How much rounds can a B25 take?

[The Grinch]

I was shooting down a B25, and i was surprised on how much i had to hit the B25 before it whent down.
Luckily I took film of this.

http://www.mediafire.com/?l3g2lb3hjlmdzc3

[Ghosth]

They are big tough aircraft, also it makes a huge difference exactly where you put those rounds.

If you watch that film closely you'll see you were actually started shooting outside of 600 yards.
It wasn't until you were  at 400 that you actually started to hit. Most of your hits were on the right wing, right tail boom and top of the fuse, eventually setting the right engine on fire.

Also there were at least 2 points in that run where your hit sprites were lighting up the b25, then stopped hitting, then started hitting again as you corrected aim.

Next I'll mention that since it looks like you were in a 190, chances are the mg's were hitting above where the cannon rounds were hitting. So even when you were seeing hit sprites on the right wing chances are they were just mg rounds not cannon. In other words your cannon rounds were not hitting him when you thought they were.

Looking at it from the B25's perspective you didn't really get cannons into him until just before you pulled up at 200 yards. Most of the hit sprites appear to be the smaller mg hits.

Also a lot of your hits were on the top of the fuselage, and are really not going to accomplish much.

Go back and look at your film again, from the b25's perspective, outside view, looking back, and with the speed slowed down so you can see where the damage happened and when.

I think you'll be surprised.

[Ack-Ack]

B-25s are surprisingly fragile, usually a single burst is all that is needed to set one on fire if you hit at the wing root.  The tail is also relatively weak, again a solid single burst is usually enough to remove large sections of the tail, usually causing catastrophic damage.  However, hitting in the fuselage area, especially around the waist gunner positions is just going to make a lot of holes in the Mitchell without causing any significant damage other than losing the waist guns. 

ack-ack

[The Grinch]

Ok. Thanks to you both

[Beefcake]

With the B25 engine or cockpit shots usually end the sortie realy quick, otherwise it just soaks up the ammo like a sponge.

[Krusty]

B-25s soak up way too much damage. I've raked one 2x in totally lethal attack runs as it was taking off while I as in a Fw190A8 with 4x20mm. I've also landed 3x 37mm hits from a P-39Q in one before, also when it was trying to up from a capped field. Reviewed the film, all 3 hit, one even hit dead on in the port engine, and all it had was an oil leak.

In the Coral Sea scenario I sat behind a B-25C after unloading my cannons in several passes, and sat at 600 yards dead even. He was in the bombsight, he didn't fire back. So I unloaded over 1000 7mm machine gun rounds into the same square foot of wing root. Now you may say that "oh, these guns are weak" but I sat there unloading in the same spot. By sheer amount of lead on target alone I should have snapped the wing off, got a gas leak, gas fire, anything. Instead he dropped his bombs (I think) and pulled up. I broke off because I was now 300-400 yards out and he was waking up to my presence.

I eventually got the kill from sheer bullets on target as somebody else finished him off, but I did no real damage. It's not like I'm a bad shot (well, I wasn't, I am NOW, since I haven't been flying as much, but at the TIME I was a very good shot) and it's not like I'm scattering rounds from wingtip to wingtip. I mean steady stream of bullets all in one spot for a long time with no results.


B-25 is a damage sponge. IMO it's not right, but hey HTC's not going to take my word for it.

[Ack-Ack]

I think those that claim the B-25 is a 'damage sponge' are not hitting in vital areas.  Speaking from experience in killing many B-25s and being shot down many times in a B-25H, it's not a damage sponge and probably one of the easier bombers in the game to shoot down.  The only danger one faces in attacking a B-25 (at least the H) is coming down in the dead six spot where those .50s from the tail and top turret will chew you up to pieces.  Even then, the B-25 isn't as dangerous as the other bombers when in the dead six spot since the tail and top turret on the B-25 are easy to take out, far easier than any other bomber in this game.

Places to hit the B-25:

• Wingroot
• Cockpit
• tail section - sweet spot where the fuselage meets the tail

Hit in those spots with a solid burst (solid burst is referencing hitting at the convergence point of the fighter's guns) will put the B-25 in a serious world of hurt and usually resulting in catastrophic damage.

Places not to aim for no the B-25

• Engines
• Wing area
• Vertical stabilizers
• fuselage

The engines on the B-25 can surprisingly take a lot of damage and aiming for these will more than likely only result in an oil or radiator leak rather than a fire.

The same with the wing, it's also surprisingly resilient and can take some damage and still able to fly home missing a section of the wing.

The vertical stabilizers are also surprisingly resilient and can take a lot of hits before the stabilizers are blown off.  However, if you don't manage to take them both out at the same time, the B-25 flies just well with one stabilizer. 

Fuselage...this one is a no brainer.  There is a lot of empty space in the B-25s fuselage where the rounds won't do any damage other than make a lot of holes in the side of the plane.  Hitting in this area is just a waste of ammo as you are very unlikely to cause any catastrophic damage at all.


ack-ack

[Krusty]

Ack Ack, I don't htink it's "non vital areas" unless those nonvital areas include the entire fuselage and half the wings.

In Red Storm (the scenario) I on more than one occassion withstood HEAVY attacks by multiple 190s. Even had a gunner with me that was shocked as I am to see so many bullet holes in a plane. The 190s actually gave up because they ran out of ammo (3-4 of them) and RTBed and let me get away.

That's kinda funny, right there. Got it on film and many screenshots were posted. I think there's even one in the FA screenshots thread.

[allaire]

I have had wings taken off, engines set on fire, and had parts of the tail blown off from one burst from several aircraft.  At other times I have taken unbelievable amounts of fire and not had parts come off.  It seems like the typical hit registration issues.

[Masherbrum]

I think those that claim the B-25 is a 'damage sponge' are not hitting in vital areas.  Speaking from experience in killing many B-25s and being shot down many times in a B-25H, it's not a damage sponge and probably one of the easier bombers in the game to shoot down.  The only danger one faces in attacking a B-25 (at least the H) is coming down in the dead six spot where those .50s from the tail and top turret will chew you up to pieces.  Even then, the B-25 isn't as dangerous as the other bombers when in the dead six spot since the tail and top turret on the B-25 are easy to take out, far easier than any other bomber in this game.

Places to hit the B-25:

• Wingroot
• Cockpit
• tail section - sweet spot where the fuselage meets the tail

Hit in those spots with a solid burst (solid burst is referencing hitting at the convergence point of the fighter's guns) will put the B-25 in a serious world of hurt and usually resulting in catastrophic damage.

Places not to aim for no the B-25

• Engines
• Wing area
• Vertical stabilizers
• fuselage

The engines on the B-25 can surprisingly take a lot of damage and aiming for these will more than likely only result in an oil or radiator leak rather than a fire.

The same with the wing, it's also surprisingly resilient and can take some damage and still able to fly home missing a section of the wing.

The vertical stabilizers are also surprisingly resilient and can take a lot of hits before the stabilizers are blown off.  However, if you don't manage to take them both out at the same time, the B-25 flies just well with one stabilizer. 

Fuselage...this one is a no brainer.  There is a lot of empty space in the B-25s fuselage where the rounds won't do any damage other than make a lot of holes in the side of the plane.  Hitting in this area is just a waste of ammo as you are very unlikely to cause any catastrophic damage at all.


ack-ack

Yep, good post.