The P40 defending Moscow

[Sublime]

Someone mentioned flying P40s versus the LW raids on Moscow sounded zesty.

It is.

i recommend flying the P40 at 73% rpm and adjust throttle accordingly.  The engine is hard to break that way. (Cowl at 2 or 3%) mixture 66% unless engine damaged 100%

almost every mission I take very heavy ai gunner damage. 3 times I caught fire but bailed.  No PKs thank god.

some observations:  extra ammo- yes.  Deleting 2 .50s... im on the fence but leaning to yes for this role.  I suggest making your self squadron CO and almost daily you will fly bomber intercept.

i recommend setting altitude at 3km not 2km for WP,  spot the bombers and do a head on. I notice a head on in a HE111 H6 for whatever reason almost always sets the airplane ablaze. 

i also noted someone saying they never saw planes explode.  This career I have 1 109 F2 kill and 45 He111s.  2 exploded.  One the wing sheared the plane yawed hard and exploded, and it crashed into another one.  I actually cackled out loud. 

my tactics are thus- if low on time airstart at 3km.  Other wise climb.  This will allow a shallow dive on the He111s head on and will put you at or over 300 mph.  After first pass I come back around anf start shooting them from behind.  You have lots of energy. Totally igniore the enemt fire but dont sit too long plinking at a plane.  Spray it if one engine smokes *qt all* itll eventuallt break.  Move to 2nd engine. Also remember the mission is to stop the raid. For each 3 ship if ones hit the others drop and rtb. So I come up fast as hell on pass 2.

Coming from below and 7 o clock or 4 I hit the lowest corner bomber.  Take bullets.  As the speed retains fairly well I blast past him. Sometimes Indont take any bullets yet sometimes Im already suffering engine damage.  I hit one bomber; pull up hard ti hit the next 'step' and roll to dodge that one and end up popping out ofnthe formation. Hopefully.  Rinse and repeat.  Amazed I havemt suffered a PK.  I average 2 or 3 HE 111s a mission.

But its quite zesty and I turned on external views sonwhen I parachure or ditch I can watch the He111s limp back. 

I wish dead crew stayed dead andnslumped and didnt disappear.

Anyways my grammar disaster post - that was what I was trying to say all

Edited March 17, 2020 by Sublime

[Bilbo_Baggins]

23 minutes ago, Sublime said:

 

I wish dead crew stayed dead andnslumped and didnt disappear.

 

 

I really thought the crews stay slumped over? How long roughly until they disappear?  

[RedeyeStorm]

A couple seconds. Only unconscious pilots stay slumped. Flew a 110 mission and my gunner bought it. It was disconcerting to look back and see an empty seat! I made a similar remark and was told they remove dead gunners/pilots for performance reasons.

[PatrickAWlson]

2 hours ago, [Pb]RedeyeStorm said:

A couple seconds. Only unconscious pilots stay slumped. Flew a 110 mission and my gunner bought it. It was disconcerting to look back and see an empty seat! I made a similar remark and was told they remove dead gunners/pilots for performance reasons.

 

If you looked very closely you would have seen the small pile of ash on the seat.

[Sublime]

6 hours ago, Bilbo_Baggins said:

 

I really thought the crews stay slumped over? How long roughly until they disappear?  

Seems 3 to 5 seconds

Im sea dragons I lost a gunner. 5 min later i go external seats empty.  But I for sure hit a111 bad. Pilot and nav. A lucky hit put my planeon fire.

I bailed and immediately switched to the 111.  The nose compartment was empty. Ok pilots dead. Maybe theyre bailing.  They were. But I counted chutes and 2 short.  Further more I often will pause (once I noticed this if Im pretty sure I just killed a gunner. Its hard to tell usually as reloads can make you feel youve hit them.

This is when I was sure.  I didnt run 500 or 100 tests. But 3 times - once I got a perfect head on pass - at least 50 rounds hit the nose and some hit an engine the plane caught fire immediately. Paused ctrl f2.  Pilot and bombardier slumped over dead.  Unpause. F1 pull up and over turn. Pause. Check. Planes empty. Crew hasnt begun bailing yet.

Tests 2 and 3 from dead astern - first a large burst hit the top and hitting pause saw I killed a top gunner.  It was also all my ammo. I put the plane in a dive and kept pausing and checking every second or so.  The plane never was downed. Gunner disappeared. Very similar with number 3 but it was a bottom gunner

Any idea why 111s 99% of head on passes if I hit it catches fire but I can pour waaay more lead and more accurately from behind and it doesnt.

Not all head on passes lead to a He111 fire. But like 99% of passes where you get more than 3 hits do. Anyone wanna check this? Serious

P40e vs He111 h6

Dive on them frm 3km they at 2km.. head on passes

[ShamrockOneFive]

Head on attacks are very effective if you're able to land shots. It's more difficult but can be very effective.

 

There are probably more reasons why they are more effective but there are some basics. First, head on means that the speeds involved are significantly higher. The two aircraft have closure rates closer to 800-1000km/h in some cases so that's significantly higher than say 20-100km/h from behind. Second, there's more aircraft to shoot through from behind versus up front where the cockpit and the most sensitive areas of the engines are (the prop hubs, the gearing etc.).

[Sublime]

Hmm.  Ok.  Cuz if you test it its VERY noticeable - if you hit the 111 head on 4/5 times a fire erupts.  I was more thinking that big glass nose would be a disaster against 6 .50s but the fires do em in really

Its difficult at first but you can easily fly near daily bomber intercepts only and get A LOT of practice. Its like day 55 and I have 44 Heinkels! (For me a lot.  Esp with terminator ai gunners. Peshkas i cant f with tho) but yes I do occassionally mess up. Its very important ti see them early and be 1km above when your about 9km away. You start diving to get the 300 mph speed..  but I can make the shots land if Im from 11 to 1 o clock.  Worse angle I just buzz them which funnily *does* break up the formation.

By the by in a LW 12 bomber formation who would flight lead be?  Middle top right? Thats who my first attack is always on.

And why am I not seeing Ju88s?

Wow I jinxed myself.

Hit post. Unpaused.  Mess up head on turn quickly.

Hit leads left wingman alot. Finally he burns. Go back. Start hitting a random 111.  Suddenly my pilot gets knocked out and my plane breaks in half; tail gone.

The dreaded 20mm shell impact.  I watched the plane flat spin all the way down. Guy wakes up. Refuses to bail.  Its iron man so I dead up cheated and paused and quit the mission. 

Yea yea. I know.   I already feel guilty.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Sublime