Ground Attack Plane P38L or P47D-40?

[mbailey]

   

   I tend to attack the ground a lot. 

 

Im right there with ya....We should start a support group....

[LilMak]

I think the D-40 is the better of the planes for ground attack and not just because I'm a Jug geek. It hauls more ord and (thanks to the new damage model) will absorb more ack hits allowing more passes with less likelihood of critical damage. I think it's every bit as capable as a fighter once light as any P-38 as well. The ony advantage the p-38 has is the ability to get to initial altitude quicker. Once on the attack run, the jug doesn't compress as quickly as the 38 so the zoom on the back side will get you the same or better E retention. A couple weeks ago, I took a D-40 on an ammo bunker attack to slow down the Bish. I loaded 3 500s, some rockets, and 75% fuel and set off. My target was a medium field where bombers were departing but away from the main thrust of Bish attacks. I had to make four passes through the ack to get the ammo bunkers and the radar. It normally only takes me 2 or three, but my aim was off and I missed with two of my eggs and had to use guns to polish off two bunkers. After taking hits but no damage, I proceeded to a small adjacent field and gunned down those ammo bunkers as well. Still taking ack hits but no damage. Fuel was becoming an issue but I decided to press my luck and head to the main base where most of the enemy was departing. I arrived at the base with 7 minutes of fuel and gunned down the two ammo bunkers there. This time I lost an aileron and a gun making my pass. A Spit-16 came out to meet me and I got tied up fighting him for a couple minutes before I was able to kill him. Now I was fuel critical and had a Typh running me down before I could recover some speed from the fight with the spit. I managed to make the Typh overshoot and was pumping the last of my ammo into him when the fuel ran out. I ended up ditching and giving the Typh the proxie.

In one run, I made 8 passes through field ack, destroyed 8 ammo bunkers at 3 fields, one radar tower, killed a spit, damaged a Typh and didn't RTB only because I didn't load 100% fuel.

[Triton28]

I think the D-40 is the better of the planes for ground attack and not just because I'm a Jug geek. It hauls more ord and (thanks to the new damage model) will absorb more ack hits allowing more passes with less likelihood of critical damage. I think it's every bit as capable as a fighter once light as any P-38 as well. The ony advantage the p-38 has is the ability to get to initial altitude quicker. Once on the attack run, the jug doesn't compress as quickly as the 38 so the zoom on the back side will get you the same or better E retention. A couple weeks ago, I took a D-40 on an ammo bunker attack to slow down the Bish. I loaded 3 500s, some rockets, and 75% fuel and set off. My target was a medium field where bombers were departing but away from the main thrust of Bish attacks. I had to make four passes through the ack to get the ammo bunkers and the radar. It normally only takes me 2 or three, but my aim was off and I missed with two of my eggs and had to use guns to polish off two bunkers. After taking hits but no damage, I proceeded to a small adjacent field and gunned down those ammo bunkers as well. Still taking ack hits but no damage. Fuel was becoming an issue but I decided to press my luck and head to the main base where most of the enemy was departing. I arrived at the base with 7 minutes of fuel and gunned down the two ammo bunkers there. This time I lost an aileron and a gun making my pass. A Spit-16 came out to meet me and I got tied up fighting him for a couple minutes before I was able to kill him. Now I was fuel critical and had a Typh running me down before I could recover some speed from the fight with the spit. I managed to make the Typh overshoot and was pumping the last of my ammo into him when the fuel ran out. I ended up ditching and giving the Typh the proxie.

In one run, I made 8 passes through field ack, destroyed 8 ammo bunkers at 3 fields, one radar tower, killed a spit, damaged a Typh and didn't RTB only because I didn't load 100% fuel.

Yeah... but the 38 looks better doing it.   

[LilMak]

Yeah... but the 38 looks better doing it.   

If a ball of twisted smoking aluminum is attractive then, by all means, take the 38. 

[Triton28]

If a ball of twisted smoking aluminum is attractive then, by all means, take the 38. 

That's just when I fly it..   

[eeyore]

LilMak makes the Jug fly like a spixteen.

I fly both the 38 and the 47 equally poorly. I usually prefer the 47 since it does not compress as quickly, this allows me to dive from 15K and still be able to avoid the lawn dart.

[Dragon Tamer]

It hit me today that the type of target would also determine which is better. Since energy loss from bullets is calculated for GV and not buildings, the difference would determine the ideal plane when it came down to strafing.

Again, I would personally take the 47. If think that the 8-.50s would pack more punch against a building than 2-20mm and 4-.50s. If you are low enough to be strafing a building with your guns then you should be able to make quick work of any planes trying to take off as well. 

