Buff killing

[VWE001]

I've been flying the B-26 lately and after making my run I'll climb up to about 25k and go hunting for other buffs. I've had great success against unsuspecting -17s and Lancs... a couple of nights back I dove down from 24k to 18k and even got a P-51 with the forward firing guns. Of course I'd really like to have the A-26 but does anyone else use the B-26 in this manner?    

[Am0n]

Yep, good fun.. most will scoff at it though.

Ive bounced a f4u that was on the deck before, but never a dive like you talked about. gotta love the 6 forward firing, nose mounted 50s, most dont think about them when they try to HO you.

when i get bored or frustrated sometimes i'll up a b26, drop all bombs on the RW before taking off and fly level around 5k. Great way to rack up mucho kills on idiots who try to merge level 6 with you.

[Sunchaser]

Well, have fun and just send Hitech a case of beer for the freebies.

The service ceiling for the B26 is 19,600 feet.

[Revvin]

Two books I have say it was 25,000ft

[Wotan]

technically what your doing is ack starrin but the lack of twin destroyers I can understand the desire. But really get a mossie its much better for that..

[Sunchaser]

Well Rev, ya got me beat, I only got one saying 19.6.

I hope those guys did not spend that money on beer for Hitech yet.

[Revvin]

Well I guess it depends where you look Sunchaser, my two books say 25,000ft but was that loaded? does'nt say..just says celing of 25,000ft on the other hand I decided to double check and found this site on the B26 which quotes it as having a ceiling exceeding 20,000ft whatever the hell that means..I mean could it go to 20,001ft or fly to the Golly-geened moon   tell ya what we'll split the diff and call it 22,000ft  

[Karnak]

Keep in mind that ceilings can be defined in different ways.

According to the RAF the Lanc had a service ceiling or 20,000ft at max weight and a service ceiling of 24,500ft at mean weight.

In the RAF system all that means is that at the specified altitude the rate of climb drops below 500ft per minute.

[Sunchaser]

OK Revvin, ya got a deal.

I guess those guys only need to send Hitech a 12 pack then.

Way, way back, during about the 7,000th debate here over bomber ceilings a couple of us took B26s with bombs and 100% fuel to check it out and over 20K climb dropped drastically and we could not reach 23K.

I do not remember the version but I guess it does not apply anymore any way.

Looking forward to 1.09, cannot wait to see the fighter guys squeakin' if we actually hit their field with a bomb.

[Revvin]

Nah the beer is still on them  As CO of a buff squad I ask all my members to fly as I do to a realistic altitude for the given plane. I don't normally venture over 25,00ft anyway but ceilings listed in books can be misleading which is why I try and find a few sources and find a happy medium. For instance the B17 is listed as having a ceiling of 37,500ft in the two books I have and in another book by Janes specifically written on the B17 it says their operational altitude was 28,000ft. So is this descrepency due to unloaded and loaded weight? from what I read yes. Usually I find the ceilings in many books are taken straight out of the manufacturers specs which can be very misleading. For instance the RAF when doing a long distance trial of the Hurricane and quoted its speed well above its actual speed because the test flight was conducted with a high tail wind which shortened the flight time considerably, they did this to spook the Luftwaffe into thinking we had a plane more capable than they had at the time even though they knew the real reason for the good performance and kept this secret.

I'm looking forward to v1.09 and I'm hoping the super C47 problem is taken away that make buff flights pointless. No matter how good they make the bomber features in v1.09 if they leave the super C47 in then its a waste of time. I'm spending more time flying heavy fighter sorties because of this.

[VWE001]

In the B-26 I'll go with half fuel and climb up to 16 or 17k and that's where I'll make my run from. Trying to go much higher than that is not really worth the effort seeing as not many if any fighters over or near there own feilds will go that high. After my quick run I'll then climb up to 24 or 25k and start looking for enemy buffs. I'm sure when an "operational" altitude is stated that is a loaded altitude, and "service ceiling" would be max altitude.  

[Revvin]

Then you might want to ditch them guns and ammo to reach that service ceiling quoted by the manufacturers and while you're at it tell your crew to jump out 25k really is'nt the big issue its the guys that take their buffs to 38k+ that cause the problems.