Japanese Bomber defensive fire

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: stuman

For what it is worth, here is a pic of a Sally crew with a kill :

Interesting those Allied aces flying for the Japanese...

[viberpol]

ORIGINAL: Puhis
I think easiest way to see if bombers have kills is to check top pilots list? Every pilot with one or more kills is listed, and plane he is flying. So if there's no bombers mentioned, no bomber pilot have any kills.

My top pilot lists (2 PBEM games 9/42 and 10/42) have only fighter pilots.

But the bomber crew with score can be just as easy a fighter pilot drawn by mistake from reserve, so that you never know if he actually scored a kill in fight flyin Sally. [;)]

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: viberpol

ORIGINAL: Puhis
I think easiest way to see if bombers have kills is to check top pilots list? Every pilot with one or more kills is listed, and plane he is flying. So if there's no bombers mentioned, no bomber pilot have any kills.

My top pilot lists (2 PBEM games 9/42 and 10/42) have only fighter pilots.

But the bomber crew with score can be just as easy a fighter pilot drawn by mistake from reserve, so that you never know if he actually scored a kill in fight flyin Sally. [;)]

iirc, if they scored victories in the aircraft they are not currently flying, there is a asterisk next to the kill number.

[viberpol]

Really? [:)]
I thought the asterisk is there to mean that there is a better airframe available... [:D]
Seriously, I don't know... but I believe the asterisk is there to signify the airplane upgrade path change between carrier/land based aircraft or somethin beyond my understanding.

I have several pilots in A6M5s with multiple kills but with asterisk (scoring those hits flying A6M3as.... but then there is some as Mr. Ikura on Hiryu that didn't score 7 kills flying A6M5 because that's the new frame. He didn't have enough time to score all hits flying this plane.



[EDIT] or you meant "the last one kill"? So that when Tokuda and Handa score next kill in A6M5, the asterisk will disappear?
You may be right... [;)]

[inqistor]

One of my BETTY units have 13 kills (but I do not think any of "scoring" pilot is still alive, I remember one of them had 3 "kills"). On the other hand I have few pilots with "kills" in RC squadrons, including ACE in Army Ki-15 "Babs" with 8 "kills".
In PzB game against AndyMac, one of Japanese Bombers shot down P-38 Lightning few months ago.

[Puhis]

ORIGINAL: inqistor

One of my BETTY units have 13 kills (but I do not think any of "scoring" pilot is still alive, I remember one of them had 3 "kills"). On the other hand I have few pilots with "kills" in RC squadrons, including ACE in Army Ki-15 "Babs" with 8 "kills".
In PzB game against AndyMac, one of Japanese Bombers shot down P-38 Lightning few months ago.

So you don't pick your replacement pilots manually, do you? If Babs pilot have 8 kills, he really is a figter ace. Babs have just one 7,7 mm MG, it's not going to shot down anyone...

Automatic pilot selection will screw thing up like that...

[stuman]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

ORIGINAL: stuman

For what it is worth, here is a pic of a Sally crew with a kill :

Interesting those Allied aces flying for the Japanese...

I paid them to come join up with the other side [:)]

Actually I don't know why the 2 allied guys were listed there. This is from a game I stopped playing a while back but still had saved. I used to see Allied pilots in lists like this now and again, but it doesn't seem to happen any more.

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: Puhis

So you don't pick your replacement pilots manually, do you? If Babs pilot have 8 kills, he really is a figter ace. Babs have just one 7,7 mm MG, it's not going to shot down anyone...

Naah, its Vanilla. I actually checked whole problem closer, and...
I was wrong. It was NAVY BABS, not army. Plus, there are 4 RC pilots with kills, but all in the same unit. They have 8, 2, 2, and 1 kill. What is more, unit screen reports NO KILLS. They are currently sitting at Canton,and probably did not have seen any ships, or planes in 6 months.
I have also discovered BETTY unit with 95 kills! But no pilot have any "scores". On TOP PILOT screen, except for fighters, I have only 4 mentioned earlier RC pilots, and one Sally.
One of my Kwantung TOJO unit have over 100 kills, but considering, they most of the time gets their butts kicked, by the Russkies, and I would consider 50 kills probably too much, I have an theory:
damages to planes are somewhat linked to enemy pilot, or plane. When whole unit is overrun (on ground, or sunken ship) kills are applied, as though planes were destroyed during landing, because of damages. Probably some flag is not cleared.

