Author Topic: SBD questions.  (Read 2805 times)

Offline Ack-Ack

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #15 on: November 14, 2011, 07:57:56 PM »
Lt. "Swede" Vejtasa got 3 kills in the SBD against Zeros in a big dogfight involving his squadron and 8 Zeros.  I think something like half of his squadron made it back to the ship.  So, obviously capable of defending itself, but not necessarily a great fighter platform.

He was the exception to the rule, he had the mentality of a fighter pilot flying dive bombers.  After this event, he transferred over to fighters (Wildcats I think) and got multiple kills on his first sortie in a fighter and ended up being one of the Navy's better fighter pilots.

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Offline M0nkey_Man

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2011, 08:53:25 PM »
if the fighters hangers are dropped, but the bomber hangers are still up, I will up an sbd for defense. It can out turn just about everything :aok
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Offline Krusty

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2011, 09:06:46 PM »
Turning doesn't win the war. Japan and Italy learned that the hard way.

2x.50s in the nose are a novelty guns package. Its speed and climb performance are so slow you couldn't do much of a base defense other than keep the horde busy killing you while other teammates take off.

Offline BaldEagl

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #18 on: November 15, 2011, 12:07:51 AM »
He was the exception to the rule, he had the mentality of a fighter pilot flying dive bombers.  After this event, he transferred over to fighters (Wildcats I think) and got multiple kills on his first sortie in a fighter and ended up being one of the Navy's better fighter pilots.

ack-ack

Hehehe.  That reminded me of Brooks replacement for the Coral Sea scenario.  I flew an SBD alone around the west, then north of a Japanese CV coming in from the opposite direction of what anyone expected.  I hit the CV with my ord, killed two or three zekes with my guns and got out alive.  Then I upped a Wildcat and landed four kills. 

It just shows how much those events can simulate real life.

I hardly ever have flown an SBD but that was fun.  It was however after the frustration of being shot down several time trying to get in from the south.

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Offline bozon

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #19 on: November 15, 2011, 05:32:22 AM »
The larger the number of planes in the furball the more speed and roll becomes dominant over turn radius. In 1vs1 very small turn radius can be utilized to stay inside the other plane's circle, but in a multiple engagement you cannot position yourself inside everybody's circle. A furball is a series of random encounters and a slow plane turning on a dime is just a stationary target to shoot down for someone buzzing by at 350 mph.

The brits learned their lesson when the first 190s showed up. From the spit 9 and on, speed was the major consideration and turn ability was the first to be sacrificed when needed.
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Offline Karnak

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #20 on: November 15, 2011, 11:07:08 AM »
The brits learned their lesson when the first 190s showed up. From the spit 9 and on, speed was the major consideration and turn ability was the first to be sacrificed when needed.
Speed was always a primary consideration for the Spitfire.  It was one of the fastest, if not the fastest, warplane in the world during the Battle of Britain.  Problem was that the Spitfire Mk V fell behind the Bf109F and then the Fw190A took speed to a whole new level.  Even then the Spitfire Mk VIII had been in development for some time and would have brought the Spitfire back up to competitive levels, but it wasn't going to be ready fast enough so the emergency lash up of the Spitfire Mk IX was used, a Mk V airframe mated to a two speed, two stage Merlin.
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Offline Infidelz

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Re: SBD questions.
« Reply #21 on: November 15, 2011, 06:39:59 PM »
He was the exception to the rule, he had the mentality of a fighter pilot flying dive bombers.  After this event, he transferred over to fighters (Wildcats I think) and got multiple kills on his first sortie in a fighter and ended up being one of the Navy's better fighter pilots.

ack-ack

More important to note he was in a 1 v 3 against zeros and killed them all.

http://www.aviation-history.com/airmen/coralsea.htm

In the dog fights episode, I got the impression that he didn't panic, he fought like a Lion.

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