Quote from: flyingmiceI've been vacillating back and forth on the late war jets - they were definitely there, but they were never a factor - so do I include them or not?  I had decided against it, but I've been rethinking it again, due to my players' open declaration of war upon history-as-it-was. The game may turn out quite different than it did in real life. I'm now thinking of including not only the 4 operational jets that made it to combat - the Me 262, the He 162, the Arado Blitz and the Glocester Meteor, but also the Me 163 and a few that could have been in combat should the game go into uncharted territories - the Horten/Gotha IX, the P-80 Shooting Star, the Ryan Fireball, and the Nakajima J9Y Japanese 262 copy. If I go ahead with this, I will be putting them in a separate section, as optional.

Thoughts?

-clash

do it!  then i can run this:

http://www.luftwaffe1946.com/

Quote from: beeberdo it!  then i can run this:

http://www.luftwaffe1946.com/

Awesome!

-clash

You guys may enjoy this, what I think is the prettiest jet from WWII, the Heinkel 162 Salamander. I painted this for the cover of the jets section, finishing it up this morning.


-clash

That's my new desk-top!

Incidentally, did they need the arrow to tell them which way to fly?

Quote from: One Horse TownThat's my new desk-top!

Incidentally, did they need the arrow to tell them which way to fly?

Thanks, Dan! I'll send you the larger version, then. This one is just for web display.

I really don't know why they put that arrow on, actually. Since all Salamanders that actually got into action were in the same squadron, it could be a squadron recognition thing. The red arrow is there in every photo or drawing of the little lizard I referenced.

-clash

Received and thanks!

No problem, Dan! The Salamader was so sweet and delicate looking! And a far better plane than it's given gredit for being. Like mathematics and horses, aesthetics are usually a good criterion for judging airplanes.

-clash

nice pic, clash!  i never knew it as the "salamander", only the 162.

i prefer the me262 for period jets--the twin engines just scream barely restrained power.

at least you didn't use the komet, eh?  :haw:

Quote from: beebernice pic, clash!  i never knew it as the "salamander", only the 162.

i prefer the me262 for period jets--the twin engines just scream barely restrained power.

at least you didn't use the komet, eh?  :haw:

Heh! The Komet was a brilliant toy. It had 8 minutes of fuel, but ooooh those eight minutes!

Salamander is one of the names it was known by, the name of the project it was created within. It's also called the "Volksjager" (People's Fighter) and the "Spatz" (Sparrow.) It had no official name, or even commonly-accepted unofficial name. Even the number (162) was borrowed from an old pre-war bomber concept that was never constructed, so as to confuse the Allies.

-clash

Added: I always thought the Me-262 looked brutal and shark-like. Menacing and powerful, yes. Pretty? Not!

Heres the dogfighting sheet tor the Grumman Wildcat. There's been some changes since the WWI game!



Note the different weapons listed between the Potential and Fuel boxes. The separate gun ratings are gathered together in the big box. Note that the Wildcat has 6 heavy MG, for 12 points.

Note Chandelle and Wingover replacing Immelman and Vertical Eight. Very few WWII plance could do an immelman in combat, let alone a Vertical 8!

Note the four boxes in the center, between Fuel and Maneuver labeled PA, RF, EF, and TA. These are protection boxes, respectively Pilot Armor, Rugged Frame, Extra-rugged Frame, and self-sealing TAnks.

If a plane is hit, the player can:

Allocate the damage to PA, in which case the pilot takes 1/10th the damage and the plane takes none.

Allocate the damage to RF or EF, in which case the plane's Maintenance Rating takes some damage rather than the plane.

Allocate  the damage to TA, in which case the plane loses some fuel but stays intact.

Not all planes have all of these features - the Zero, for example, had none. If a feature is not present on a plane, such as EF on the Wildcat, the player cannot allocate damage to the feature, and the box is filled with a ball.

When a feature is used by allocating damage to it, the player checks the box, which is not cleared until the plane is repaired. Features take one day each to be repaired.

Quote from: flyingmiceNote Chandelle and Wingover replacing Immelman and Vertical Eight. Very few WWII plance could do an immelman in combat,

Interesting.  What's your source for this info?

Quote from: Old GeezerInteresting.  What's your source for this info?

Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific by Eric Bergerud. Bergerud states that the Zero was one of the very few planes in WWII able to do an Immelman in combat. Plus, I haven't read of one pilot making an Immelman, whereas everyone seems to do Chandelles to gain altitude. Since a Vertical 8 is two stacked Immelmans, that would be right out.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceFire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific by Eric Bergerud. Bergerud states that the Zero was one of the very few planes in WWII able to do an Immelman in combat. Plus, I haven't read of one pilot making an Immelman, whereas everyone seems to do Chandelles to gain altitude. Since a Vertical 8 is two stacked Immelmans, that would be right out.

-clash

Well, allRIGHTY then.

That's cool.  Most games include Immelmans, including JD Webster's uber-detailed WW2 game.  (Imagine a cross between Air Force, SPI Air War, and Tractics, except klunky and unplayable).

Quote from: Old GeezerWell, allRIGHTY then.

That's cool.  Most games include Immelmans, including JD Webster's uber-detailed WW2 game.  (Imagine a cross between Air Force, SPI Air War, and Tractics, except klunky and unplayable).

If you can find references to immelmans in the literature, I'd be more than happy to include them, Geezer.

-clash

Well, played saturday and had another cool session. This time, though, we had our first long combat. The PCs were conducting a carrier raid on Rabaul, just recently snatched from the Australians. The fight was glorious, but took about an hour to complete. This is much longer than anything I had done yet. They came into Rabaul from the NE at dawn, at altitude 20 (10,000 m) with the four top cover Zeros at their altitude. This prevented any boom and zoom, which drew out the conflict with some wild dogfights. By the time they fought off the top cover, the low cover zeros had clawed up to altitude, and still no boom and zoom. The final mix up had one of the PCs up at altitude 22, another at 18, and at 20, three PCs sandwiching two zeros in a conga line - PC-Zero-PC-Zero-PC - coming together by chance effects of three separate dogfights.

The Wildcats won, but were shot to hell and gone. They had used up their Luck, and burned out every advantage. Meantime, the Torpeckers and SBDs pasted the airfield and the newly arrived Bettys and Zeros on the ground, and heavily damaged a cruiser in the harbor. They lost a Dauntless and two SBDs in the attack to AA - BTW, I had the players run the planes in, rather than doing it myself. All fighters returned, nursing their planes back to some nasty landings on the Maui. Unbeknownst to them, their next mission is another dawn raid on Kavieng, also recently seized from the Aussies. The next dawn, before they can get their wildcats repaired fully.

-clash