[SpardaSon21]

AI waves hand: These are not the cheats you are looking for.

[lostllama]

It could be me just not being used to squaring off against Ace AI - I usually set it to Veteran. I tried the same thing again but against earlier model 190's (A4's, IIRC) and I still lose. I can outrun them when straight and level, but when I have the altitude advantage, they can somehow gain height more quickly than I think they should. Also, to avoid unrecoverable spins I need to be a bit less heavy-handed with the MiG-15. It's best used for 'boom-and-zoom' tactics rather than turning and burning.

[IceFire]

There's a fantastic new trailer out there for IL-2 Cliffs of Dover. Very impressive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcm_5L6yZIY&feature=feedlik

Now would probably be the time for me to buy a new computer. I'd like to wait and see what others think of it first before buying a copy, though.

I wonder how powerful the Browning .303 machine guns will be. I was reading a magazine article about the contribution of the Italian airforce to the campaign over Britain, and one of the pilots gave an account of how his parachute managed to prevent one of the bullets from hitting him in the back (I think he was flying one of those biplane fighters). I think I heard somewhere that a certain RAF officer had calculated that eight .303 machine guns was the firepower required to down a 1930's-era bomber, hence why the two main RAF fighters had that many (seems like a lot of guns when I think about it).

My guess is that the .303s will be slightly more effective than in IL-2 1946 simply because there are more damage areas modeled and the possibility for cascading failures caused by battle damage. On the whole they weren't found to be that effective which is why they rushed the deployment of a token few cannon armed Spitfires and Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain. It was a operational evaluation and the original Hispano design was a total failure in the wing installations (it was designed as a hub mounted cannon for French fighters).

[Trivial Psychic]

I always thought it'd be cool during the Battle of Britain, to come across a partially damaged Me-109E or early F and cram its engine and weaponry into a Spitfire (which the Germans DID experiment with), retaining the 20mm hub cannon and cowling machine gun mounts, then rip out the wing guns and replace them with say a .5 cal and a 20mm in each wing.  Now there's a combination of firepower and performance (for the day)!

[IceFire]

My guess it that such a configuration would have some nasty side effects. As it was the Merlin was a solid match for the Daimler Benz aside from the inability to have a hub mount with a Merlin. Still I have seen a photo of a German captured Spitfire with a ... I think it was a DB603 fitted. Weird looking

The .50cal and 20mm in the wing did show up later (not everyone is aware) in the E type wing. Most of these were fitted to IX, XIV and XVI models (fully designated they were typically LF.IXe) although I believe the VIII saw them as well.

[Dilmah G]

They actually put .50 cals into the wings? I was only aware of the 20 mil Hispano cannon from Mark V onwards, I believe.

[Herra Tohtori]

They actually put .50 cals into the wings? I was only aware of the 20 mil Hispano cannon from Mark V onwards, I believe.

Yeah. The first Mark IX versions were basically Mark VC airframes fitted with Merlin 60 engine, which boosted their performance beyond that of the FW-190 A models which had been giving hard time for the Mark V's and even Mark VIII's. They proper Mark IX had pretty big modifications to its airframe, but the performance increase given by the new Merlin was such that they decided the rush the construction by fitting the engine into currently in-production Mk.VC airframes.

This resulted in Mark IXC with the Type C wing, which was the "universal wing" for the late Spitfires, fitted with 2x20mm Hispano cannons and 6x.303 Browning machine guns (the wing also offered possibility for 4x20mm Hispano cannons without MG's).

Later Mark IX Spitfires had improvements to engine (Merlin 66 introduced injection carburetor which removed the negative G issues that the earlier Merlins suffered from), improvements in airframe integrity, control surfaces, and the Type E wing which was otherwise the same as C wing, but it had options for either 2x20mm Hispano and 2x.50 Browning machine guns, or 4x20mm Hispano, but the latter variant was not often used.

