B-26 Marauder...uber?

[Rich46yo]

Ok, I was asked to post my new B-26 defense tactic against fighters slashing low against the belly. I actually thought of it while setting auto-climb in squadron formation flying.

1, When taking off set auto-climb, ALT-X, to 130 ".speed 130"

2, When bogey approaches you underneath go into tailgun and go to F3 view. You'll see when he starts his climb, when he about 25% into his climb hit Alt-X and the 26 will almost go vertical as its trys to find 130 mph.

3, Right away jump back into tail gun and allow him to climb right into the tailguns at which time you just slice him in half long before hes expecting it. If something happens and he breaks off first you can go into a shallow dive to get your speed up to do it again.

The Beauty of it is that once you start hosing him his first instinct will be to turn away. Which hangs him up even more. And now that the 26 has more speed and energy the tactic works even better cause it can now go even more vertical.

The Tactic is also good just to mess with an enemy, and, climb quickly to rob him of energy. You have 1,600 rnds in the tail gun so as soon as you see his red lettering lay on the fire and let him climb right into it. Also when you go into this vertical angle you make yourself smaller as a target.

Ive just been murdering enemy fighters with this tactic. Good luck and tell me how it works for you.

[ScorpCH]

man yall are some vicious son of a guns, my p38 dont stand a chance!  last time i flew a b26, i took the 3 plane formation to pork some troops at a nearby airfield.  i came in at about 10k and killed all the troops and just as i turned to go back to base i spotted an enemy f4u about 5k away and hi on my 7 oclock. i continued my turn and began to egress, while watching the hi f4u above me.  he passed over me and kep going.  i was just waiting for him to dive on me but he stayed at 5k distance the whole time.  i figured he was prolly afk or just didnt see me.  so i made a small ajustment to make it back to base.  next thing you know, the enemy base's radar comes back up.  i didnt see the f4u anywhere so i didnt think anything of it.  about 2 mins go by and im outta the enemy dar ring and im thinkign in the clear.  just then i heard a engine behind me and i jumped in the tail gun to see the same f4u 400 out on my 6.  no sooner did i bring my guns to bear on his nose i see a series of grey streaks coming off his wing.  before i had a chance to pull the trigger, next thing i know, im back in the tower.  the f4u had snuck up behind me and fired 6 rockets at me!  poor SA on my part for sure.  i admit it i got schooled, but rockets aint easy to aim, specialy at bombers so who ever you were, thats was some amazing rocket firing on your part.  i was a little pissed after the fact so i forgot to look who it was, which, for those of you who know me in the MA you know how short tempered i can be.

[comet61]

Usually my "belly" defense depends wholly on the cons "know-how" of how to attack a 26. I would say in my opinion that about 1/3 to half of the cons I engage try the "belly attack". In the case of a seasoned fighter jock that comes from under,  I try various maneuvers to throw off his aim. I'll climb steep to slow down so that my turret gun/tail have something to aim at. When the con is about 600-800, I drop throttle on the verge of a stall and bank hard either way. This I have seen will screw up his aim and over-shoot or try for one of the drones. I can do the same maneuver if he comes high on my 6, but pull way up on auto-alt so my turret has a good clear shot. Normally, for me, my defense is for the con to miss me and use his ammo before I do. I might lose one or even both drones, but usually not all three. Now this is a one-on-one scenario. With 2 cons, that defense tactic probably won't work, but, often times I will use the forward guns on a head on. I have had several kills because the con doesn't realize (or forgets) I have 4 stationary guns at my disposal. I can handle one con at a time, but once ganged up on, it's more difficult and alot of times just never make it home. I have on occasion have hugged the deck (500 or less) with good results but not advisable in those hilly terrains. I can out-manuerver alot of cons with an A20 at low alts by slowing down for the over-shoot and plus it's a tough bird. I usually make it 50-50 in an A20 other than the 26 which is 40-60...if that.

[Rich46yo]

I had a Mossie try the belly attack, and right after him a 110 lined up. I hit em both so hard they both exploded, and did so long before they thought I would have a chance to see them.

                       This tactic will work in a 25, a Boston, a KI-67, any medium bomber with an F3 view and without a belly gun. I never thought the surprise would last for long and guys would catch on to it. So just add this to your bag of tricks.

