Author Topic: B25, made of kevlar?  (Read 955 times)

Offline Snubby

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B25, made of kevlar?
« on: September 09, 2007, 07:04:51 PM »
Ive noticed this a few times now..  but most obviousley today..

I was in a 38 coming off a jabo run and see a low 25 blasting away trying to HO people in a firball below me..  

I figure, hell is on the way home anyway..

hes in level flight and blasting away at some other fighter and doesent even see me..

I walk 50cal and 20mm from tale to nose..

nothing..  hit him with probably 15/20 cannon rounds and no telling how many MG rounds....

swung pulled up dodged his return fire, turned around,  dodged his HO attempt, came in high six and walked another line across him.. FINALLY taking some chunks off, but not enough to down him outright..  

headed RTB because i only had 2 min of fuel left, got the kill just before landing..


im not a historian, so i may be fully in the wrong.

Were these planes renowned for taking tremendous amounts of damage? or what..

because I swear what I put into this guy would have downed a flight of B17s.

I usually fly a corsair, but since the CV generals never want to do anything worthwhile with the fleets im drifting away from it, anyway I just chalked up having fits with them in my -1 to not hitting convergence or just plain being a poor shot..    but after seeing one stand up to the 38s death ray like that.. i was astonished.

Offline E25280

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Re: B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2007, 07:21:03 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Snubby
Were these planes renowned for taking tremendous amounts of damage? or what..
Yes.
Quote
Originally posted by Snubby
because I swear what I put into this guy would have downed a flight of B17s.
No way in hell.
Quote
Originally posted by Snubby
I walk 50cal and 20mm from tale to nose..

nothing..  hit him with probably 15/20 cannon rounds and no telling how many MG rounds....

swung pulled up dodged his return fire, turned around,  dodged his HO attempt, came in high six and walked another line across him.. FINALLY taking some chunks off, but not enough to down him outright..  
Quit "walking a line across" your target and hit the same area with a concentrated burst.  If it is on the body, expect less than if you hit a wing or the stabilizers.
Quote
Originally posted by Snubby
I usually fly a corsair, but since the CV generals never want to do anything worthwhile with the fleets im drifting away from it.
Why?  Just take off from an A base.  You don't need a CV to up a Corsair or any other "carrier plane."  Heck, I think the Corsair was used just as much if not moreso as a land based plane in any event.
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Offline Saxman

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2007, 07:31:16 PM »
I'd like to know where everyone is finding these bullet-proof B-25s. I took a single-ping pilot kill from 2k out from the rear gunner on a B-26 last night.

And as 25280 said, there's no need to wait for a CV to be doing something to up a Hog.
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Offline Ack-Ack

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2007, 07:51:15 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Saxman
I'd like to know where everyone is finding these bullet-proof B-25s. I took a single-ping pilot kill from 2k out from the rear gunner on a B-26 last night.



No kidding.  If anyone knows how to get these bullet proof Mitchells, please pass it along.  I'm tired of my B-25H getting blown apart when someone gives it a dirty look.


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Offline VooWho

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2007, 09:45:11 PM »
Um sorry to pop your bubbles but the B-25 is not made of Kevlar but Dragon Skin. :D
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Offline DaddyAck

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2007, 09:49:43 PM »
Hey how about those wings falling off too, thats fun when that happens. :confused: You start a 45 or so angle dive to try and hit something, next thing ya know wings are gone when ya try to pull back out. :rofl

Offline Snubby

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2007, 09:54:25 PM »
ok, so what it boils down to is the ground crew loaded my 38 with marshmallows..

next time i WILL pay for drinks.

Offline DaddyAck

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2007, 11:42:10 PM »
CC, cause the B-25 can and will go down. I have killed them in my 38 before, just concentrate your fire on the wing root. :aok

Offline Nilsen

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2007, 03:19:40 AM »
Ive actually found that the B25 is one of most fragile planes here. Doesnt take many hits before its tail or wing come off. I dont use 50cals tho as i mostly fly 109s.

Offline DaddyAck

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2007, 03:48:24 AM »
MMM, 109s. Toss a few taters at a 25s wing and watch it fold like a lawn chair.:rofl

Offline Ghosth

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2007, 08:36:19 AM »
Snippage.............

I walk 50cal and 20mm from tale to nose...................(end snippage)

First mistake right there, esp with .50's.

Pick a spot, and pound THAT spot, until something drastic fails.
Be it wing, tail, engine,cockpit, whatever. Try to hold your fire in that spot and pour the ammo in till it breaks or blows.

Fuse shots in a bomber are your worst bet for a quick clean kill.
They are big, hollow, and have nothing vital but control lines running through them. The back 2/3rds of most bomber fuses are virtually worthless to shoot at. Bullet goes in one side and out the other. Ok you have a pair of holes but you've not destroyed its structural integrity. When you "walk" your fire you have a whole lot of holes, but still nothing destroyed.

Pick one wingtip, shoot it till it falls off, that buff is dead, he may not know it yet, but he's dead. Been here since first beta and I've yet to see a single bomber land with a missing wingtip.

Offline Karnak

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2007, 11:56:56 AM »
Mossie kills them easy and doesn't have that much more firepower than the P-38 (seven 50 equivilent on the P-38, twelve on the Mossie).
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Offline whiteman

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2007, 01:08:12 PM »
I flew around 30 mins last week missing half the parts on the plane when someone tried to vulche me on takeoff. Been pretty tough for me.

Offline sethipus

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2007, 01:31:27 PM »
I've seen my share of B-25s go down with lost tailfeathers and the like, so I'm not supporting the notion of bullet-proof B-25s, but last night I fly up behind a B-25 in my 109 k-4 and fired a good burst of 13mm and 30mm cannon into it, seeing a couple of taters burst in it.  Nothing obvious happened, so I fired another short burst into it.  Same thing.  So I fired a third short burst.  With each burst I saw a few mg hits and a couple of taters.  I overshot then, pulling up hard to yo-yo back down onto it when someone else came in and finished it off.

I was astonished to see it take a good 5-7 taters (plus however many mg rounds) without lighting on fire or losing something critical.  

I guess the rule on B-25s with the 30mm is don't just fire a short burst like you do against a fighter.  Gotta hold it down at least a half second or longer.

Actually, against B-17s, Lancs, and B-24s I've seen the same thing, where if I "walk a line" of 30mm across them, I may end up hitting it with 5 or 6 30mm rounds, and still not blow anything critical off.  The 30mm do a lot of damage, but if each round hits a different part of the plane, you can end up not destroying the plane even with 5 or 6 hits.  But two hits in any one area will almost always do it, and 5 or 6 hits even scattered over the plane will often light it on fire, which is good enough.

Offline Tiger

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B25, made of kevlar?
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2007, 02:23:33 PM »
I gotta get on my procurement officer... my 25's are made of recycled news paper.  They light up like cigarettes if someone flys by me, they dont even have to shoot me.


Like everyone pointed out, walking your shots on Bombers is not a good idea.  The only time I find it effective is coming in on a 3 or 9 pass with a 110 and dropping cannons on all three planes in the formation.  Normally will kill 1 and damage the other 2 enough that they will eventually die.


And FYI:  the corsair was used more as a ground based fighter than a carrier based one due to difficulties landing it on the CV.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2007, 02:27:26 PM by Tiger »