Early war planes

[pez]

obviously the game has focused mainly on mid and late war up to the point when the areanas where split up which leaves a real lack of early war planes.

i'm thinking that some TRUE early war planes would not only bolster the numbers of early war areana aircraft selections but would also give us more accurate special events. many times i've seen zero's replace nates or oscars. that's like haveing p40 replace wildcats they're just to differant (as a side note i think a D3A Val would be more accurate modeling if you where going to substiute for a nate with what we have now.

anywho my quick wish list is about 10 new early war plane

japanese
nate
oscar
maybe another bomber

american
buffalo
P39
(note early war but ) HELL DIVER (muahaha)

british
could us several more early bombers

anyway that's what i want

[ridley1]

He-111, wellington are just two that come to mind right off the top.

Now we can bring in a french plane..that won't be a hangar queen

But that's the glaring problem of the split to the 3 arenas...not enough early war planes.

[army900]

hellz yah

[Ghosth]

Totally agree

[Reynolds]

Das Heinkel.

[Iron_Cross]

Yes bring the early planes.

The ones I can think of off the top of my head are:

American;
P-39, Brewster F2A1/2/3, TBD Devistator, B-25C, P-36/Hawk 75

German;
He-111, Do-17

Italian;
Sm-79, C-200, C-50, Cr-42

Russian;
I-16, Yak-1

British;
Wellington, Stirling, Gladiator

Japanese;
Ki-21, Ki-27, Ki-43, G4M

Finally Some French planes;
D-520, Ms-406,  Arsenal VG 33, Bloch MB 152

[Col. Flashman]

Brewster F2A development

In 1935 U.S. Navy laid down specifications for a replacement for the Grumman F3F biplane equipping its four carriers. Brewster Aeronautical Corporation developed a design (by Dayton T. Brown, chief designer) for a modern monoplane fighter with an enclosed cabin and retractable landing gear. The first flight of the XF2A-1 prototype was on 2 December 1937. The prototype was equipped with a 950 HP Wright R1820-22 Cyclone engine and a Hamilton Standard variable pitch propeller. The Navy accepted the XF2A-1 during June of 1938 and ordered series production of the F2A-1 for its carriers.

 Brewster F2A-1 "Buffalo" specifications
Wingspan:    35 feet
Length:    26 feet
Height:    11 feet 11 inches
Empty weight:    3785 pounds
Max weight:    5040 pounds
Engine:    950 HP Wright Cyclone R-1820-34
Armament:    1 x 0.30 cal machine gun + 1 x 0.50 cal machine gun in the fuselage plus optional 2 x 0.50 cal machine guns in the wings.
Max speed:    311 mph at 18000 feet
Service ceiling:    33000 feet
Range:    1000 miles

Finnish Brewster B-239
The Brewster F2A-1 based B-239 export model was the premiere fighter of the Finnish Air Force during the early years of the Continuation War (1941-1944). Also known as "Pearl of the Sky" and "Butt-Walther" in Finland

Acquisition to Finland
Finland bought 44 Brewster B-239s in 16th, December 1939, but they were received too late to see any combat during the Winter War.
Unit price was 54 000 USD plus packing and delivery costs, also 10 spare engines, 20 propellers and other spare parts were purchased for a total sales price of 3.4 million dollars (168 million Finnish Marks).
To the purchasers surprise all US Navy "property" were removed at the factory from the Brewsters bought by Finland: guns, sights, instruments and carrier equipment.
Initially separately purchased Aldis-optical (binocular) sights were used, but in the spring of 1941 before reflector sights (Finnish Väisäla T.h.m.40 sights which were based on Revi 3c) were installed in the Finnish Brewsters.
Metric instruments were installed in Finnish Brewsters.

The Finnish B-239 "export"-models were equipped with refurbished R-1820 G-5 engines taken from DC-3 airliners.

The B-239s were designated from BW-351 to BW-394. Read more information about Brewsters to Finland at the Fighter Tactics Academy web-site.
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/BWtoFAF1.htm

During the war the single 0.30" machine gun was replaced with a 0.50" (12.7mm) and in 1943 all except one Finnish B-239s had four 0.50" machine guns. The wing guns had 400 rounds and fuselage guns 200 rounds each (0.30" had 600 rounds).

Pilot seat armor was installed to Finnish Brewsters (important difference for pilot safety compared to F2A-1 and dictated by the Winter War experience). There was a lot of other little fixes, changes and improvements to the B-239 that were made locally in Finland during it's career.


Photo: Hans Wind rolling for takeoff in his BW-393 belonging to 3rd Flight of LeLv. 24 in Suulajärvi airbase early September 1943. SA-kuva.

