What bloody good is the .........??

[JeffroK]

With a few more posts around the forum I though we might get some interest up and running.

As an AFB I have a plethora of SE Fighters in England and Sicily/Italy, some even have the range to cover Calais!!

What do different players do with their various Fighters, do you even waste time in flying the Spitfire VB or VC, are the Mustang I & IA a waste or is there a use for them (AS TacR they should have cameras) is the P47 a better escort than the P38H & J.

The RAF has a lot of LF rated fighters, at what level do they reign and when do they start to fall away.

It would also be intersting to know what the LFB (Luftwaffe Fanboi) thinks of the Allied Fighters, especially in the 1943/early44 period.

[JeffroK]

One experiment I am working on is getting the RAF to operate the Spitfire LF MkVIII from the United Kingdom. Starting with the MkVB then VC I am refitting them as units become available. This I am aided by USAAF squadrons being upgraded to US Fighter types and I also converted 3 RAF Sqns to Typhoon IA to provide Italy with some ooomph.

Only in early days, but at least I have a more capable fighter which I now use more.

[JeffroK]

After 5 months of the 43 campaign I have some opinions. Losses to 4 Feb 1944 are 5670 Allies to 6067 Axis

P39, 40 & Kittyhawks Not very useful. In Aug-Sept 43 I used them to escort raids into the toe of Italy but as soon as I could sold them to the Soviets.

Spitfire MkV's Better than the P40, but not by much. I hardly ever used them, again some short range raids.

Spitfire VII, VIII, IX, XII. Pretty similar, flying at their rated heights they perform OK.

Spitfire XIV Just started to arrive, had a few good raids and sweeps, time will tell.

P38 The early types are OK for their time, the "J" starts to be good especially as high cover. Just started to receive the "L"

P47 Something odd, the P47-6 did well as an escort at both close & high cover. When the P47-15 arrived I kept (I think) the same tactics and they started to lose heavily. Maybe the Luftwaffe improved at the same time??

P51B/C & Mustang III A winner at the moment, could have cleared the skies if they had 6 x 50cal.

Typhoon II has been an enigma, they have some great ratings but rarely score a victory, Mosquito FBVI are target practise, as were Hurri IV & Whirlwind.

[Gunnerchimp]

Your experiences with Allied aircraft petty much mirror my own - the P-39, 40 & Kittyhawks rarely register any kills in combat and almost always suffer losses when engaged. I guess this is fairly true to history - Hans Joachim Marseille claimed over 100 of the P-40 and its derivatives during his short career, although he was of course an exceptional fighter pilot.

The early Spitfires also struggle, and it's only the IX that can hold its own. I've seen higher than expected losses with the LFXII; it doesn't offer any advantage at all over the IX and seems to come off worse when employed in a mixed escort even at optimum altitudes.

I would agree with your comments regarding the newer P47s too. Something strange going on there, especially as when you come up against them when playing as the Axis, they tend to blast most things out of the sky with very little losses.

[JeffroK]

I forgot the Mustang I & IA.

IMVHO the game should have them as Tac Recce type, and allow limited straffing of targets.

[Gunnerchimp]

Playing a '43 Allied campaign and have found that the P-38H now performs very badly,even when operated at its optimum altitudes etc. Last few turns they've failed to kill anything and always suffer losses, even when bouncing. Morale was high, little fatigue, so don't really get it. I know they're not the best a/c out there, but in 1943 they are the only long range fighter available until the J model comes in to play in sufficient numbers. I'm using them as 3k & 6k high escorts for low level bombing raids from Corsica.

[JeffroK]

Got another "odd feeling" situation when the P51D/Mustang IV arrive. They dont seem as effective as the P51C/Mustang III.

It might be they lost some exp points in the change so I'm running sweeps with them.

[JeffroK]

One "hate" I have in the game is that the computer thinks it knows best and allocates new types to squadrons, I try to build up a strike force by allocating the best aircraft to the best squadrons and the computer does its own thing and uses up the pools!!!!

[john_txic]

Also, you can't change Tempest Vs back to Typhoons!

[JeffroK]

Thats because the Tempest is a Fighter and the Typhoon a Fighter Bomber

[john_txic]

Perhaps - but in this wonderful game it shouldn't bomb! ISTR they were not cleared for RPs or carriage of bombs until after VE Day.