Mitsubishi Stuka and Thunderbolt

[majorfailure]

The engine on the P-39 is not tough at all - if you get shot from behind and slightly off-angle. Against ground fire and defensive fire it is very well protected.

And vs. gunner accuracy -currently playing vs. US/British, and on the first few missions I bothered to make head on or high off angle attacks vs. B25G/J -until I got lazy and tried to shoot a few from behind and it worked like a charm. Just go in there from 6'o clock below/high with lots of speed, shoot, and break at the latest at 200m.

Though VS. B-24 or B-17 this does not work. But using high or beam or head on attacks with good speed one nearly does not get hit. I have seen a flight of AI B-17s chopped up by AI Bf109G6s from behind with no losses once or twice, but most of the time the AI Bf109s lose one or two. And they more or less park behind the B-17s.

I like the way gunners are now, the still pose a limited threat - you can't get totally careless, but its not as fustrating as 4.09 and before where they shot out your pilot/engine with 50% reliabilty from 300m+ no matter what angle and speed you had -and even regularly killed you on head on passes.

If anything is done to lower their accuracy even more we will arrive at ridiculos scenarios where a single AI Bf109G will shoot down a whole flight of B-17s.

[Treetop64]

Originally Posted by majorfailure

The engine on the P-39 is not tough at all - if you get shot from behind and slightly off-angle.

Historically, this is one of the things about the P-39 that made it particularly vulnerable to fighters attacking from behind. Not only the engine being where it is made it vulnerable to fighters, but the Prestone overflow tank and the oil tank were positioned directly behind the engine, making them extremely susceptible in air-to-air combat.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by majorfailure

Though VS. B-24 or B-17 this does not work. But using high or beam or head on attacks with good speed one nearly does not get hit. I have seen a flight of AI B-17s chopped up by AI Bf109G6s from behind with no losses once or twice, but most of the time the AI Bf109s lose one or two. And they more or less park behind the B-17s.

Yep. While I think that there's more to be done with gunner realism, things got a lot better in 4.11. My typical test is a QMB mission with 4 ace attackers going after a flight of 16 Average bombers. In those cases, it usually works out to 50% losses on both sides when late war German types go up against U.S. heavies. And that's with really dumb tactics on both sides. (i.e., Fighters never make high side or head on attacks. Bombers are always in loose echelon right formation with four planes per flight, and lose formation as they turn.)