Brady- on most things you and I agree. On this I disagree vehemently with you.
The Ostwind was not produced in great numbers. I believe 43 were made. This past tour, the Ostwind had ~42,000 kills. Thats just about 1,000 kills per machine MADE. On top of the ludicrously low prduction numbers (which seem to be cause enough to perk some otherwise unspectacular planes), the Ostwind gets more than twice the kills of the next closest vehicle (the Panzer). It had ~55% of the total kills made by GVs. It utterly dominates the "anti-tank" planes we have now.
It is practically immune to bombs of less than 500 pounds. The 'open-topped' turret which should be just about an instant kill is also not easily damaged except by Hispanos or 30mm weapons. And of course, while you need a nice, sustained, two second burst to knock out the turret, it needs a single hit to kill you.
It is also, incidentally, the only GV to use for destroying objects. One time a couple months ago, I took an Ostwind to an enemy field that wasn't under attack by our planes. I took out all the field ack, killed the fuel, barracks, and radar, destroyed the VH, killed 3 planes trying to take off or land, then rolled over to the town and killed all of it, then proceeded to kill 1 other Ostwind, 2 Panzers, and an enemy M-3. I still had ammo left over.
My biggest problem with it (besides the fact that it will kill any single engined plane with 1 hit) is that you can't ignore it. Let a Ostwind roll up to a field, and 2 minutes later all the ack is dead and the Flakpansie has closed that field all by himself. Let him roll up to the town and 1 minute later the entire town is dead. Then 2 minutes after that you lose the field because an M3 rolled up with 5 other Flakpansies as 'escort'.
It is an 'all-in-wonder' weapon, thats why it should be perked.
