Short Sunderland

[KD303]

Short Sunderland flying boat for use from ports. It'd be useful for maritime patrols and attacking shipping.
Also, you could have a mine laying feature too, making life tough for those CV groups!
It was known as the Flying Porcupine due to the fact that it bristled with guns, so it wasn't defenseless and would make a good addition IMHO.

[Karnak]

It bristled with .303s.  It was defenseless.

If you want a flying boat that might be able to defend itslef, not to mention having more than twice the climbrate and more than half again the top speed, look at the H8K2 "Emily" used by the Japanese navy.

[Angus]

The Short did have a good reputation though, and actually enemy fighters did fear it's armament.
Ju88's and 110's I guess they were, and perhaps lightly armed for endurance?

[Rasker]

I posted in the History section about the death of actor Leslie Howard on a Free Dutch DC-3 flying from Lisbon to England and attacked by Ju88G's out to sea.

The following day 7 or 8 of these Ju88's came back to attack a Sunderland conducting SAR at the area the DC-3 went down.  The flying boat managed to shoot down four of the Ju88's with the help of two extra .303's mounted in the lower galley windows!  (It took some damage but survived.)

[Krusty]

2 of the crew died, I believe, the boat was riddled so bad it sank upon landing.

Moot point. We will NOT get any flying boats in AH, ever. Not until

1- there's a use for them (NO SHIPPING! NO need!)
2- there's a way to model landing on water accurately and taking off again
3- the damage model becomes a bit more in-depth, as-is these planes would be defensless (YES, even the deathstar wannabe emily would be a sitting duck)

[Karnak]

Why would the Emily be any more vulnerable than any comparable bomber?  Defended by lots of guns and cannons (though not the best guns or cannons admittedly), renown for durability, 1,800fpm initial climb rate, 285mph top speed, 24 hour fuel endurance (merely 12 hours at MA settings) and a 6,600lb bomb load.

That doesn't to different from other four engined bombers in AH.  Yes, sitting ducks, but not sitting ducks that stand out from other such sitting ducks.

[Krusty]

So, essentially, it's a B24 with a 12 hour (in our MA) flight duration, but weaker armament?

Just fly the B24. As-is I am adamant that there is no reason for any flying boat, from any period of the war. Most performed duties that AH completely ignores, and as such without the duties being important, without a reason to do them (some sort of strat?), without a reason to stop them, without some motivating factor to make people use flying boats, and without some impetus to shoot them down in their flying boats, they serve no role in AH.

That's in no way a slight on your desire to have one, Karnak. I merely wish to explain why I feel AH will never see them.

[Karnak]

Well, the reason I want the Emily is because it would be a great balancer for Pac Setups as it carries three times the bomb load of any other Japanese aircraft.  The fact that it is a flying boat is just a happenstance.

The guns would be a lot different than the B-24's.  I don't think they'd be as good, but a lucky 20mm hit could happen.

Also I think it would be significantly tougher then the B-24.  All of the crew positions were armored and it had well protected fuel tanks and engines.


The only real reason I hold out hope is that it was one of the three aircraft Pyro once said he personally wanted to do, the other two being the Me410 and Storch.

[Krusty]

I don't think the unarmed storch will work too well in AH

But if Pyro says he wants the me410 and emily, well we'll see if he can work them in or not.

[Karnak]

He wanted to do a Storch because it would have such a radically different flight model.  I think it was that he would find it fun just to make such a different flight model.  Those were things Pyro wanted to do, not things that are going to be done for sure.

[Pooh21]

Originally posted by Krusty
and without some impetus to shoot them down in their flying boats,

I believe that as always is the sheer joy of watching someone blow the heck up.

I'd shoot down Mother Theresa on a red cross flight full of orphans. Not my fault she didnt have enough escort.


I think a Storch would be more useful then a flying boat anyway, and be more fun to fly, and still serve the same purpose, nothing.

[KD303]

Originally posted by Karnak
It bristled with .303s.  It was defenseless.

 

Hmm. It had four 303s in the rear and it had a couple of 50s too. Defenseless it was not.

[Bronk]

Just looked up the 410 and may I say BRING it to aces high.
Not only is it a verry nice looking plane I looks like it has tremendous  ground attack potential. The site i found with google said could be equiped  with  either 20 mm , 30 mm, 50 mm, rockets in a rotating tube set up . Once again bring it please.


Bronk

[KD303]

Mention of the ME410 gets me thinking of another model - The Heinkel 219 Owl. Here's a link.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/heinkel_219.htm

I first came across this plane in a book as a kid and was amazed by how advanced it was for the time.

This line from the link above interested me - "On November 2-3, 1944, one He-219 downed six bombers in 12 minutes..."

KD

[Karnak]

The He219 never obtained the manufactuer's claimed performance in actual service.  It could not break 400mph, let alone reach the claimed 419mph.  The Mosquito NF.Mk XXX was markedly superior to the He219.

Some people may say that top speed and acceleration are not really needed in a night fighter, and they are less important, but they most certainly still matter.


I love how the He219 looks though.  So intricate and bug like.