Mosquito Mk XVI

[Krusty]

I've used the new Mossie bomber a time or two as well. Never with drones. They're best when you can come in drop and keep on going. Great for dropping the VH at a port for example.  But the last time I flew one I was chased down and caught by a F4U D model.  During WWII the Mossie was one of fastest airplanes in the air. As stated above its only defense being its speed.  I don't know if that is accurately modeled here or not.

It is one of the fastest bombers of the war, doing better than 400mph at emergency power. Even on lesser power it still did about 390mph.

However, let us not forget that its claim to fame was being hard to INTERCEPT, not hard to catch. In a straight tail chase, many planes are faster than it. In an attempt to climb up to in and shoot it down with short notice, most fighters were found lacking.

As for your F4U-1D:



Depending on the altitude he would have had an easier time or a harder time, but it looks like he could catch you.

[bozon]

However, let us not forget that its claim to fame was being hard to INTERCEPT, not hard to catch. In a straight tail chase, many planes are faster than it. In an attempt to climb up to in and shoot it down with short notice, most fighters were found lacking.

Think about it this way:
Even with 20 mph advantage, a failed intercept that turned into a 10 miles tail-chance will take half an hour just to close the gap. Many light interceptors had very short legs and going balls out for half an hour will run them dry before any actual fight. This is in daylight - mosquitoes flew mostly at night and long tail chases were usually hopeless.

Also there is a difference between the "fastest" in terms of maximum attainable speed and "fastest" in terms of time to complete a long flight course. Who is the fastest runner? the one that wins in 100 m dash or the one that wins a mile race? The mosquito was among the fastest in short dash and unmatched in long distance running. Since its introduction till well into 1943 its chances of running into something that could catch it either way were slim. Even with the later speed demons it stood a good chance of escaping into clouds or out of view.

[Mystery]

Haven't lost one of these yet. Best tactical bomber (in a narrow niche) in the game IMO.

Keys to success:

1) Leave the drones home. As noted, they aren't the best pilots  
2) Cookie + 2x500lb or all 500lb depending on mission choice
3) Climb to AT LEAST 20k
4) Best to stay out of contested airspace unless you feel lucky. Fringes of contested airspace - fine
5) Cookie on high value targets, 500lb on radar/ord
6) Similar to the AR234, count on one full sector to settle speed and calibrate

If approached by a co-alt con, LONG shallow dive to friendly territory, WEP as needed. I've outrun a 109K4 and '47M this way - but it was close.

Without drones, it will almost handle like a heavy fighter. Almost.

On the upside, once you drop you can maniacally dive to the nearest friendly airfield. It makes for a shorter duration bombing run.

Just my $0.02

[Karnak]

As can be seen on the chart Krusty linked, the F4U-1D cannot catch a Mosquito XVI at 28,000ft as the F4U's WEP speed at that altitude is the same as the Mosquito's MIL speed.

I'll disagree with Mystery on penetrating enemy airspace.  If you climb to 27,000-28,000ft and watch the DAR bars you can go just about anywhere you like that is within fuel range.

[Wmaker]

Excuse me, but when flying an unarmed bomber you do want to avoid enemy fighters - that's about your only defense.

Quite right. But still you gotta love these brave virtual warriors, eh? So *virtually* brave but they got sh*t where the brain should be.

[LThunderpocket]

personally,i like the bombers.although i dont fly em as much as 29s,when i do fly them i take the SINGLE plane and stay tree top level.once i get close to enemy town,i pop to about 3 and pickle off bombs (500 pounders) in a slight dive.then its time to dip,full power wep it outta there.the only defence that plane has is speed.

[Delirium]

Quite right. But still you gotta love these brave virtual warriors, eh? So *virtually* brave but they got sh*t where the brain should be.

It has nothing to do with being brave, flying at that alt is to avoid people in a online GAME makes little sense to me. I guess I am crazy that I want to see other people in an online game.


Enjoy flying at 27k, at that alt you wont see most of the community, but that is the plan anyway.

[Lusche]

Enjoy flying at 27k, at that alt you wont see most of the community, but that is the plan anyway.

In a totally unarmed plane: Yes, it is. When I want do mix it up with most of them, I chose a different plane.

I do want to avoid "most" (not all!) of the community when flying a Mossie 16. I don't even need "most of them"l to have fun. With that plane, after spending the perks on a formation it needs only one stubborn fighter to turn a boring milkrun into a very exciting mission. And that is also true for a fighter: I do love it to hunt those difficult to catch high altitude bombers instead of just slaughtering the standard 10k Lanc. I love to guess plane type, altitude, probable target and flight path just from the map, then choosing the right plane and interception path. It's quite satisfying to have successfully hunted down such an elusive target. The comparison with "flying offline" is simply untrue. When I fly B-17', Ki-67s or B-29's at 20-30k, I get attacked almost every sortie.

