Strider posted 04-06-99 06:50 AM            

Am I crazy or are mossies hard to find in the main arena? I noticed recently that its one of the a/c that I hardly ever run into (only shot down 3 or so since they came out). Personally I LOVE the thing, its very fast and it has easily the best guns in the game- the 4 20's are better than the 4 30's on the 262 IMHO. The only drawback is the handling over 400MPH and the lack of the 2 extra bombs that it carried historically.

Anyway, why so few mosquitoes? Any mosquito squads? Does anybody out there consider themselves experts on this plane, and if so, say something dammit!

Strider

Yup, with 2 500 lb'ers, 2 250 lb'ers, and the regular cannons and ammo, more would be seen in the MA. Lets have those extra bombs please....

Beaz posted 04-06-99 07:38 AM            

Well I sent 2 photos of the Mossie with the outboard bombs to MO the other day as evidence for the historic loadout.

As to your question about why you don't see many Mossie's in the arena we had quite a good discussion about this some weeks back. The problem appears to be with the bullet radius that the Warbirds gunnery model uses and the fact that the elevator seems to part company with the aircraft after only a couple of pings 95% of the time... drives me nuts.

Wulf explained that the bullet radius was set to 12 inches which I think means that if you can imagine a plank of wood fixed at 90 degrees to your elevator... anything hitting this is going to cause damage to your elevator before it does damage to anything else. The problem is exacerbated with Warbirds current "laser" guided gunnery system. When we get the DoA gunnery system with bullet dispersion and energy depletion of the round things might improve. This is not the only aircraft that suffers from this problem... the P38 springs to mind as do most of the bombers including the B17... can't see why they don't do away with this bullet radius stuff for good.

Regards

Daren [beaz details a Mosqutio mission (Into the Lions Den) in another post lower down... make sure to read that one - front]

Warloc posted 04-06-99 08:05 AM            

Affirm Beaz,

I love the Mossie, it just seems to part with it's elevator a little to easy for me right now. Hopefully 2.6 will change this.

roblex posted 04-06-99 09:02 AM            

633 squadron flying under Green is a dedicated Mossie squadron. We find that it is a very effective hi-alt precision bomber, climbing to alt very fast, dropping on target and escaping again while the defending fighters are still climbing. It is also great fun to take a whole squadron in at 400mph at 10ft with rockets and decimate a field in a surprise attack. Of course Beaz should have mentioned this as he belongs to the Duxford Wing which comprises 249, 617 and 633 squadrons

If you dont see Mossies it may be because they are passing overhead at 350mph at 15K and all you see is hangars and ack exploding

Roblex 633

fltp posted 04-06-99 09:11 AM            

Mossies? I love 'em! Just ask anyone in the 4th! I used to fly them about 50% of my time when they were available, but I've gotten out of the habit. The mossie is an exceptional bird for about 2 or 3 days, but then it's severly outclassed speedwise. Also, it's ord load is outdone (IIRC) by the P-38s and P-47s pretty quickly.

Still, some of the most fun I've had involves taking a "lite" mossie to 7K and hunting drunks. Sometimes I don't even use the 20mm's. I once got into it with 2 B-25's flying in a wing pair (they were "name" players, don't remember who). I got my butt handed to me due to their wing tactics (and otto's laser guided fire).

She's a sweet bird but her time in the sun doesn't last long enough for me in the current RPS.

Flip-Top

-fltp- <4th FG, 334 SQ>

Kekule posted 04-06-99 09:53 AM            

Recently, as of last tour, I started flying the Mosq a more than I ever have. I'm still new at this game (only played 6 months) so alot of aspects are still new to me. What I did find out about this plane is that the bomber with 4x500 lbers is quite fun. You can do high altitude pin point "Norden" site bomb runs, or the Mosq can effectively be used as a dive bomber (with some speed to get away, too!) Having both bomb methods available make this a versatile and fun plane for me to fly. On the other hand, as has been mentioned in previous posts, the bomb capacity isn't that great and the Mosq bomber is completely defenseless (no cannons or guns )

The JU 88 has a higher bomb payload as well as Otto, but is much slower.

I'm certainly no expert in the Mossie, but I'll definitely be flying the mossie bomber more this tour. Maybe even give the fighter a try!

| Kekule |

Strider posted 04-06-99 10:11 AM            

The bomb-load is, unfortunatly, smaller in warbirds than it should be. I have pictures at home of mossie 6's with 2 in the bay and 2 on the wings. If you add that loadout option it becomes much more viable. I've also read that later marks (at least) had a max load of 4000, and carried that normally. Thats a hell of a lot of ord in a small a/c like the mossie.

Some questions: I've had a hard time sizeing up its performance stats... is it faster on the deck than the 190A4? How does it compare speed wise with the mid-war planes that it faces when it comes out? I have a rough idea..... seems like I get caught by spit9's a lot and that should not be happening (terrible- a spit9 shooting at a mossie... *sigh*)

Strider

... got to love those cannons though. In an HO merge, if I see even 1 ping on the bad guy, I don't even bother to look back anymore as a wing at least got blown off

brendo posted 04-06-99 10:21 AM            

I just feel that mosquitos are historically overrated. While it is true that they are lighting fast, it is all realitive. A 190 can be fast too!.

My point of view is from one of my first Mossie kills. He was at 13000-17000 feet, bombing, I intercepted in a stock 190a4 from way down at 7000 feet.

I caught up to him in the climb. Closed in his blind spot after 2-3 minutes, then unloaded 4x20mm in his ass.

He said it sounded like rain on the airframe, before it blew.

If an a4 can catch one at that altitude, then they cant be THAT fast- therfore what advantage do they have if not their speed?

