AE Air Issues and Air OOB Issues [OUTDATED]

[NormS3]

Any chance that the Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf will be included.  It was never in action but 180 were built and used for training. 

[pad152]

[font="arial"]Will airgroups have experince rating for both day/night like ships? Sure would be nice to beable to train air groups for night combat.
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[Cathartes]

Any chance that the Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf will be included.  It was never in action but 180 were built and used for training. 

Not there, but many others.

[PzB74]

Something which has been forgotten by WitP:

When ac are sent on kamikaze missions they do not intend to return to base.
Alas, their actual striking range is doubled!

Hope this is not forgotten in AE...

[pad152]

ORIGINAL: PzB

Something which has been forgotten by WitP:

When ac are sent on kamikaze missions they do not intend to return to base.
Alas, their actual striking range is doubled!

Hope this is not forgotten in AE...

Well that's not exactly true, most of the kamikaze were given just enough fuel to get to the target, so they would/could not return, sometimes the planes were packed with extra explosives (extra weight that would limit range). Most kamikazes pilots had very little training which limited their effective range.

[PzB74]

If kamis were sent to a target far enough away it would be possible to pack in more fuel instead of extra ordnance.
In WitP kamis doesn't carry any extra ordnance at all - in RL old Zeroes carried 250 kg bombs.
Most kamikaze pilots followed a more experienced 'guide' pilot to the target.

This could be the strike leader or an 'observer'.

So I suggest that kamis are given a range that equals 100 or at least 80% of their transfer range.
Ac seldom attack from more than ca 10 hexes anyway.

[Akos Gergely]

Just put up this thread in the main forum, please add your comments dear AE Dev. team.

tm.asp?m=1749249

Thanks

[timtom]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Is there any chance of making night fighter squadrons capable of being divided in flights to cover a larger area?  This was a common practice among RAF squadrons.

Yes.

ORIGINAL: pad152

Will airgroups have experince rating for both day/night like ships? Sure would be nice to beable to train air groups for night combat.

Currently no separate rating for night flying, sorry.

ORIGINAL: csatahajos

Just put up this thread in the main forum, please add your comments dear AE Dev. team.

tm.asp?m=1749249

Thanks

TBD-1 current extended range = 240 nm.

[spence]

I recall seeing that the 5th AF will have some bonus for skip bombing. It ought to be recognized that the USN never had any particular fascination for high altitude bombing with their level bombers.

[spence]

Another masthead attack by a USN 4E bomber

[mdiehl]

When ac are sent on kamikaze missions they do not intend to return to base.
Alas, their actual striking range is doubled!

Alas, the majority of them were sent out with half fuel loads because they weren't expected to have to fly home.

[Mobeer]

The problem with kamikaze flying with half a fuel load, or to twice it's normal range, is that if it finds no worthwhile target, it cannot turn back. A fully fuelled kamikaze at normal range attacks with fuel on board (to burn a target) or returns to fly again.

This is something briefly covered in 'Nemesis' by Max Hastings (p424), though no generalisation is made from the single unit reported on.

[Dili]

I am sorry if this was answered, but will it be possible for recon flights to have fighter escort?

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: Dili

I am sorry if this was answered, but will it be possible for recon flights to have fighter escort?

No. On the other hand, air strikes do some recon.

[Rainer]

Interesting.
How do you know, are you part of the AE team now?

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: Rainer

Interesting.
How do you know, are you part of the AE team now?

Sorry, I misunderstood your question. Let me rephrase my answers. First the game already does some recon during air strikes. Second, air recon has historically not been escorted, for a whole lot of reasons. I did the original concept for a air recon system, so I have a little background here. Allowing players to escort recon would be unhistorical.

Better, now?

There are basically three types of air recon--surveillance, mapping, and investigation of specific points. Surveillance means flying out and checking out the traffic. You do it in patrol aircraft and it's rather difficult to escort a long range patrol aircraft for very long. Mapping is similar--you're recording what you see. A bit easier to escort, except that the mapping aircraft flies really high. To do a point reconnaisance, you fly in, take a look around, and fly out. Stealth and surprise is very important, and escorts are not very useful. Another thing you want to do is to avoid giving the enemy an idea about what you're interested in. That means maskerovka. If you were to escort your recon flights, that would be so many sorties that you might as well fight it out.

'Nuff said.

[Dili]

In Europe and in Africa escorted recon was common as battlefield recon or as a trap.

[HMSWarspite]

Only tactical recon, which almost doesn't happen in WitP. Strategic recon was almost without exception unescorted.

Also, what do you want to escort with? The PR version of an aircraft is almost always higher performance than the base (due to removal of guns, armour etc).

[Rainer]

It wasn't my question. It was Dili's question.
I only wondered why you feel qualified to answer his question.
You didn't, as you clearified. You just stated what you feel had happened "historically".
You may easily confuse people by not making clear what you are talking about.
Thanks for your reply.

[Rainer]

That's what herwin pointed out.
Most recce planes were superior in speed and especially altitude to fighters. Most were either not armed at all or had only very light defensive arming.
In WitP the Lockheed F5, which is basically a recce version of the P-38, is a good example.