It would be nice to see a G55, but I think we could use an Italian bomber first.
But which one? Early War is kind of a non-starter these days. You want something not too uber, but not too useless.
SM.79 is really the only one worth considering. It's iconic. It's also slow, weak, undergunned, and very light bomb load. It's an early war icon but one that wouldn't get an iota of use in the main arena.
P.108? Not very representative. 36 built. 4-engines, better bombload (but still not close to existing planes in the late war set), about as much defensive guns as a B-25C. Low ceiling. It would be a big target.
The only other options are the fixed gear SM 80-series, and that's going to go over as well as a Ju-52 would.
Where did you get those numbers? The charts in the game show the N model (16700lbs.) to be almost as fast (WEP) as the M (14647lbs.) At equal fuel duration loads the weights are much closer, and the speeds should be closer still.
Exactly.
P-47M and N have the exact same engine. The weight differences are mostly fuel and ammo. There is about 400-and-change extra pounds of weight due to the extension of the wings at the wing roots. Funny enough, the squared wing tips and the redesigned ailerons increased roll rate by almost exactly the same amount as the lengthened wingspan slowed it down. Net result: It loses no performance. The flaps are also slightly longer because the extension was at the wing root, compensating for the extra weight of the additional wing length and the hardware for storing and pumping fuel in the wings.
If weights were equal, the P-47N would be a P-47M. They came at different times for different reasons, you might say, but ended up very similar. One was for short hops across the channel, and the other was for flying to Japan and back.
