B17 PERFORMANCE IN FRAME 2- U.S. was restricted to a maximum of 10 B17s
- B17s were not allowed formations.
- 4 of the 10 B17s (escorted by P40Bs) were shot down by A6M2s (loss rate of 40% )
- Deployed B17s carried a total of 60000 lbs of ordinance.
- Surviving non killed B17s carried 36000 lbs of ordinance
- B17s were tasked with attacking A15 (large airbase) that takes 38,100 lbs to destroy
- B17s destroy 28.1% of A15
- B25s destroy 71.9% of A15
I know those in charge now haven't been around as long
I have been a FSO CM since 2002.
So an A6MB can engage a 30K 400MPH B17 at all?
Per the logs 4 B17s were down by A6M2s out of a force of 10 B17s (allies only had 10 B17s for the battle), lost rate of 40%. So either yes they can or your claim of altitude and speed is mistaken.
Without film I can not verify the claimed altitude of 30K ft or speed of 400 mph of B17s at the time of engagement. I will ask for Rolling Thunder (flew B17s and P40Bs), 353rd and III/JG11 to supply films (Axis squads that shot down the B17s).
I do however have their battle plan. I will go test to see if they could have launched from A94 alt of 123 ft (at 21:57), gotten up to 30K alt, hit
400mph while carrying 6000 lbs of ordinance (probably 25% fuel), and struck A15 (70+ miles away) in 31 minutes (first engaged at 22:28 and first bombs hit at 22:34).
but there's something called "parity" that makes the game fun
In regards to parity. When a CM designs an event he looks to create
parity for the entire event as a whole not trying to make it so every engagement point has parity. This is
impossible without taking away the CiC's free will and ability to actually make strategic and tactical decisions.
In this case neither side an alt limit. Both sides had to deploy the same minimum of pilots to bombers (36 Ju88s and 36 B25Cs required). The B17s were restricted to 10 without formations.
The U.S. was given the option to deploy only had a handful of B17s not only because it was historical but also to make up for the non-parity of capabilities between the B25C and JU88. The Ju88 carries twice bomb load and has much better defense capabilities than the B25C. However the B25C is faster with WEP up to about 13K, without WEP 9K. and has much better climb rate.
But their few numbers helped establish overall bomber parity between the U.S. and the Japanese otherwise it would have been just B25Cs versus Ju88s. Which in my opinion is advantage to the Japanese because of their better defensive guns and double bomb load capacity.
the supposed "scenarios" are absolutely absurd.
B17s were historically present in very limited numbers and were historically difficult for A6M2 and Ki43 to take down do to their defensive armament, their high alt capabilities, weakness of Japanese guns (limited number of ammo rounds or no cannon rounds versus the B17), and lack of their own armor. It has been written that the Japanese simply did not press their attacks on the B17s and B24s like the Germans did for these reasons. Of course the B17s and B24s really weren't very effective in this theater also. The did not live up to hopes as an effective anti shipping weapon, the very nature of the terrain limited their effectiveness in use tactically against troops on the ground, and they had a lack of industrial targets and strategic facilities at this time in the war. Plus, unlike Europe, they were very limited in number in the Pacific in 1942. So historically their losses were low because the early war Japanese planes had a very time taking them down but their effectiveness was also not great.
This scenario is based on the actual case of what happened on Mindanao where only a handful of B17s operated at time against superior Japanese forces. The Royce Mission had 3 B17s and 7 B25s operating out of Del Monte. Howeve, I size things up do to the number of players and the fact that the designed needed the U.S. to have an equal chance of winning. So B17s 10 max, and min of 36 B25s formation (Japanese had a min of 36 Ju88 formations).
