Bustr and dirtdart, I wasn't commenting on Ju 87s and IL-2s. I should have been more specific. I was referring to the guys in fighters who strafe low. Many don't pull off, but overfly.
Strafing with MGs is usually not productive on tanks, except for the Hetzer and M18. Both can be killed by MG fire concentrated on the top armor. Cannon armed fighters can disable a track or engine on heavier tanks. Against heavier tanks, the 40mm in the Hurricane IID is the most effective, with the 37mm in the Yak-9T next. Both are most effective against top armor. I find the 37mm on the P-39 is marginally useful. It will kill lightly armored vehicles, but is largely useless against the typical tank.
Now, to the WWs. I'll up a WW for base defense. I have tracers turned off. Why show everyone that you're there, or exactly where you are? For me, low level attackers are toast... I get a lot of kills on passing high angle deflection shots (no doubt aided by 30 years of trap, skeet and sporting clays). Again, for me, the toughest attack to spot and to meet is a pure vertical dive bomb run. I figured if it's hard for me to defend, it should be hard for others too. I can't recall the last time I even took damage from a WW when attacking this way. Especially, if I corkscrew the dive a bit. I use that tactic if I'm defending alone. I'll drop one bomb from about 1k up. If there are multiple WWs and they are supporting each other, I'll drop at least two from a higher altitude. The other day, I found four WWs lined up in almost perfect spacing. I pickled off 4 bombs in sequence. Killed #1, #2, #3 and tracked #4. A friendly GV killed him a few minutes later.
Naturally, the best way to deal with WWs is to double-team them. In this scenario, you don't want or need pure vertical attacks. It takes some cooperation, but two properly armed aircraft can kill any WW easily if they work the tactics right. One rolls in first. The second rolls in a few seconds later, from the opposite direction. The WW driver has to choose one or the other. Which ever one he fires on, that plane pulls off and jinks. The second aircraft, unopposed, kills the WW.
Many WW drivers fail to recognize the coordinated attackers and re-up over and over, with the same result every time. If both are in bombers like the A-20 or Tu-2, when out of bombs, one of the pair goes to rearm. The second harasses the enemy and keeps him occupied. When rearmed, they switch. When the second aircraft returns, the routine is once again implemented. If it's one A-20 and a Stuka or IL-2, rearming will depend on what is expended.
It continues until the GVs either quit or decide to get an aircraft to either pork the ordnance or attack the aircraft. Killing the ord doesn't always help much, because we can still rearm.