 Brewster B-239 specifications
Wingspan:    10.67 m
Length:    8.03 m
Height:    3.66 m
Wing area:    19.4 m2
Empty weight:    2020 kg
Typical takeoff weight:    2415 kg (with 300kg fuel)
Engine:    950 HP Wright Cyclone R-1820-G5.
1000 HP with War Emergency Power (for 5 mins max).
Armament:    3 x 0.50 cal + 1 x 0.30 cal.
Later 4 x 0.50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns.
Max speed:    480 kmph at 4750 meters. 428 kmph at sea level.
Service ceiling:    9900 meters. Climb to 3000 meters 4 minutes 12 seconds, 5000 meters 7 minutes 10 seconds.
Range:    1350 km with 390 kmph cruise speed (full 600 liter fuel load), flight time 3 hours 30 minutes. Max flight time over 4 hours with lower speeds.


2./LeLv.24 Brewster, BW-372 (Pekuri's fighter) at Tiiksjärvi, Feb 1942

Color and markings
During most of the wartime the Finnish B-239s had a yellow color east-front identification band on the engine cowling as well as in the rear fuselage and under wing tips. The camouflage colors were black and olive green on top, bottom was first aluminium dope and later light grey. Often the floor window was covered or painted over.

Combat use by the Finnish Air Force
Brewster B-239 enjoyed considerable success in the hands of Finnish pilots during the WW2.

"During its combat career in Finland the Buffalo is credited with 496 enemy aircraft destroyed [Soviet & German] against the loss of nineteen Buffalos, for a victory ratio of 26:1. After five years of combat attrition only eight Brewsters remained in Finnish inventory and were used in the training role until late 1948, more than ten years after the XF2A-1's first flight." - Source: _F2A Buffalo in Action_Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc. 1987

During the Continuation War Lentolaivue 24 (fighter squadron 24) was equipped with the B-239s until May 1944 when the Brewsters were transferred to Hävittäjälentolaivue 26 (fighter squadron 26). Most of the pilots of the Lentolaivue 24 were Winter War combat veterans and the squadron achieved total of 459 kills with B-239s while losing fifteen Brewsters in combat.

The top scoring Brewster B-239 pilot was Hans Wind with 39 kills in B-239s. Wind scored 26 of his kills while flying B-239 designated BW-393 and Eino Luukkanen scored 7 more kills with the same plane. BW-393 is credited with 41 kills in total making it possibly the single aircraft with most air victories in the history of air warfare.
http://hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/faf/wind.html

The top scoring Finnish ace Eino Juutilainen scored 34 of his 94 and half kills while flying B-239s (28 kills with BW-364).
http://hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/faf/juutilai.html

The last flight made by the Brewster in Finnish service was in 14.9.1948.



More detailed info on Brewster kills
http://hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/faf/brewkills.html

Plans for re-development in Finland: Humu
During the war a new aircraft based on the Brewster design was planned. A single prototype called "Humu" was constructed and was the only surviving member of the Brewster F2A/B-239 family (before the recovery of BW-372).    
Related article(s):
Information about the "Humu" and photos of the prototype on display at the Tikkakoski Air Museum.
http://hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/faf/humu.html

Information sources

Excellent detailed photos of Humu
http://www.trerc.fi/galleria/tikka1/

See also Brewsters to Finland at the superb Fighter Tactics Academy web-site.
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/BWtoFAF1.htm





    * Brewster Model 239 by Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman and Klaus Niska. - Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia 1. Apali Oy. 4th edition. 1995.
    * Lentäjän näkökulma 2 = Pilot's viewpoint 2 by Jukka Raunio [Jukka Raunio]. 1993. - 255 p. ISBN 951-96866-0-6
    * F2A Buffalo in action by Jim Maas. - Squadron/signal publications, inc. Aircraft Number 81. 1987.
    * More references on FAF
http://hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/refs/refs.html#faf

  FAF in the Second World War

    * Aircraft of the FAF in WW2
http://hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/faf/ww2air.html

[Reynolds]

Yup! Like the way the Brewster looks! Like an american I-16...

[rogerdee]

how about a early b17  with out all the guns,gloster gladiator of course and a cr42 bring on the bipanes lets have some fun

[Panzzer]

Finally - now all the requests for the Brewster (Model 239) don't seem as silly when we have a MA where it would see some use.
(Time for the Brewster?)

[Puck]

LaGG-3, MiG1, Yak-1...

The focus on late war monsters has hurt the three arena system.  IMHO we need more early/mid war to even things out.

[Dan216TH]

There's always space for the Avia B-534, Gloster Gladiator, Fokker D.XXI, the Polikarpov I-16, Reggiane Re.2000 Falco 1, Potez 633, Morine-Saulnier.406, Heinkel 112, Hawker Fury Mk 1/2, Dewoitine D.520 and the Rogozarski IK-3

[Puck]

No point getting carried away.  The I16 will see as much use in the early arena as the Spit I did in the old main.  Each arena will gravitate toward the "monsters" for that era, because that's just the way most people are.  YMMV.  


We do need the main players, though, particularly in the early war arena.  The plane set there has some apparent deficiencies.  

Anyone else remember when Nate presented the Kate?  I was embarrased to be a member of the community given the way he was treated.  I wish he had done more like it!