With regard to high-alt flying, whilst both fighters and bombers had oxygen supplies, it's my understanding that most bombers had greater supplies per person than most fighters (doubtless due to their generally greater endurance). Also, little maters like the uncomfortableness of flying at altitude, and so having to wear an oxygen mask, in very cold air, etc. aren't (can't be!) modelled.
Whilst accounts I've read of bomber ops in no way give the impression that the crews were comfortable, doubtless they were better off, generally being able to move around (even use toilet facilities in some planes) than a fighter pilot strapped in his seat for the sortie duration.
Add in that climbing to extreme altitude takes time and fuel, bombing at alt is less accurate, effects on plane performance and handling... and there ARE reasons why one might not always want to climb as high as one is able.
Personally, I'd like to see oxygen supply modelled by having blackouts occur if pilots exhaust their planes oxygen supply. Of course, you'd have to add a command, maybe
.oxy to toggle oxygen supply on and off, so it wasnt used up when flying at low alt (unless a pilot forgot to turn it off if theyd been using it).
Also, fatigue/discomfort effects from flying at high alt might perhaps be "modelled" by introducing a tiny amount of sluggishness in stick responsiveness, and in aiming accuracies of guns.
I've remarked often elsewhere on other aspects that AH needs to improve on to allow greater realism. I'm sitting back and waiting to see what AHII brings...
If the LW had had a ratio as good as 20 fighters to take on 90 bombers from 1943 onwards, they would have been well pleased! But a well-executed attack even by a small force can have a big impact even if not many planes are destroyed. In one game in another sim, the commander of III/JG2 took us into a gap in our air defences over eastern Sicily, where the Allies had previously knocked out a mobile radar unit, as it was an obvious route for a large attack force to sneak through.
He guessed right, and timed it perfectly. As we arrived over the Straits of Messina, still climbing, the sky ahead was black with dots, Allied bombers and their escorts. We later learned that our FW190s had been outnumbered by about 5 or 6 to 1, and between us we didnt get many kills (just 3 IIRC, for a loss of two.), but we completely disrupted their attack. Many of their bombers ditched their loads and ran, only a few, I think, pressed on. It was difficult for them to tell who was friend and who was foe, whilst for us it was a very unfriendly, but target-rich environment. Fearing a massacre, their buffs decided retreat to fight another day was the best policy (correctly. If we HAD massacred them, they wouldnt have had much of an attack force left in the next frame).
Ah, memories... :-)
Esme
