Transport for Air Drop

[Uxbridge]

I'm quite sure, if the War in the West manual had been available prior to D-Day and dropped over the German lines, the war might not have lasted for more than a few months longer. Printed version or PDF, it wouldn't have mattered.

I'm also sure that the answer to my question is hidden somewhere within the short of impregnable blocks of letters sometimes refered to as 'text', but after two days of occasional search and decipher missions, its still eluding me.

Is there a way to calculate how many planes I need on an airbase to lift an airborne division? [8|]

[decourcy2]

There is a way but it is not pretty. Every division has a load cost. Every transport group has a load capacity. But you have to do the math yourself.

[Joel Billings]

The ctrl-a Airborne Planning screen can be helpful, but doesn't give you that exact info.

[Harrybanana]

The transport aircraft do not actually have to be at the same airbase as the unit to be dropped.They can fly there and pickup the unit and then fly to the drop zone. Of course, the transport air group does have to have enough range to do all this; so it is a good idea to have the aircraft based near the unit to be dropped. FYI I did do some rough calculations and it takes about 84 C47s to transport an American regiment and 127 to transport a British brigade.

[Uxbridge]

All right. So there needs to be around 300 Dakotas for an American division and somewhere over 400 for a British division? Now we're getting somewhere. I think there should be a way to 'see' these things.

Also, can any transport aircraft drop paras?

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Uxbridge


Also, can any transport aircraft drop paras?

Yes, any transport will do. It's only bombers that can't drop paras.

[Uxbridge]

Thanks. I thought perhaps only the Dakotas could do it, but this is probably a misconception, based on the available aircrafts when making movies.