                      The beauty of Alt/X is you dont have to go into the pilots seat to set it and can do so while in the belly gun/F3 view. If you want to cancel it just hit X and you'll be back in auto-pilot.

                      I'll also say this for the Marauder, its steers great in the gunners seats using your rudders only. The great steering has allowed me to draw even with a few extremely good sticks attacking in the high angle slash. By steering into their slash, forcing headons, Ive outlasted some very good sticks. And if you can outlast a fighter, and send him home either smoking or low on gas, then youve won.

                  In this game speed is everything. The extra horsepower in the 26 means everything and opens up all kinds of options. In WW-ll they would retool an assembly line for an extra 30 mph.

[DoNKeY]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
Bishes, tho Im thinking of abandoning them. Were you flying last night about 1930 EST when five of the Rook frontline radars went down, one after another? Yep, that was me.

                          If I switch sides whats your game name? Mine is "bombrich". Escort on my radar busting missions would be great. All I would need is for you to tie up enemy fighters for a minute or two.

In game name is daDonkey.  I fly with the 412th, so were always in Mustangs.  Where ever you want to go, I can be right there with you lol.  Let me know if you  switch.

[Rich46yo]

Originally posted by DoNKeY
In game name is daDonkey.  I fly with the 412th, so were always in Mustangs.  Where ever you want to go, I can be right there with you lol.  Let me know if you  switch.

                               Cool, cause "happiness is a Mustang watching your back". Ive seen you out and about in a Mustang before. Very effective "radar busting" from a B-26. Best of all you can stay high and fast and dont need to dive onto the radars. I like to hit at oblique angles so that way after I take the radar down I can turn 90% to 180%, head for the next one, with enemy fighters hopefully headed downrange in the heading I was originally on when I approached the airbase.

                         Normally I can get at least 2 before they figure it out. But many times Ive gotten 4 or 5. Taking out the front line radars on an entire front opens up many opportunities for your team to go on attack mode and the enemy cant react as quick.

[DoNKeY]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
Cool, cause "happiness is a Mustang watching your back". Ive seen you out and about in a Mustang before. Very effective "radar busting" from a B-26. Best of all you can stay high and fast and dont need to dive onto the radars. I like to hit at oblique angles so that way after I take the radar down I can turn 90% to 180%, head for the next one, with enemy fighters hopefully headed downrange in the heading I was originally on when I approached the airbase.

                         Normally I can get at least 2 before they figure it out. But many times Ive gotten 4 or 5. Taking out the front line radars on an entire front opens up many opportunities for your team to go on attack mode and the enemy cant react as quick.

Oh, defiantly.  And I for some strange reason love to take a break and run escort or NOE missions.  Guess it's the teamwork involved during a sucessful attempt at working together to take a base/damage one.

So yeah, lol, hit me up sometime.  I should be on Friday or Saturday night, not sure.  Looking forward to some fun if you come over.

[Rich46yo]

We met tonight my friend, right after the map was changed over that airfield. Your attack, in the Spit, was well thought out but you made the mistake of hanging in the 6 of my 26s. I had someone else do it right after you did. That is the last airplane you want to hang up in, in its 6. It has so much ammo in the tail gun the odds of surviving are very low.

                   I just took some KI-67s as radar busters. I took down 4 radars and got into a death fight on the way home. Incrediablly a P-51 survived numerous cannon hits and I ran out of ammo, "I went heavy on ammo cause it was one fighter and I was almost home". He shot down my drones and would have had me easy cause I was out of bullets.

                 He made the mistake of letting me make him overshoot to the right and I finished him with the right side gun, which was the only gun left which ammo. I did the auto climb/turn and forced him to my side. It was a pretty slick move and I somehow landed the shot up bomber.

                If he only knew he ran right into the only gun with ammo I had. Thing about Radar busting? Your almost assured of seeing action.

[DoNKeY]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
We met tonight my friend, right after the map was changed over that airfield. Your attack, in the Spit, was well thought out but you made the mistake of hanging in the 6 of my 26s. I had someone else do it right after you did. That is the last airplane you want to hang up in, in its 6. It has so much ammo in the tail gun the odds of surviving are very low.

