Best Single Engine fighter-Bomber(Prop Driven)

[Karnak]

The "Sandy" could carry up to 8,000 lbs of ords, with a 5 hour range of fuel. Don't know of any other single engine aircraft which could come close to that!

Nor I, but that isn't the issue the A-1 has about not being a fighter-bomber.  It is a great bomber for a single engined plane, as those numbers support.

[Hajo]

Milo toward the end of the war a lot of 190D's were used to cover 262s on landing.

As I stated that is why you see some with the red and white candy stripe on the bottom of the aircraft.

The 262 were most vulnerable on take off and landing.  It is not nonsense.  Allies had air supremacy

at that time and would go to known 262 bases to do just what I described.  Easier to get them then

then in the air.

[MiloMorai]

Milo toward the end of the war a lot of 190D's were used to cover 262s on landing.

As I stated that is why you see some with the red and white candy stripe on the bottom of the aircraft.

The 262 were most vulnerable on take off and landing.  It is not nonsense.  Allies had air supremacy

at that time and would go to known 262 bases to do just what I described.  Easier to get them then

then in the air.

The red/white Doras were part of JV44, less than a staffels worth. Jet bases had up to 200 barrels of flak for defense and were lined up beside the take off and landing lanes.

Wiki because it is easy

Because of the greater length of runway it required, and the slow acceleration it had at low speeds, the Me 262 was especially vulnerable during take-off and landing. Galland thus established his own protection flight. Five Fw 190D-9s and D-11s were attached to JV44, the Platzschutzstaffel (Airfield protection squadron), headed by Leutnant Heinz Sachsenberg, to provide air cover for takeoffs and landings. Flights were to be undertaken in a two-aircraft Rotte up to altitudes of 500 metres, covering both the Me 262s taking off or landing and monitoring the surrounding skies for Allied fighters.

The Platzschutzstaffel flew the long-nosed 'Dora', Fw-190 D-9, or Fw-190 D-11 variant of the well-known Fw 190. These aircraft were painted bright red on their wings' undersurfaces with contrasting white stripes so anti-aircraft batteries could distinguish them from Allied piston-engined aircraft, leading to their humorous postwar nickname of the Papagei Staffel (Parrot squadron). The Staffel was nicknamed "Die Würger-Staffel", a play on the common nickname for the BMW 801 radial-engined original A-version of the Fw 190, which was Würger or Butcher-bird.

[Hajo]

The red/white Doras were part of JV44, less than a staffels worth. Jet bases had up to 200 barrels of flak for defense and were lined up beside the take off and landing lanes.

Wiki because it is easy

Because of the greater length of runway it required, and the slow acceleration it had at low speeds, the Me 262 was especially vulnerable during take-off and landing. Galland thus established his own protection flight. Five Fw 190D-9s and D-11s were attached to JV44, the Platzschutzstaffel (Airfield protection squadron), headed by Leutnant Heinz Sachsenberg, to provide air cover for takeoffs and landings. Flights were to be undertaken in a two-aircraft Rotte up to altitudes of 500 metres, covering both the Me 262s taking off or landing and monitoring the surrounding skies for Allied fighters.

The Platzschutzstaffel flew the long-nosed 'Dora', Fw-190 D-9, or Fw-190 D-11 variant of the well-known Fw 190. These aircraft were painted bright red on their wings' undersurfaces with contrasting white stripes so anti-aircraft batteries could distinguish them from Allied piston-engined aircraft, leading to their humorous postwar nickname of the Papagei Staffel (Parrot squadron). The Staffel was nicknamed "Die Würger-Staffel", a play on the common nickname for the BMW 801 radial-engined original A-version of the Fw 190, which was Würger or Butcher-bird.

I believe that is what I said.  maybe I did not make it clear.

[Brooke]

With regard to the role of critical mach, I think that scenarios show its practical outcome vs. other aspects well.  It is easier for a 190 or 109 to escape at high speed from a P-38 because of the P-38's relatively lower critical mach, however, it is very hard for any plane (P-51 included) to shoot down anything when it is going, say, 550 mph.  What generally happens in using high speed escape is that the 109 or 190 goes tearing out of the bomber stream as fast as it can and doesn't have to fear getting shot down by anything until either the pilot chooses to slow down to get into a fight or gets to the deck and starts slowing down to max level speed (at which point it has to worry about whatever has either a higher top speed or enough alt to chase it down regardless of critical mach).

So, in my view, critical mach is one factor but is not the most-important factor.

[Tank-Ace]

With regard to the role of critical mach, I think that scenarios show its practical outcome vs. other aspects well.  It is easier for a 190 or 109 to escape at high speed from a P-38 because of the P-38's relatively lower critical mach, however, it is very hard for any plane (P-51 included) to shoot down anything when it is going, say, 550 mph.  What generally happens in using high speed escape is that the 109 or 190 goes tearing out of the bomber stream as fast as it can and doesn't have to fear getting shot down by anything until either the pilot chooses to slow down to get into a fight or gets to the deck and starts slowing down to max level speed (at which point it has to worry about whatever has either a higher top speed or enough alt to chase it down regardless of critical mach).

So, in my view, critical mach is one factor but is not the most-important factor.

