One more... Tank busting attack...

IL-2 series is one of my favs in the sim, spent more time in them than in all other planes combined (and I play the sim from the demo times). :grin:

1. About the defensive gunnery:

Keep in mind your gunner only has 150 precious rounds, but because he is a panicking SOB, he will usually discharge them into empty air before the fighters even enter the gun coverage area, leaving you toothless. That's why I disable the reargunner at the beginning of the flight, but that means I have to constantly keep switching between front and back seat to check your 6. Of course the gunner is quiet as a mouse when fighters approach - you only hear the shooting, and it's usually too late then.

When attacked by enemy fighters, I usually keep the gun quiet and fly straight - this makes them think my gunner is either out of ammo or killed, and that I haven't spotted them. Usually they cockily approach directly from rear presenting a nice target. Use a bit of bank, so enemy is not directly behind your tail, wait for the right moment and open fire just before you estimate he would. UBS hits very hard from front, especially the inline engines. Again - don't waste ammo, you only have something like 10 seconds worth of it. Versus 109s with no gunpods and/or no 108s you stand a very good chance of shooting him down this way. Versus 190s and up-gunned 109s you'll need a bit of luck. But remember - deceiving them into thinking your gunner is incapacitated is cruical!

2. Antitank loadouts:

IL-2 is one of the best antitank platforms in the game. The IL-2 Type3M sports two fast firing 37mm antitank cannons with 50 shells each. These can easily destroy anything up to Panter when you shoot into the side or the back of the tank approaching horizontaly. You can even take out Tigers with this weapon, but you'll have to climb above the tanks, dive on them and shoot the top. This is quite risky since the climbing makes you a slow target visible for many AAA and fighters in the area, and it also prolongs the time you spend over the target (which you of course want to minimize).

Other efficient antitank weapons in IL-2s arsenal are - Cassettes and VAP-250 on early versions, PTAB on later versions. These loadouts work great when attacking tanks in column, but you have to drop them very accurately, since they do no damage if they land besides the tank - they have to hit the top of the tanks! Line up the column very accurately, fly about 20 meters high and drop the loadout. In case of VAP-250, fly at about 40-50 meters. PTAB is extremely efficient, but you only have one drop, so you have to find as many tanks lined up as you can. The best antitank weapon in game is undoubtly BRS-132. You need to score a direct hit, but that should not be a problem after some practicing. Direct hit it always destroys a tank, even the biggest ones. The only problem is you are only carrying two pairs for two shots. If you really try hard enough, you can however get two tanks with a single shot, but it's risky since both rockets can miss and you've wasted them:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Two_tigers.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o_tigers_1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o_tigers_2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o_tigers_3.jpg

:mrgreen:

In real life , some IL-2 gunners also carried the DAG-10 grenade launcher . These 2kg grenades with a parachute could be aimed at the fighters attacking the IL-2 , it was timed to explode 150m away , sort of air-mines . It was also installed in some Pe-2 's .

It would be truly amazing if a mod could be made by Daidalos team to implement this on some models of IL-2 , although it is perhaps too much of work

Impressive screenshot Tinytim ! now that's proper aiming :)