Very well. It still needs a payload update then - 100lb bombs are good for not much.
What load out should it have?
why for you need nother amreekan plane? damned yankess
Nonsense. It would seem that we need the SBD-3 added and for the SBD-5 to have its bomb load adjusted.
define the word need in as pertains to these aircraft...is it something that should take precendence over aircraft for other countries that aren't currently available, or could it wait a few years?
These heavy loads where generally used by the Marine Corps SBDs engaged in close support work. Typically, they operated from airfields bulldozed out of the coral, sometimes within sight of the front lines. So, flight endurance was never an issue. SBDs where used effectively for blasting bunkers and caves on several different islands during the island hopping campaigns of 1943-45. Indeed, the Jarheads liked the SBD because nothing else in their inventory could put bombs on target with accuracy even close to that attained by the Dauntless. Such loads where not used by USN SBDs, because the required takeoff run was too great even for the Essex class CVs, much CVLs and the little CVEs. There is the possibility that overloaded SBDs could be catapulted off.By the way, escort carriers (CVE, initially built on merchant ship hulls) would be a terrific addition to the game. Flying only Wildcats, SBDs and TBMs, (although the F6F and F4U did fly from CVEs for training purposes) they would be ideal for supplementing the current TGs. I think they would be of great value for TODs, where suicide runs are discouraged by the fact that you have just one life to lose.My regards,Widewing
P.S. The D3A2 was nearly a 1943 plane. It would not be the contemporary for most of the CV battles in the early war setup. You might say the D3A1 was a 1939 design, but so was the A6M2, and both of them remained the premiere front-line planes for the IJN until late 1942 (and even later).
