I have noticed in CLOD that it is very rare to see planes on fire compared to other sims. When you do it looks really nice though! I mainly fly British planes so maybe this will change in the future when the 20mm come into play?

I beg to differ!

Have a good read through the many, many combat reports around and you will see that the 8x .303 was ferocious at close range in real life... a incredible amount of rounds tearing through planes with authority and more often than not resulting in belching thick clouds of smoke, fires or even severing tail sections!!

Given this evidence it is quite ridiculous in the current porked state to get over 200 solid hits at deflection on a 109 only to have him glide back to base with a stuttering engine. You can even put 1000 solid hits into an he111 and have it cruise back to france with little difficulty, quite absurd seeing as the most notable record of bomber survival for this period was the Do17z that took over 200 hits. Let's

One other thing to add is that the differences in ammo loadout can yield very strange results... try loading every gun with dewilde and watch as you blow the wings off an He111 with a split second burst- everytime. Il2 1946 is still far more well rounded in the damage model as is but this has good potential should these glaring bugs be attended to.

It's the same for both sides I am going back to the e-1 the cannons are pathetic atm a solid hit on a spit or hurri and the aircraft just flies on.

Good! JG52 flew E1's in the battle anyway. ;)

Tried incendiary ammunition?
Tried hitting a fuel tank?

Stuff doesn't burn unless there is heat, oxygen and fuel. Some sims (older ones) aircraft "blow up" when you shoot the tail off.... the increased damage modelling should result in more "realistic" incidence of explosion.

You DO know that most of the top scorers waited for the enemy aircraft to basically fill their crosshair before firing? You can spit bullets from 200m as much as you like, not many of them will hit.



I do not know if 15mm AP ammo of the Friedrich nose gun can penetrate the cabin, but there`s always the underside radiator that can be damaged with normal MG calibre. The more complicated DM when compared to the old IL2 will also benefit the attacker here.

Anyways, virtual 109 pilots had enough time to learn to deal with them.

Yeah, lol, "the tank of the sky" IL-2. One short well placed burst of MG on that oil radiator and it's history, in IL-2 1946 at least. After a little practice one could single-handedly take out a whole squadron of those things. If they have the same weakness in BoM, no need to use any precious 15mm cannon ammo.:)

It would be tricky though if the pilot knew what he was doing and flew at tree top height.
Some good battles in VEF with Il2's and those pesky I16s with green lasers.

You have to keep an open mind in 1941. There`s hardly such a thing as bomber hunting missions in it. The 109s meet a lone group of one seater IL2s so most think it is going to be a walk in the park. They take each one of the IL2s but things change drastically when those destroyers turn on you and start to to send you some 20mm. Not pretty, saw it many times.

Oh yes, parking your self low and slow behind a IL2 and peppering away while the other IL2 swings in a blows your wing off, was not a good idea.