Quote:
The LWs tactics were not optimised to keep the fighter losses//Mustang kill ratio low. They tried to shoot down as many bombers as they could, and most of the time did so by throwing fighters in small portions at the bomber stream. And their intended target were the bombers.
And besides that - if the enemy manages to carry the fight to your homeland, than you are at a severe tactical disadvantage -you can not act, you react.
|
Again, there is a false chronology: There were less than 200 Mustangs operational in England to be used as bomber escorts from December 1943 until mid-April, 1944, during which the zerstörer Gruppe were largely massacred, and the jagdewaffe suffered its greatest attrition over Germany; that means that
the majority of experienced leaders and pilots lost were lost to Mustangs flown by mainly grass-green pilots (three of the first four Mustang groups didn’t fly a Merlin Mustang until they arrived in England less than two
bad flying weather months before entering combat), however well trained. The single engine fighters were there to mop up after the zerstörer units, and if there were fighter escorts to deal with them.
They had
no business fixating on bombers until after the zerstörer gruppe had been rendered
hors de combat by the end of March, and some of their number were reassigned to carry heavy cannon pods and rocket tubes to break up the bomber formations. At no time during this period were the German single engine fighters outnumbered over Germany by the fighter escorts. At best, they were misdirected or just couldn't get the job done.
As I have repeatedly pointed out before, that means that either the Mustang was an exceptional fighter in nearly every way, or most of the men in their cockpits were sons of Krypton flying
incognito.
Quote:
The Pony in Il-2 is fine (maybe except for the trim requirements). It is FAST. In a shallow climb or dive you outrun almost anything. And it keeps its speed if you don't hamfist it. At speeds where a P-40 would start losing parts it is stable like a brick. It climbs reasonably well and accelerates okay.
It has endurance a Bf-109 will never achive. It can carry a useful load of ordinance, or even more fuel. Now if I only could hit anything while flying it...
|
Except for the trim requirements? In this game, that level of endurance, even on the biggest maps, is unnecessary to the point of
parody. Speed and endurance are next to useless to a fighter that cannot be kept under control, and if you can't aim your guns accurately, it can't be called 'stable', like a brick or anything else. I would argue that the
whole point of the trim requirements (and a COG more consistent with an
overload fuel capacity) is to
keep you from hitting anything when you fly with it.
'Nuff said.
cheers
horseback