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Ambassador -> RE: Spanking Lowpe (NJP72 vs Lowpe (A)) (1/21/2021 4:09:53 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lowpe
Hudson and Blenheims…I view them as almost free VP for Japan. Very careful how I use them. I think 4 Squadrons are delivering supplies to China right now.
I have been using in a night bombing role with some success, and in Western Oz a squadron of Hudsons have been attacking along with the Banshees...sometimes Geraldton and sometimes tanks. Not great against the tanks...of course I could use more. Results are also light, so I don't often post about them. They have destroyed fighters at night on IJ runways though and most importantly haven't been destroyed. Pilot quality in them is universally poor at the moment.
The British (and whole CW in fact) don’t have many decent bombers initially. Wellingtons are the earliest good medium bomber (and they’re great, a HB’s payload!) but you don’t get many of them. Blenheims and Hudsons have a weak payload, and they’re too fragile to really use them offensively. Don’t ever send them on LowN attacks ! You lose too many aircrafts (and pilots) just to drop 2 250-lb...
In fact, the RAF (and other RAAF/RNZAF/RCAF/FAA) is essentially a defensive tool. They have neither the numbers (of planes or pilots) nor the airframe quality to wage a sustained air campaign. If you really must use them to bomb a target, rely on night bombing with 70 XP pilots, or you’ll face depleted squadrons before long.
They’re good for ASW though, as already pointed by people. The 250-lb bombs are a bit light to severely damage the fleet submarines, but the Hudsons III(LR) have a radar, so better odds at finding and increasing DL. If you combine several squadrons over the same area, with night search, day search, and ASW by both Hudson III and Wellington GR-equipped squadrons, you very quickly pinpoint the submarines in the area.
If, in addition to that, you have one or two Wellington squadrons with 500-lb on day ASW, you can get kills.
Regarding the P-39D : I love that plane ! IMHO, it really is one of the best Allied fighter in ‘42, as it’s among the best range for max speed and climb speed, a good durability and armor, and you get a good number of them throughout the first year, as well as SR2. Their armament is interesting, maybe their CL .50s more than the cannon (if I could, I’d swap the T9/M4 for a good 20mm Hispano, like the P-400 has), and I like to use them as defensive fighters : the CL guns ensure, with good pilots, a heavy rate of damaged enemies, and this leads to ops losses. I would rate the P-39D as equal to the P-40E in utility (in slightly different roles), but when P-47 start arriving, I’ll usually swap the P-39 last.
I feel I get more success with them at 1000ft on LowN/LowG (with trained pilots) than simply on 100ft strafing runs, but I only use them that way later, when I have better air superiority fighters. However, they’re not terribly effective against dug-in units, so LowG is a bit of a waste, unless you happen to catch a moving column. A single B-25 or B-26 squadron will drop more bombs than a full group of Airacobras, so use the more appropriate tools.
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