[Wmaker]

In a totally unarmed plane: Yes, it is. When I want do mix it up with most of them, I chose a different plane.

I do want to avoid "most" (not all!) of the community when flying a Mossie 16. I don't even need "most of them"l to have fun. With that plane, after spending the perks on a formation it needs only one stubborn fighter to turn a boring milkrun into a very exciting mission. And that is also true for a fighter: I do love it to hunt those difficult to catch high altitude bombers instead of just slaughtering the standard 10k Lanc. I love to guess plane type, altitude, probable target and flight path just from the map, then choosing the right plane and interception path. It's quite satisfying to have successfully hunted down such an elusive target. The comparison with "flying offline" is simply untrue. When I fly B-17', Ki-67s or B-29's at 20-30k, I get attacked almost every sortie.

But you see...if you don't fly the game their way you must be wrong and could just as well be flying offline.  

[lyric1]

It has nothing to do with being brave, flying at that alt is to avoid people in a online GAME makes little sense to me. I guess I am crazy that I want to see other people in an online game.


Enjoy flying at 27k, at that alt you wont see most of the community, but that is the plan anyway.

The beauty of this game is that if we have 5000 players there is 5000 potential ways some one is going to fly that mosquito. That is the best part of this entire game in my mind. You just don't know what the other guy may do.

Anything else with a cookie cutter mind set of I don't think it should be done that way do it this you may as well play an arcade game where no matter what no where this is what is going to happen.


http://www.freespaceinvaders.org/

  Forgot how much fun this was 30 years ago.

[W7LPNRICK]

I only use it on CV's and HQ, and only as a single. If you don't get caught great, but if caught 3x80 point lost is too much for my liking. 

[B-17]

Neither should P47M,N B24 SpitXVI Firefly & a whole bunch of other stuff. It is a glitch that shows up every so often with that map in there at the moment.

You seem to have forgotten to have mentioned the B-17 C, D, E, and F.

[EskimoJoe]

It has nothing to do with being brave, flying at that alt is to avoid people in a online GAME makes little sense to me. I guess I am crazy that I want to see other people in an online game.


Enjoy flying at 27k, at that alt you wont see most of the community, but that is the plan anyway.

When I play once a week at best, I won't see most of the community anyway.
When I play once a week, I amass enough perks to lose a formation of perk bombers once every three months.

Thinking about it, I guess it really would make little sense to you; I'm sure you get to play on a nightly basis,
have amassed thousands of perks, and have had enough virtual stick time to master an airframe.

Hell, you're practically famous here.

[Raptor05121]

What great timing.

Hap flew a mission yesterday with a formation of Mossie XVIs. It was my first time using it and with the cookie, all 8 of us were able to drop two fields for a hastily-approaching Chewie mission. I loved it so much I took it up again today, with the 2x 500# and 4x 500#ers. Again, in a formation although at 20K and no opposition, I will opt for single-ship next time to lower the risk. It does great. Give it a sector to stretch its legs and it can drop 6x different radars in under 20 minutes with its speed. I landed ~6200 damage today, dropping 4 dars and the remaining two hard points on a town. Love it but I agree, costs is WAYYY too high.

[Tyrannis]

So I flew my first sortie with the perked Mosquito bomber last night. I might be doing it wrong, but I was not too impressed, especially considering the perk price. I took it up to about 18k and made a few high speed runs on some towns until a P-51 came up to chase. I headed for friendly territory with some bombs still on board. The pony was slowly gaining when a 262 jumped in   I had to maneuver to avoid his passes and of coarse lost my drones and 80 odd perks. With no other defensive option but stay fast and maneuver I think the drones might stay home next time. I did manage to dive bomb a tank before landing, but overall I'm not sure I'll take it up again.

What is the consensus on this bomber? Should I have taken it higher? What in particular is the 4000lb bomb good for?

S!

LeMay

i see your mossie story, and raise you worse one.



was doing a single mossie-mutiple bomb runs on the rook HQ one morning (was rearming&reupping)


was ib to target when i noticed a tempest flown by a certain female pilot about 4k down from me. at first i didnt think she saw me, until she began to climb. i hit WEP, and sped to target as fast as i can.

drop'ed bombs, and headed straight for home. for about 25mins we went at it. me trying to outrun her, her trying to catch up. after running for about 3 sectors she was 1.5k behind me. until she finally turned around due to fuel.


i felt relieved, and decided to land at a friendly base very close to the lines.


so with the feeling of my pride swell at outrunning this pesky tempest hovered in my chest, i decended down to the deck, slowed my speed, put my wheels down, just about to touch down......................... ........................





















.....and an f4u comes screaming out of no wheres, shooting me just as i touch down. i went boom on the runway.



i went from :      


to:        



(the tempest pilot had actually complained on 200 about me not turning around to fight her, i asked her how she expected me to dogfight a tempy in a plane with no guns. she didnt respond)