor try to do so above 500 metters. Just stay low and shot, but really cant climb with it, its engines makes me dont want to fly it. Is it just me or happens to you as well?

 

If you need to climb quickly you have to do three things (you can swap the order of the first two):

1) Turn-on boost (it is a separate button).

2) Turn-off automatic engine governor (this will allow manual propeller pitch control).

3) Start to manually control those propellers in order to rev-up the engines to the ragged edge (I think the max is at 3000rpm). BTW the tachometers are mounted on engine nacelles so that's where you must look. You have one minute until the engines blow up, which should be sufficient for a rapid climb though.

[CrazyDuck]

IL-2 by far. A flying tank with 700+ kg of armor, armed with two heavy hitting VYa-23s, rockets and bombs. In usual configuration with 8 BRS-132 rockets and 6 50 kg bombs, you can kill 14 tanks with precise aiming even before you switch to guns and kill some more. Using team tactics (one group drags the flak to itself, while the other swoops in from behind and bags the AAA), IL-2s are unstoppable. The only serious threat are a Mk108 armed fighters (which should be dealt with your escorts - in theory at least).

[Bilbo_Baggins]

22 minutes ago, CrazyDuck said:

 A flying tank with 700+ kg of armor

 

Good grief that's a tremendous amount of armor- sorry to ask but are you sure that's accurate? 

[Ribbon]

A-20

Fw190 A5/A3

P47

Pe2

 

 

[CrazyDuck]

1 hour ago, Bilbo_Baggins said:

 

Good grief that's a tremendous amount of armor- sorry to ask but are you sure that's accurate? 

 

Yes, and this holds for single seaters and straight winged two seaters. The late war "arrow winged" versions (usually erroneously designated "Type 3" in western literature) have around 900 kg of armor (due to gunner getting the much better protection). That's also one of the reasons for relatively modest bombload. Light MG fire and more importantly - flak shrapnels from nearby exploding flak shells couldn't penetrate the hull of the aircraft, where engine, pilot and fuel tank lied. These were protected from every direction, even from above (for flak shells exploding above the aircraft). It's an insane number indeed, about twice as much armor as the modern A-10 carries.

Edited February 5, 2019 by CrazyDuck

[SYN_Ricky]

Il-2

Bf-110

A-20

I-16

 

 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

1st:

 

 

2nd:

 

 

3rd:

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by =RR=ROCKET_KNUT

[Dogbert1953]

Anything that does not hit the ground, when i am trying to hit the target.  ?

 

Mike.

[Godspeed]

Bf 110

 

Only what is missing is Me 410 with air brakes

Edited February 5, 2019 by Godspeed

[Herne]

I'm really quite fond of the JU87. go in high deploy airbrakes and engage siren, then hug the deck all the way back to base.

[Blackhawk_FR]

14 hours ago, gad11 said:

What are your thoughts on the Hs 129 B-2?

 

Very good at killing tanks and vehicules. Since last tank DM modification, Mk103 seems more efficient than double BK37 (not sure because I didn't tried a lot, but it seems).

It's really slow, it's a disadvantage, but it's an advantage for his main task: shooting at tanks, because it's easier to be precise. 

I suggest to use flap (50% and even 100% if you attack from tree level) to have a nose down flying attitude (easier to aim also). 

 

Ju88 is lovely, quite fast, quite versatile, and it can carry 2,9t of bombs if I remember.

 

The most versatile aircraft of the game to me is the 110G2.

Edited February 5, 2019 by F/JG300_Faucon

[Sandmarken]

Po 2! I go in low over an active target and nobody notice me. Then i pray there aa is out and use 40 minutes to go back to base at 140 kmh ??

Edited February 5, 2019 by Sandmarken

[BlitzPig_EL]

A-20 hands down.

Then P-40, P-47, IL2. and Bf110 in that order.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

I like the 110.  Works great in ground targets and messes up IL2s and Pe2s pretty well.  Surviving a bunch of fighters is a challenge but hey, that's part of what makes it fun.

[CrazyDuck]

15 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

I like the 110.  Works great in ground targets and messes up IL2s and Pe2s pretty well.  Surviving a bunch of fighters is a challenge but hey, that's part of what makes it fun.

 

Yeah, 110 is fun to fly for ground pounding as well. I particularly like the weaponry - nose concentrated guns, which makes them far more deadly compared to wing installations, and tons of ammo for them (especially in G2). What I'd love to see is selectable belting for MG151s - pure AP ammo would come handy quite often (tanks of all sorts - also the flying ones - come to mind as juicy targets). Also the 12 SC50 loadout enables you to take out up to 12 tanks with precise aiming. It's also reasonably fast, carries respectable bombload, and can even surprise a cocky fighter in a turn.

 

However, due to being a large and unarmoured it's quite hard to survive in if you find yourself in flak or fighter rich area. And rear gunner is virtually useless on this bird.

 

Edited February 6, 2019 by CrazyDuck

[Dutchvdm]

• Bf-110

 

Still would like the F model though. Come on devs ??! It's just different engines and some small adjustments in the cockpit (Like blue lights, and headbar the G2 already has). 

 

I like the heavy bomb-load and good gun arrangement. In it's current state it's pretty durable and it just a very nice and easy to fly plane. Even when heavily loaded.

 

• Fw-190 

 

For 1943 the ultimate hit and run aircraft. 

 

Grt M

Edited February 6, 2019 by I./ZG1_Dutchvdm

[danielprates]

If "favorite" means the one I like  best, instead of the one I think is the overall best, my favorite is the Me-110.

[Georgio]

On 2/4/2019 at 10:57 PM, gad11 said:

Hi all.

 

Just getting back into IL-2 and really enjoy the ground attack part of the game. Strafing, dive bombing, etc. Curious what everyone's favorite ground attack aircraft is? So far I enjoy the IL-2 with rockets as well as the Pe-2. What are your thoughts on the Hs 129 B-2? I see it's on sale and looks fun for ground attack.

 

Thanks!!

 

Loving the A20, tough bird with a huge bomb load and flies like a fighter once the 'eggs' are laid.

More than capable of holding it's own against opposing fighters, even the rear gunner can hit stuff and best of all if you lose an engine it flies quite happily on one....

[gad11]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

I have found lately I like to use the Bf 109 E-7 for ground attack. I am using Pat Wilson's Campaign Generator and having a blast in this little plane.

[Falcon-90]

- Messerschmitt Bf 110: The GREATEST combination of bomb load, speed and gunspower which is devastating thanks to the concentration in the nose of 4 MG 17 and 2 MG                                                                         FF/M.

 

- Junkers Ju 88 / Petlyakov Pe-2 / Junkers Ju 87: They're very fast and they have a great bomb load. You can also use them like a bomber from high altitude or mostly like a dive                                                                                                               bomber with great results.

 

- Henschel Hs 129 / Ilyushin Il-2: They're almost on the same level to me, but i prefer the Hs-129 because of his guns concentration in the nose which allows a great precision in ground                                                                     attacking and i have always appreciated his stability during a ground attack.

 

- Focke-Wulf Fw 190 / Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-7: In my opinion two of  the best fighter-bombers in the game.

[NETSCAPE]