Now, in WITPAE this could be repaired, but I do not think that aspect was even considered. Just small reporting bug.

[ChezDaJez]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

I bet there sure were Allied fighters shot down by Japanese bombers. Sure not often or comparable to Allied heavy bombers but a kill now and then sure happened.

Lundstrom and his book, "The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign" lists a couple of F4Fs that were shot down by Bettys. USN and USMC pilots learned to stay away from the 20mm tail stinger if at all possible. That's why they preferred high-side runs.

Chez

[crsutton]

I have to admit that I think there a lot more pressing issues in AE. I don't lose too much sleep over this one.....

[ChezDaJez]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I have to admit that I think there a lot more pressing issues in AE. I don't lose too much sleep over this one.....

Nor do I... but I do lose a lot of Zeros to those pesky B-17s! Be nice to have a Betty occasionally down an allied fighter in return!

Chez

[Puhis]

It's now December 1942 and one of my ki-49 Helen pilots have one kill!!! [&o]

[Nomad]

ORIGINAL: Puhis

It's now December 1942 and one of my ki-49 Helen pilots have one kill!!! [&o]

Four more years and you will have a KI-49 ace. [:D]

[zace]

would training up A2A affect this?

[Zigurat666]

On a side note since I too have noticed that Jap defense on LB seems ineffective,I only look at bombload,range and speed when selecting aircraft in the upgrade path. I never take into consideration the defensive armament of the plane itself,only for fighters. After reading this thread I had a look, I am in June 42 and no kills for any of my LB's
Thanks for ruining my day...

[ChezDaJez]

ORIGINAL: zace

would training up A2A affect this?

I don't think you can train bomber crew in A-A. Fighter bomber crews, yes. Bombers, no. At least I haven't found a way of doing it... training that is. You can take a pilot with good A-A skills and add him to a bomber unit. Don't know whether that would help or not.

Chez

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: ChezDaJez

ORIGINAL: zace

would training up A2A affect this?

I don't think you can train bomber crew in A-A. Fighter bomber crews, yes. Bombers, no. At least I haven't found a way of doing it... training that is. You can take a pilot with good A-A skills and add him to a bomber unit. Don't know whether that would help or not.

Chez

the better the def ratings of my squadrons, the better they seem to do with counterfire. No tests, just a feeling, so that could be totally wrong too.

[Puhis]

ORIGINAL: Zigurat666

On a side note since I too have noticed that Jap defense on LB seems ineffective,I only look at bombload,range and speed when selecting aircraft in the upgrade path. I never take into consideration the defensive armament of the plane itself,only for fighters. After reading this thread I had a look, I am in June 42 and no kills for any of my LB's

I wouldn't worry about Japanese LBs defensive armament. All early models have bunch of 7,7 mm MGs and one heavier gun, 12,7 mm or 20 mm. Late war planes have better guns, no more 7,7 mm peashooters.

ORIGINAL: Nomad

ORIGINAL: Puhis

It's now December 1942 and one of my ki-49 Helen pilots have one kill!!! [&o]

Four more years and you will have a KI-49 ace. [:D]

Are you going to play that long? I think you're just about to surrender... [:'(]

[SuluSea]

ORIGINAL: ChezDaJez

ORIGINAL: zace

would training up A2A affect this?

I don't think you can train bomber crew in A-A. Fighter bomber crews, yes. Bombers, no. At least I haven't found a way of doing it... training that is. You can take a pilot with good A-A skills and add him to a bomber unit. Don't know whether that would help or not.

Chez

The better the air skill the better the bomber avoids flak , I'm with Sutton on defensive skill in helping defend bombers , no hard numbers though., just a feeling I get from losing low grade defensive pilots .