Personal plane modifications for aces.

[oc2209]

I've always wanted to fly the 109F-4 with 13mm cowl guns instead of the default peashooters. Historically, Adolf Galland did manage to have this modification in his F series plane.

 

While I could simply propose that the devs add customization options for a wide range of planes, I realize it would add work with no monetary incentive, and also be playing loose with history to allow such custom changes to become commonplace. Therefore, in the interest of pragmatism and realism, I instead would ask the devs to consider an "Ace Aircraft" or "Famous Aircraft" series of collector planes. The requisite for such planes to be purchased would be first owning the parent plane (or the Battle package the plane comes with, like Stalingrad or Bodenplatte).

 

For the price of, say, $5-10 dollars, these planes would come with a few special skins and extra modification options (only if a historical basis exists). This would, in essence, make them highly specialized collector planes.

 

Once purchased, the planes could be used freely in quick modes, or after reaching a certain rank and kill count (different for each nation) in career mode. This would reflect the level of influence that very top-level aces historically had (at least, influence over their own personal planes), while creating an incentive to perform well in career.

 

I welcome any further suggestions forum members might have for other famous, notable, or experimental variants of planes we already have in the game.

[oc2209]

Just to elaborate, I checked my books; Galland had a 109F-2/U1 in which he had the 13mm installed. The custom bumps were much smaller than the factory versions in the G series. His second unique plane was a 109F-6/U, which had the standard F factory armament, plus two 20mm (the same as in the E series) in the wings. The F-6 used a DB601N engine and ran on 100 octane. Unsure of performance stats.

 

A third unique plane of his was mentioned, but I can't find a description of it. He claimed 13 kills while using these 3 planes.

 

I realize that a Galland plane (with his paint jobs) couldn't be used realistically on the Eastern Front. So this concept of mine inherently requires some historical fudging, which probably makes it a non-starter to most people here.

 

That said, the ability to customize planes as real pilots did (even if only in very rare cases) would make career mode considerably more interesting. What I'd really like to do is copy the Russian idea of having 1 heavy machine gun replace 2 lights. So, a 109F-4 with an option of one or two 13mm. Having only 1 would make the weight difference between it and a standard F4 negligible.

 

Likewise, this idea would be a good way of having Spitfire Vs (and later marks?) with 4 cannon. Or maybe Yaks with variable armament. Were Thunderbolts or Mustangs ever flown with cannons, as experiments?

[LukeFF]

Eh, I honestly don't think you're going to find that much interest in that sort of thing. I hate to be that one to say it, but there is another game out there that is all about those sorts of mods. 

[oc2209]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

Eh, I honestly don't think you're going to find that much interest in that sort of thing. I hate to be that one to say it, but there is another game out there that is all about those sorts of mods. 

 

I know it screams "arcade" or "casual", but the point would be to keep it limited in scope.

 

So, no, you couldn't be a rookie pilot and put a 30mm in your 109 in 1941. But if you were a 100-kill ace, a Knight's Cross holder, and a celebrity... yeah, you might be able to have your mechanic put some 13mm in your 109 circa late '41 or early '42.

 

As it stands now, there's no career reward (beyond smug self-satisfaction) for getting high kill counts and tons of medals. This would be a way to explore odd, but not ridiculously implausible, variations of planes we're very familiar with. It's still nowhere near requesting Luftwaffe UFOs. I realize it's all a slippery slope, but if we can establish that at least one plane carried an experimental weapon configuration into combat, it's really not far fetched to make it a career reward. And, of course, I'd be willing to pay for it.

[ZachariasX]

2 hours ago, oc2209 said:

But if you were a 100-kill ace, a Knight's Cross holder, and a celebrity... yeah, you might be able to have your mechanic put some 13mm in your 109 circa late '41 or early '42.

Not at all. You'd be given an aircraft to fly. Often, that aircraft wouldn't be available due to repairs etc. and you'd simply take whatever is there from the squadron. Galland really is about the only one ever having some stuff done to his aircraft, but even then on the whole the modifications did not really impact his flying. But even he made his career on what are basically stock aircraft.

[oc2209]

9 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

Not at all. You'd be given an aircraft to fly. Often, that aircraft wouldn't be available due to repairs etc. and you'd simply take whatever is there from the squadron. Galland really is about the only one ever having some stuff done to his aircraft, but even then on the whole the modifications did not really impact his flying.

 

If that were the case, then I guess all the aces who personalized their planes (McCampbell's Minsi I, II, and III; Bong's Marge, Priller's Jutta, etc) did so for no particular reason.

 

I get that this proposal is unpopular, but there's no need to exaggerate to the opposite effect. A high-ranking ace would absolutely have more control over their planes than the average pilot. More typically this would probably be manifested subtly, in terms of certain maintenance requests; or with Galland, having a telescopic sight mounted along with the reflector sight.

 

I'm not asking for the ability to install advanced, one-of-a-kind prototype engines.

[LukeFF]

The thing is, Galland's Bf 109 modifications were practically only ever made to his planes, in other words, out of the thousands of 109s built, only an extremely miniscule fraction of a percentage were ever tweaked to his specifications. Hartmann, Barkhorn, Graf, Nowotny, etc., all flew stock aircraft with no exotic changes made to them - and we know this, because there is plenty of historical evidence showing what they flew. Were they given the best-performing planes in their unit? Sure, but that's hardly unique - every nation during the war gave the best-performing planes to the most experienced pilots.

 

In the case of Priller, if you are talking about removing the outboard cannons on his 190, I will concede that it did happen, but it wasn't a one-off modification in that case and I agree that it would be a nice mod to have for the A-8.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by LukeFF