Okay RAM, I'll post a list of "worthy" American aircraft (produced in large numbers). The Germans and British have many VARIANTS "worthy" of being modeled, but relatively few actual new airframes (unles you count little-produced models or utter failures).
In my original post, I did NOT consider variants to be a "different plane". This time I will. I can understand that it is a positive thing to model variants, too.
P-39D; P-39Q; P-40B; P-40E; P-40F; P-40N; P-38F; P-38G; P-38J; P-38L; P-47C; P-47D razorback; P-47D bubble;
P-51A; P-51B; P-51D; F4F-3; F4F-4; FM2; F6F; F4U-1A; F4U-1D (note--I did not mention the 1-C); F4U-4
Those are 23 widely produced fighters which had a large impact on the war. It does NOT include little-produced airplanes like the P-43, or American planes which fought mainly for other countries (P-63). It doesn't include airplanes which had no real importance in the war (like the german He-163). Finally, it doesn't include nightfighters.
The fact is the USA DID produce a greater number of designs in large numbers. However, total production of a given type tended to be lower than in Europe.
35000 Bf-109's
25000 (give or take) Spitfires
compared to:
14000 P-51's
12000 F6F's
The Japanese also preferred to make many designs. Once AH reaches maturity, expect to see a lot of Japanese aircraft, too (except data for many Japanese planes is scarce).
I feel the best thing to do is act like the USAAF and USN are different countries. They had different tactics, different design requirements, and different purchase methods. Japan is the only other country which had a navy that greatly increased the numbrer of airplane designs in use. Germany did not have a naval airforce to bolster its planeset, and the British tended to modify existing fighter designs to do the job (Seafire, Sea Hurricane, etc).
Using my same criteria, here is a list of German fighters which are "worthy"
Bf-109E3; Bf-109F4; Bf-109G2, Bf-109G6, Bf-109G10; Bf-109K4; Fw-190A3; Fw-190A5; Fw-190A8; Fw-190D9, Me-110C; Me-110G; Me-410; Me-262
That is 14 planes, or just over half the total for the USA. These fighters are the ones that dominated the German output for the war.
Notice that my list closely parallels the planeset of several other online flightsims. Also notice how utterly predictable it is.
HTC has shown that they are willing to move away from the "major types" and model some airplanes of lesser historical signifigance through the use of the "perk planes". This move WILL result in more non-American aircraft being modeled.
Do I think the USA had a larger number of major designs? Yes.
Do I think airplanes of lesser historical signifigance should be modeled? Yes.
Do I understand why HTC modeled the F4U-1C so early in the game's development? No.
Do I think the USA planeset has too many planes already? No.
Do I think other countries need better representation? Yes.
I am sorry that this post seems to ramble a lot and is Off Topic. I am trying to make several points; I hope I am not just being confusing.
J_A_B
