B-17 Burns Too Easily In Game?

[Pursuivant]

Wow! What a great resource. I hope there are mission builders out there who will take advantage of this great spreadsheet.

My point about flak wasn't that it couldn't be devastating, but that by the end of the war, the U.S. had partially learned to counter it.

Not to be disrespectful of the men who flew the later missions, but the earlier war experiences of the 8th and 15th air forces in 1943, and the late war experiences, in late 1944, are almost two entire worlds.

In 1943 you had lots of skilled German fighters, limited escorts, and relatively inexperienced American crews. Not surprisingly, the U.S. heavy bombers got massacred. By Autumn of 1944, the skilled German pilots were dead, most of their planes lacked fuel, allied fighters ruled the skies over Germany, and the U.S. bomber crews had lots of experience.

The real measure is how tough it was was how many missions the Air Force required for each "tour of duty" - in 1943 it was 25, in early 1944 it went to 30, by late 1944 it went to 35. In the Mediterranean, crews flew 50 missions, but got double credit for certain missions.

Anyhow, not to hijack the thread, but I think that it's not so much vulnerability to bombers that's wrong, it's how they're used and behave in the game - no evasive action to avoid heavy flak or fighters, too-low altitudes, improper formations, and, to some extent, lack of coordinated gunnery.