Critical altitude seems to be of greater importance in scenarios. From my experience flying 109's and the Ki-84 in scenarios, the problem we ALWAYS face is the allies being at least 3k above us, and are at their peak performance, or still on the lower part of their curve. Our 109's, however peak at 20k, and we're routinely operating at 30k, well above our critical altitude, and it shows.

[MiloMorai]

Milo toward the end of the war a lot of 190D's were used to cover 262s on landing.

As I stated that is why you see some with the red and white candy stripe on the bottom of the aircraft.

The 262 were most vulnerable on take off and landing.  It is not nonsense.  Allies had air supremacy

at that time and would go to known 262 bases to do just what I described.  Easier to get them then

then in the air.

A lot is not less than a dozen.

The Ta152Hs were suppose to protect the jets but that is a myth also.

No you were not clear.

[Hajo]

A lot is not less than a dozen.

The Ta152Hs were suppose to protect the jets but that is a myth also.

No you were not clear.

My apologies for not being clear.  In any case, finding axis fighters to fight at that time was difficult.

[-ammo-]

My apologies for not being clear.  In any case, finding axis fighters to fight at that time was difficult.

I thought you were very clear. Both your and Milo's posts were in sync.  I don't understand why Milo thought it necessary to post after yours.

[GScholz]

...

[GScholz]

The first AS engined 109G-6/AS were produced from December 1943 and entered service with JG 1, JG 3, JG 5 and JG 11 the following months. DB 605ASB and ASC engines adopted most of the modifications made for the planned DB 605DB and DC (K-4) (mainly the larger supercharger of the DB 603 was bolted on the DB 605) and were later kept in production in parallel with DB and DC versions to increase production. These engines were all rated for 1800 PS. The 109G-6/AS had similar high-altitude performance in early 1944 as the 109K in late 1944, differing only in structural details (G-6 wings and tail unit, armament etc.). The streamlined engine cowling of the G-10/K-4 was adapted from the 109G-6/AS. In late summer 1944 they added MW50 injection for increased low altitude performance creating the DB 605ASM that powered the 109G-14/AS. G-14/AS and G-10 are practically the same aircraft differing only in minor details and red tape.

Beginning in December 1943, 686 G-6/AS aircraft were built or converted from existing airframes, along with 76 G-5/AS, 16 G-5/R2/AS, and 68 G-5/R6/AS. The number of DB 605AS and ASM engined G-5s, G-6s and G-14s during 1944 was approx. 2500 aircraft. In addition to these, DB 605D engined G-10s and K-4s entered service in late 1944.

Thousands of high-altitude AS engined 109s flew in 1944, almost exclusively on the western front. They were not "rare" by any definition of the word.



The AS 109s were tasked with protecting the bomber interceptors by engaging the Allied escorts. These were the Luftwaffe aircraft the Allied fighter pilots were actually fighting with. These were the fighters that were not ordered to just run away.

IMHO in all 1944 scenarios the Luftwaffe should be given 109K-4s to simulate 109G-6(14)/AS interceptor escorts.


Bf 109G-6/AS (W.Nr. 412 179) "black 14" belonging to Fw. Horst Petzschler of 2./JG 3, early spring 1944 (winter camo). Fw. Otto Büssow was killed in this aircraft in May 1944 while fighting P-51s.

[Tank-Ace]

I completely agree GScholz.

[GScholz]

The P-38 was not withdrawn from the ETO, they were transferred to the 9th AF, and were still numerous in the MTO until late in the war, escorting bombers into Germany and Austria.

So you're saying they were not withdrawn from the ETO, but transferred to the MTO...  Select choice of words there Widewing.  

The 9th in the MTO generally operated at lower altitudes than the 8th, and thus the P-38 could operate there more effectively.

P-47s had the lowest loss to sortie ratio of any Allied fighter in the ETO.

No wonder. The Luftwaffe could just ignore them for most of the war.

The Thunderbolt ended the war in the Mustang's shadow, and did not get to go to Korea with the Mustang and Corsair. Unlike the Mustang, Spitfire, and ironically even the 109, production of the Thunderbolt was halted at war's end.

[Karnak]

I have long advocated for the Bf109G-6/AS to be added so that the German side has a fighting chance in Mighty Eighth scenarios.

[J.A.W.]

Earl, they are nice airshow pix of dummy ordnance,
have you got a authentic shot of an A-1 parked on a CV,
ready for action that matches your scale model?

As for the contention that the LW wasn't flying in `45..

Clostermann wrote, [P.161 The Big Show].

"What was the LW up to? For the general public, naturally, Germany
had no aircraft & no pilots left. This belief was carefully fostered by
the Allied information services for a variety of reasons.

In the 1st place, the large scale bomber offensive against the Reich's
aircraft factories... didn't seem to have produced any visible reduction in the strength of the LW.

This caused an awkward situation, esp' as the Americans published
figures of German fighters shot down in the 2 or 3 hundreds
 after every raid over Germany. As these results were gained at the cost of colossal losses...which made the American public blench, a discrete veil
had to be drawn over the activity of the LW.

For us who were in daily contact with it & from whom it was impossible
to hide the real state of affairs, the optimism of the American O.W.I.
 was not without a certain piquancy. The more Hun fighters the Americans
shot down, the more there were!"

& so it seems that the propaganda promulgated way back then, is still
believed today..