Interestingly, latest HSFX mod for IL-2 has a duplicate entry for Spitfire HF IX E; the first of them has C wing with .303 MG's, while the latter has E wing with two .50-cals and no outer MG's. So, the first one is mis-named (should be Spitfire HF IX C for C wing instead).

Clean unmodded Il-2 1946 4.10.1 has correctly named HF IX C and HF IX E. I am so far not very impressed with HSFX as a whole. Sure, it's better than unmodded simply by the virtue of adding a bunch of cool stuff, but there are some things that have a bit of a sloppy execution.

I'll likely move back to UltraPack mod when the new version is released.

[Dilmah G]

Ah yeah, makes sense. Not surprised that the 4 x Hispano cannon version wasn't found in such a large quantity, can remember in 'Bader Wing' an incident where a Spitfire trialing Hispano cannons during the Battle had both cannon feeds jam during a dogfight.

Also, 'scuse my ignorance, but what's HSFX?

[Herra Tohtori]

HSFX is a mod pack for IL-2 Sturmovik. Shorthand for History SFX Mod. It's sort of kinda similar to mediaVP's, except IL-2 modding community is not as unified as FSO modding community is. So, as a result there's two mod packs in primary use: HSFX, and UltraPack.

Both have their advantages and mostly contain same material.

[Dilmah G]

Ah I see. Hmm, I have a feeling my download cap's going to be blown in the first hour if I purchase 1946.

[Herra Tohtori]

HSFX 5.0 is 3.74 GB torrent download...

[lostllama]

UltraPack mod site for those interested - I believe that the HSFX modpack is obtainable from there too, although I've not dabbled with it yet: http://ultrapack.il2war.com/index.php

EDIT: To clarify, HSFX comes with UltraPack. You get something called UPswitcher with it, and that lets you switch between the modpacks - it seems that switching essentially installs one over the other. It's possible to have both mods installed if you make a copy of the UP-modded version and use the switcher on that one.

[Dilmah G]

HSFX 5.0 is 3.74 GB torrent download...

And on top of that I have to actually download the entire thing off GoG.

[Enzo03]

Eh? I don't think you get HSFX from GoG...

Anyway I gave in and bought IL-2 Sturmovik 1946, about to fire it up.

[Dilmah G]

Oh, I was referring to IL-2 and all of its expansions.

[IceFire]

They actually put .50 cals into the wings? I was only aware of the 20 mil Hispano cannon from Mark V onwards, I believe.

Yep... Herra laid it out fairly well. There were a number of different configurations of armament for the Spitfire. The C type wing could (and did) accommodate four Hispano Mark II 20mm but this configuration was heavier and had an adverse affect on handling. The only combat that the four cannon version saw was at Malta to the best of my knowledge. Most of these were later reconfigured into the more typical two cannon and four .303 machine guns.

The E type wing came later. Strengthened to allow for better bomb carrying and fitted with two .50cal machine guns in the inboard cannon positions with the Hispano Mark II on the outboard positions (opposite of the C type).

There was also a trial of the Spitfire with six Hispano cannons and then when the Mark 21 and 22 were introduced with an all new wing they standardized on four Hispano 20mm again.

[Herra Tohtori]

Two more innovative pilot skins:


















And some gimped screenies...

[ssmit132]

It's like he's hanging out to say "get off my plane!"

[Dilmah G]

Man, those Fw-190s look beastly in formation. Brings a tear to my eye.

[Thaeris]

Hmmm... Here's some little known history:

After the war, the French Air Force (as well as the army, etc.) was quite strapped for resources upon being reformed. The Fw-190 was available, and if memory serves correctly, the fighter had been manufactured in captured factories previously. As such, the French continued to produce and operate the Fw-190 after the war. Given the tremendous quality of the fighter, that's quite neat to note. Unfortunately, it appears that engine problems meant that the type was not in service for long. You don't hear about post-war German aircraft in operation all that much...

The French also employed the venerable Panther medium tank after the cessation of hostilities.