A20 Tie Fighter Mystery

[Widewing]

Tonight, I flew the A-20 in a furball again. Was great fun until the Knits decided to horde it up. Nonetheless, I went 15/1 air to air, and four T-34s earlier as well. The one lose being the result of clipping a tree, while evading an HOing spit, a K-4 and some dweeb in a P-38. The HOing Spit pinged me up a bit and got the kill. I immediately re-upped another A-20, found him and shot his backside down.

Another character loses two P-40Cs to my A-20. He writes on 200: "TredLite, I'm filming this..."

LOLOL. I wrote back, "good, you need to learn why you suck!"

This guy (firebal6), was incredulous. I explained that the A-20 is nearly 20 mph faster on the deck and with just 25% fuel (actually, about half that at the time), easily out-climbs the P-40C (3k per minute vs about 2.2k per minute). He replied, "Yeah, but can the A-20 out-turn the P-40C?"

"Yes." In a manner of speaking... The P-40C cannot sustain a turn on the deck with the A-20, which has a significant power advantage.

His problem was more along the line that he had no ACM skills of note... Fighting a Co-E, Co-alt A-20 in the vertical is a bad idea in most fighters, much more so when you're flying a P-40C. Our second fight was the same, with the same result, despite dodging a picking P-51D flown by some guy named Heavy... I shot down Heavy's P-51 too, and three Lancasters, which those other two were trying to protect. It's hard to protect bombers when you can't protect yourself... So, firebal6, if you read the BBS, go and watch that film. You'll see why you fared so poorly.

Anyway... Three Spits, 3 P-40s, 3 Lancs, a P-51D, La-7, B-25H, Niki, 109G-14 and an IL-2.

[Karnak]

Sounds like firebal6 is jumping into the P-40C before he is ready to try to compete in the LWA in as challenging a ride as the P-40C.

[RTHolmes]

I reckon fair play to him for trying something a bit more challenging than the usual late war monsters




(hes a squaddie so I may be biased )

[Widewing]

I reckon fair play to him for trying something a bit more challenging than the usual late war monsters




(hes a squaddie so I may be biased )

firebal6 wasn't lacking for spirit, that's for sure. Karnak is right, he should be prepared for a rough flight flying the P-40C into an LWA furball. He needs some practice and training, but he's certainly not timid.

[Karnak]

I reckon fair play to him for trying something a bit more challenging than the usual late war monsters




(hes a squaddie so I may be biased )

I don't think the P-40C counts as "a bit more challenging."  Frankly, I think it is likely the single most challenging fighter to succeed in.

Good on him for being willing to jump into the deep end, but maybe something halfway like a Bf109F-4 or Ki-61 might be a better place to start.

[RTHolmes]

I should also mention that we have an ongoing EW plane squad challenge - so expect to see us in completely uncompetitive rides every now and then

[LilMak]

Well, even a blind pig finds the corn now and then....

The other evening, I spent the better part of the evening using and A-20 to furball at A39 on the Trinity map. Lost three to fighters (mostly picks by the guys otherwise afraid to get into the fight). I lost two more to a Wirbel and an Osti while furballing near the enemy GV spawn. And, I lost three on the rearm pad to vulchers. I guess because that's the low risk way to get kills when you're a nervous bowl of Jello. One offender, after strafing me on the rearm pad in his Spit14, had the nerve to send me a <salute>!! No salute for you.....  

You shouldn't get a credit for shooting a plane with it's wheels on concrete. No name in lights or perks IMO. You should still be able to kill it, just no credit.

[cobia38]

   

[GScholz]

 

[Tracerfi]

(Image removed from quote.)

   

[Slate]

  Had a 1v1 with an A-20 against my 190d. I purposely turned fight and I believe if I didn't miss a key shot I could have had him. But he flamed me at the end as those guns do some damage. Was a fun turn fight against a good stick and though I lost I learned the A-20 should not be toyed with. 

 

[Triton28]

Cobia shot my Hog down in a turn fight one time.   

I got mad.   

I PM'ed Cobia and explained that he should not do that again, as I would sneak into the hangar and blow his precious Havoc up on the ground.  I then rethought this, believing I had made a tactical error in letting the enemy know what I was going to do before I did it.  I made haste to the nearest Knight hangar and did what I had to do.



I believe this is the best way to deal with this A20 issue we're having.

 

[lyric1]

You have to wonder why the flight manual warns against aerobatics.
Yet you can do it easily in AHII with out to much danger of anything breaking.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103229465/Douglas-a-20-G-amp-J-P-70-a-amp-B-Flight-Op-Inst-Nov-1944-C?secret_password=4x4px705gknvo04aej2

[Widewing]

You have to wonder why the flight manual warns against aerobatics.
Yet you can do it easily in AHII with out to much danger of anything breaking.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103229465/Douglas-a-20-G-amp-J-P-70-a-amp-B-Flight-Op-Inst-Nov-1944-C?secret_password=4x4px705gknvo04aej2

Note the G limit restriction... As weight goes up, the limit drops correspondingly. It's still easy to break wings at less than 25% fuel without bombs... 6g is the restriction, but I don't know what HTC has modeled.

What bugs me about the A-20 is that single ping pilot deaths from the front indicate to me that HTC has not modeled cockpit armor (including the armored windshield).

[Karnak]

What bugs me about the A-20 is that single ping pilot deaths from the front indicate to me that HTC has not modeled cockpit armor (including the armored windshield).

All twin engined fighters seem to suffer this much more than single engined fighters.  Is the A-20 noticeably worse about it than the P-38, Bf110 and Mossie?