I've always suspected that buff guns had more power than the equivalent guns mounted on fighters (the M3 also seems to be "up-gunned). I've been told time and time again that the guns on buffs are identical to the guns on fighters. Well, with one rather obvious exception that they have about 50% more range. I don't know if they have 50% more 'energy' or hitting power to go with the range or not, but I suspect that if they do that would be the reason that the .50 calibers on buffs hit harder than the equivalent guns on fighters.
Buffs are really not all that hard to kill, actually. So long as you realize that if they can hit you, they will kill you with their machineguns long before you kill them with your cannon (or machineguns if you swing that way). I did a brief 'study' with a B17 and a 190a8. It took an average of 22 rounds for the B17 to kill the 190a8 at 500 yards. That figure is probably accurate for the Lancaster, B26 and M3 as well. So if you want to kill buffs the trick is to not let them hit you 22 times. Of course, it is better not to get hit at all, but if he only hits you 5 times you should be OK.
Generally, frontal attacks work the best, because most of the people that fly buffs aren't real good shots. Just don't directly head-on the buff, come from maybe 1 o'clock or 11 o'clock high or low, give the guy a moving target.
High altitude geekdancing buffs are a real pain to kill, I wouldn't even recommend climbing up after them. Just let them drop their bombs, and know that whatever they just wasted an hour getting 35 thousand feet to bomb is going to be back up in less than 10 minutes.
