Originally posted by 2stony
I too am a fan of the A-20. It has a great bomb load for a medium bomber, is fast and I'll challenge anyone to HO me with those six 50s in the nose.
You can do much more than just a defensive HO air to air with the A-20. You just need to make sure the fuel load is light (less than 50%).
It's rare that I get to play during the morning hours, but I had an opportunity today. I like the lower numbers and the general lack of lemming hordes. Rather than facing 15-20 enemy, I had to deal with 2 or 3, four at worst. In this environment, the A-20G can excel.
I was anxious to undo some of the damage my brother did flying on my account last night. He managed to lose as many aircraft in two hours as I had lost all tour. Although, he did kill 16 for his 12 deaths, pretty good for a raw noob. He lost an La-7 and a pair of 190A-8s trying to turnfight with Nikis and F6Fs... I asked that he not fly only a few types; the A-20 and all perk planes. I wanted to keep accurate numbers on the A-20 this tour. The rest were his to play with.
I flew just two A-20 sorties this morning, but landed 9 kills and two assists. La-7s, P-47s, B-17s and a Tiffie could be counted among those who were quite startled to find a twin-engine bomber beating their brains out. Anyone who underestimates the A-20G does so at their peril.
A typical example is an La-7 driver, who essentially Co-E with me, elected to try the rope-a-dope with me D1.2 behind. Bad idea as the A-20 zoom climbs like crazy. I suppose he was stunned to watch the distance drop to D.7 in a few seconds. I fired and scored well. He fell off on his left wing and the next burst pulverized the Lavochkin. Although he said nothing over channel 1, I'm sure he was baffled at what had just occurred. With experience, he may learn to judge E states better and avoid that situation.
It is quite common for players to execute a lazy loop to avoid the A-20. However, in most instances a Co-E A-20 will simply fly the loop, pull lead and shoot them out of it. Few fighters can pull off a looping reverse as tight as the A-20 can. Players would be far better off to split-s or make a diving reverse to take advantage of the A-20s slow roll rate and relatively low VnE (never exceed speed). You can use the A-20's remarkable dive acceleration against it. Once it zips up to 400 mph, any load over 4 G will break it. This is where you would reverse and gain the advantage of position, when you know the A-20 is groaning under the aero loading and just one mistake from tearing itself apart.
Unless you have a considerable E advantage, avoid situations where the A-20 driver can use the plane's awesome power-on zoom climb and/or super-tight power-off looping reverse to chop you down before you realize what just happened.
You can certainly hold your own fighting in an A-20, but they are not especially difficult to defeat if you:
A) Avoid fighting to the A-20's strengths.
B) Don't underestimate the Havoc's capabilities.
C) Don't run into a really skilled pilot who will get all there is to get from the A-20.
The A-20G can seriously abuse early-war fighters, like Hurricanes, A6M2 Zeros, F4Fs, P-40s and even the 109E and Spitfire Mk.I. This medium bomber is faster at low level, climbs well and is very durable. Later fighters, like 190s, F4Us and Typhoons should avoid trying to dogfight with Co-E A-20s. The Havoc will easily out-turn them. Better to dive away, extend and return with the advantage of speed and/or altitude. Turn fighters like the SpitV, SpitIX and N1K2 turn better, accelerate and climb faster. However, at 250-300 mph, the A-20 will hang on to them like glue. If the A-20 gets any kind of a shot, you will not likely survive it. Use your better roll rate to create poor angles, then use your turning ability to get behind. If you do not avoid the Havoc immediately, you will be dead as the A-20G is a terrific snap-shooter.
My regards,
Widewing
