iL 2 tactis

[pxdig]

I have been reading a lot of people say that the IL 2 is capable of taking out tanks by the bunch.  I attack panzers, shermans, etc with the iL 2 and seem to have very little effect on them.  Is there a tactis or angle from which I have to attack in order to kill them ?

[Lusche]

Hit them where their armor is weakest: On the top. Attack as steep as possible.
Panzer IV is easiest to kill, you don't need to hit the top armor. Hitting sides or in the back is sufficient if you get close.

[Ghosth]

Practice practice and more practice.

As Lusche pointed out shots from the rear or above are best.

Make Each individual  shot aimed, and make it count. Don't hold down the trigger, correct and aim each shot when the sight picture is right. At first it may take several passes to do some damage, but stick with it. If you can get a couple of shots off on each pass, in 3, or 4 passes your going to end up hitting him a couple of times and do some damage.

A pair of wirbles working together is tougher to deal with, so I like to save my bombs and rockets for them.
There are a lot of guys who are a lot better in the iL2 than I am.  However I am enjoying learning this plane, and like anything else, some days are better than others. Midwar is my favorite hunting grounds, fewer fast late war fighters to worry about. And ussually there is someone looking to sneak a base or 2 if I keep my eyes open.

[coola4me]

First i have my convergence set at 250 for the taters. Then i wait to pull the trigger till im within that range shoot only the cannons then pull up.

[bongaroo]

I auger too much making passes.   

[Lusche]

I auger too much making passes.   

I don't know about your case, but that often happens when players forget to throttle back or use too much zoom.

[bongaroo]

I don't know about your case, but that often happens when players forget to throttle back or use too much zoom.

Its the zoom.  I struggle to even touch ground targets without it.  I think I'm actually going to go ahead and disable zoom.  I think I still use it as a crutch and it is probably hurting my accuracy now more than helping.

[Rich46yo]

For the most part I throttle back but if wirbels are around I come in high and fast using the zoom capabilities of the aircraft to rebuild E quickly for another pass. I set convergence to 500 but 400 is probably better. You've probably noticed most of your kills come from close in shots. Against other airplanes I dont use zoom at all. Against GVs it depends, but generally I dont see the screen that well and use zoom a lot. The trick is to use the same amount time after time.

Theres no substitute for hands on flying time to learn an airplane. Thats why the past few tours I bet the 37mm IL-2 has made up 50% of my sorties. I upp them clean and use only guns, even when ords are available. At most I'll take up heavy rockets, which seem very accurate on the IL-2. Another trick Ive discovered with them is their high speed flaps can help with cons diving on you, or help to force overshoots.

Another trick I like using them for is upping them at heavily attacked airfields and just spinning around with them, around the field, using the heavy cannon and F3 views, as a sorta flying wirbel. You can thin the vulchers out like that and force the other ones into high angle vulches, allowing your own guys to take off easier.

The "Storm Bird" is a fantastic attacker. I can see why the Soviets were crazy about them. I'd like to get a dozen IL-2 sticks together one time and try out the "circle of death" tactic.

Against armor in offensive formation, however, they preferred the "Circle of Death" attack, in which a Shturmovik group would flank around the enemy and then peel off successively, each Il-2 making a shallow diving attack, then pulling up and around for another pass. The beauty of the Circle of Death was that it kept the enemy under continuous fire for as long as the aircraft had fuel and ammunition. One Shturmovik pilot, Senior Lieutenant Alexander Yefinov, wrote: "We usually tried to attack from the rear, where the armor was thinner and where the most vulnerable components of the vehicles were located: the engines and the gas tanks." He proudly added that "the effect was staggering as Hitler's celebrated Tigers burned under the strikes." Il-2M3s armed with 37 millimeter guns were able to destroy Panthers and Tigers with their guns alone, blasting into their thinner top armor.

[TOMCAT21]

whirbls are the only ones I am having problems with but I'll get it..

[FiLtH]

  I try not to use zoom. Every stick input seems exaggerated with it zoomed. Makes it too jerky.

[Lusche]

whirbls are the only ones I am having problems with but I'll get it..

For gunning down wirbels, the 23mm gun option is the better choice to kill their turrets. Higher rate of fire and more ammo. And when you go in for the kill after the turret has been popped, the 23mm is still capable of killing the wirbel, which is nothing more than a Panzer IV chassis.

[TOMCAT21]

rgr..lusche...i'm getting it..im too aggressive with whirbl;s

[bongaroo]

WW's are tough.  I don't like to attack groups of them and even against one I'll wait until someone else has his attention in order to line up a shot.

[Larry]

When attacking wirbels I like to come in very low using hills and trees to cover me until I'm within 1k then pop up to get a shot on their turret. After the turret is gone I go up and come in from the high rear to finish it off. If you miss the turret on your first pass go back down and put a tree or two between you and the wirbel.

[Ack-Ack]

WW's are tough.  I don't like to attack groups of them and even against one I'll wait until someone else has his attention in order to line up a shot.

that's why I use a B-25H as my primary tank busting plane.  I can hit weebwobbles and flak panzies beyond their effective run range, once I've disabled the turret then I can come in for the kill shot from d600 out.  And the B-25H has a wonderful 1 hit kill ability on pretty much all GVs.


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