                   I just took some KI-67s as radar busters. I took down 4 radars and got into a death fight on the way home. Incrediablly a P-51 survived numerous cannon hits and I ran out of ammo, "I went heavy on ammo cause it was one fighter and I was almost home". He shot down my drones and would have had me easy cause I was out of bullets.

                 He made the mistake of letting me make him overshoot to the right and I finished him with the right side gun, which was the only gun left which ammo. I did the auto climb/turn and forced him to my side. It was a pretty slick move and I somehow landed the shot up bomber.

                If he only knew he ran right into the only gun with ammo I had. Thing about Radar busting? Your almost assured of seeing action.

Your not talking about me right?

[Rich46yo]

Originally posted by DoNKeY
Your not talking about me right?

                            Yes, "daDonkey" right?

[DoNKeY]

Yeah daDonkey, but I wasn't flying a spit.  Might have been the 51 though.  Unless it was my dad playing lol, will have to ask.

Anyways.  You thinking about coming over to rooks this weekend for some radar busting missions?

[Patches1]

What does an attack on the enemy's Dar do in relationship to taking out Strat Targets with a Bomber? Jabos can easily take out Dar....it only takes 250 lbs of Ords to do so.

Wasting Bomber Ords on DAR seems a waste of Ordnance to me. Flying B-26's to kill DARs is like flying LA-7's to kill A6M-2s.

[comet61]

"What does an attack on the enemy's Dar do in relationship to taking out Strat Targets with a Bomber?"

The thrill man....the thrill......

My favorite use of the 26 is to "pot-hole" airfields. I line the bombsite right down the middle (not easy sometimes) set the salvo to 20 and delay at .75 seconds....release just when my cross hairs hit the strip...usually I am between 6K to 10k high. Works great. Another is to carry 1000 pounders set the salvo to 2 and delay at .05. Line up on the FH's...take 'em both out. If I kill radar in the process, good. I'd rather make the fighter jocks have diificulty getting off the ground. Plus...the thrill. A lot of times you have to fight your way out.....makes it more interesting.

[Tiger]

Originally posted by Patches1
What does an attack on the enemy's Dar do in relationship to taking out Strat Targets with a Bomber? Jabos can easily take out Dar....it only takes 250 lbs of Ords to do so.

Wasting Bomber Ords on DAR seems a waste of Ordnance to me. Flying B-26's to kill DARs is like flying LA-7's to kill A6M-2s.

I like to do this in the KI.  Take the 100kg bombs, full fuel load, climb to 15k.  Fly over all the front line bases and drop the radar.  Take the time to hit any 'targets of opportunity' maybe some ord or fuel if I happen to be aligned after dropping on the radar or maybe make a run over a strat target and just drop what's left of my eggs before heading home.

What good does it do you ask?  Well, my set of bombers can drop the radar at 8 bases in one sortie.  That allows the rest of my fellow country men to hop in Jabo's and take bases.  Thus me flying in a bomber taking out radar all over the front blinds the enemy's dotdar while only taking 1 single pilto out of the fight, and may draw an occasional enemy fighter or two from the fight to come chase me if they figure out what's going on.

[Rich46yo]

Tiger says it exact. One person can blind an enemy all along an entire front, freeing up everyone else to go for important targets. This is supposed to be a team effort right? The enemy not having working radars is a huge advantage because then your Jabos and bombers can fly whatever routes they want to their targets against an enemy that cant respond fast enough. Im not even just talking frontline targets but also 2nd, and 3rd tier targets. You can fly that much closer to them without being detected.

                        You would think during these porking raids somone would head straight for the bases radars but Ive seen radars stay up for long minutes while fighter sticks concentrate on their own kills, and personal scores, instead of fighting to win as a team. Man I'd love to get 30 guys together for a night, appoint an experienced leader, and fight the war systamatically as a team.

                   What does radar busting do for me ? Its fun #1, you help your team, its challenging, and you often run up against good fighter sticks. Ive never done a radr busting mission without also shooting down at least one fighter. As for points? I sure dont do it for that because you might come away from it with 2 or 3 points from the raid.