If attacking GVs, then yes take the 38. The 20mm should pack more of a punch against them (since you will only be able to track them anyway).

And please feel free to correct me at any time.

[Ack-Ack]

And please feel free to correct me at any time.

P-38 only has one 20mm cannon, not two.

ack-ack

[BaldEagl]

If I had to pick between the P-38 and P-47 I'd take the Jug.  More ord, faster in a dive with great zoom climb ability and carries more ord if you want it.  The P-38's compression issues take too much away from it's dive bombing capabilites.

Thankfully I don't have to choose between those two.  I use the F6F-5 which is stable in a high speed dive, also has decent zoom capabilites and is a great fighter after the ord is dropped.  Oddly, for a rotary it became highly suseptable to oil hits after it was updated.  I'm thinking that's probably not modeled correctly.

[Randy1]

I think the D-40 is the better of the planes for ground attack and not just because I'm a Jug geek. It hauls more ord and (thanks to the new damage model) will absorb more ack hits allowing more passes with less likelihood of critical damage.
. . .

Since I started this post I have alternated attack planes between the P51, P38L, P47D-40 and the P47N.  In a quick summary the P47 and P38 are well suited for the attack role but the 500 MPH plus exit speed and ack resistance gives the P47 just enough advantage to make it my choice. Here are my thoughts.

The P51 has the exit speed as well but it takes the same engine hit that the 38 gets but only has the one engine and doesn't match the load out of the the 38 and 47.

The P38L as everyone noted gets you there better than the P47s on Mil power.  Excellent load-out goes without saying. Diving is a problem that you must control but it is easy to do but it does limit exit speed.   Just not quite enough exit speed to assure escape if it is a hot field or town especially with the loss of one engine.  No doubt a solid plane if the greens have near air superiority.  The odds of loosing one engine I am guessing is near 30% with the first pass 40% on the second and near 75% with three or more.  After ord drops, the P38 has a slight but noticeable advantage over the P47 in air to air.  That advantage is not noticed on the first merge but the P47 looses E quicker than the 38 so each merge the 47 falls little short of the P38.  Of course if you get the kill on the first or second merge they are coequal.

The P47s has a better load-out than the P38 with the third bomb option.  Without WEP, climb-out is slow falling short of the P38 by far.  Add the massive P47 WEP and it is as good as the P38 on Mil power.  Dive speed is unchallenged so that is a clear advantage to the P47.  As others have noted I use WEP on climb out for most of the trip so that counters the advantage of the P38 on mil power.  As LilMak noted, the P47 is durable although I did loose an engine on one attack on the first pass.  The P47 was better than the 38 on damage resistance albeit, the second engine on the P38 might save your butt.  Now the one big advantage the P47 has over the P38 is the escape speed.  Exiting at 500 MPH plus is clear advantage when the red guys chase you after ords drop.  Some people call it running but i call it escaping.  That high speed exit gave me more options and the more options the better.

Now the question is P47N or the P47D-40.

Thanks everyone for the replies.  It has been interesting reading the different thoughts.

[Ninthmessiah]

I climb on WEP.  It's a risk/benefit analysis. Risk=running out of WEP when you need it.  Benefit=Less boredom stuck in auto-climb.

So for me, the choice is easy:  N jug.  The Nancy on 50% fuel with WEP outclimbs the D40 at 100% fuel by about 100ft/min.  Flight times will be roughly equal.  The Nancy is also a better fighter.

[bj229r]

Yeah, just give it a few minutes to cool off in case you have to fight

[Zoney]

I climb on WEP.  It's a risk/benefit analysis. Risk=running out of WEP when you need it.  Benefit=Less boredom stuck in auto-climb.

So for me, the choice is easy:  N jug.  The Nancy on 50% fuel with WEP outclimbs the D40 at 100% fuel by about 100ft/min.  Flight times will be roughly equal.  The Nancy is also a better fighter.

At what altitude ? 

[Randy1]

. . . The Nancy on 50% fuel with WEP outclimbs the D40 at 100% fuel by about 100ft/min.  Flight times will be roughly equal.  The Nancy is also a better fighter.

That is interesting on the climb out.  The N being a better fighter with both clean and the same weight of fuel is open for debate.  I have seen Redbull work over people with the N though.  I want to say Latrobe took an N out a few weeks back.

[bj229r]

'Nancy' is a very unmanly name for such an awesome plane....'November' far more fitting.....been using it as primary fighter ride for years, never tire of it