Strider posted 04-06-99 10:39 AM            

Maybe an A4 "shouldn't" be able to catch one at altitude.

What the the specs like for an A4 vs a mossie?

Strider

paarma posted 04-06-99 10:46 AM            

Well, Mossie is a easy as any bomber to catch when they are bombing.. It's the 150 mph needed for Norden.

//paarma

paarma@warbirds.org

Yak posted 04-06-99 10:47 AM            

Catching a mossie at alt is too easy? I caught one in a zeke. Does that mean I agree with your statement? No.

The reason you can catch a mossie at 17k is most likely because the Mossie was buffing a field. You can't bomb a field at 250 ias. Virtually every buffer will slow to 150 ias or so before the final bomb run. That gives anybody a fair chance at catching you.

As to those who say the Mossie's rep isn't deserved: I recommend you take up the buff version of the Mossie, and have a friend take up a B25 at the same time. When your friend is at 6k, you will be at 16k, and you'll be a few miles out in front of him. The Mossie is simply incredible as a buff, in terms of climb rate and speed. If they had 6 eggs, nobody would ever fly B25s.

yak

DGSBDY posted 04-06-99 11:52 AM            

There are several instances of FW's of all marks catching and killing Mossies, especially on the deck. Many of the specialist type raids were flown like this, the Amiens Prison raid comes to mind, where in this instance the mission leader was lost to an FW.

Hienz Knoke even wrote of catching a Mossie

in a 109G in a long tail chase.

And if anyone hasnt yet, run out and buy a copy of Osprey's book on Mosquito operations.

Fantastic pics and stories!

Tomb posted 04-06-99 11:55 AM            

he mossie presented here in WB is a series one...the later series twos (FB and B) versions carried bombs/rocks/drop tanks on wing pylons..the FB version in warbirds therfore is a sort of series one and a half

both varients are very early war versions

the fighter bomber version did not change much in warbirds terms though the pure bomber version did..two speed two stage merlins and in 1944 bulged bomb bay doors for 4000lb blockbuster bomb...ability to fly and BOMB from 40000ft in the final versions

420mph at 13000ft

for some very odd reason the power in the WB version falls off as soon as you get above 1000ft...it should be good to 13000ft in the early version

its combat record speaks for itself as it has the lowest combat loss of any plane in WW2..not bad as most of them had no air to air weapons

Tomb

apex.de posted 04-06-99 12:33 PM         

You can't bomb a field at 250 ias.

Beg to differ - the Norden is off target at that speed, but with a bit of practice you know where to drop to hit at a certain alt. I might be a bit sceptiacal about hitting fuels, but even that should be ok if you cut throttle to 0 and make the Norden "creep".

apex

DocDoom posted 04-06-99 01:06 PM            

All the Mossies are busy figuring out where all the Fw190s are ... and flying somewhere else

Seriously, I have brought down every Mossie I've seen, bar none, in an Fw190.

That isn't a great many, I'll admit, but it is every one I've managed to find

Their biggest problem seems to be that they insist on running, and then when it's too late, they try dogfighting

Many many accounts of Fw190s and Mosquitos. Especially from the real 633 Squadron. The Mossies did real well when they stayed together (99.9% of the time) and fought like a cross between a wagon train and a snake under threat.

When the Fw190s could contain their formation (basically = have plenty of fighters there) the situation was often reversed and the Mossie pilots were in serious kim-chee.

The main reason that the Mossie forces (as a whole) lost fewer aircraft than pretty much any other type (number 1 in this regard, no ?) was that the aircraft in question were high, fast at that height, and often difficult to actually find/intercept given real world constraints like fuel state/speed/closeness or otherwise of friendly destinations ... operational proceedures that never prevent WB pilots from "getting their man no matter what" but certainly did in the real world.

A flight of 633 on a mission, cornered, was always going to be a hard fought engagement where anything could happen. Both the Mossies AND their opponents could could home on either end of the outcome.

Doc.

(sorry, have to go, just spotted a mossie co-e to the west of me about 4,000 yards)

lazs posted 04-06-99 01:17 PM            

Yep, just goes to show ya.... Don't put to much faith in the opinions expressed on this board. Both the Mossie and the (LOL) JU87 were THE most requested planes at one time. Huge threads about how much everyone would use em.... Both Dodo birds.

Now, contrast the Mossie and 87 with say a Mustang MKI/P51A/A36. The Stang would appear in the '42 no plane choice era. How many people do you think would find the Stang a usefull ride?

lazs

roblex posted 04-06-99 01:32 PM            

I fly Mossies a lot and I rarely get shot down on the first pass. I haved never found a need to slow down to 150 though I may throttle back to 75% about 15 seconds from drop and I usually destroy even the difficult targets such as radar first time. The only times I get shot down is when I have been distracted on the run in and had to come back or I have got cocky and hung around to watch the fight. Yes the mossie goes down fast when caught but with a little care you can reduce the chances of being caught to almost zero. The thing that kept mossie crews alive in WWII still applies in WB, most interceptors will get caught with their pants down by the speed and height of the mossie attack. The film and book of '633 Squadron' tells the tale of a mossie squadron getting decimated on a mission but that was because like the real life Dam Buster mission they were attempted a very unusual, near suicidal mission that they were not ideally suited for and would not normally attempt.

It's a lovely plane pity it does not have a better bombload or the 633 bomb bay and guns combination.

Roblex 633 Sqdn

bjh posted 04-06-99 02:40 PM            

Yep, just goes to show ya.... Don't put to much faith in the opinions expressed on this board. Both the Mossie and the (LOL) JU87 were THE most requested planes at one time. Huge threads about how much everyone would use em.... Both Dodo birds.

lazs, I'm really going to have to disagree with you on that one. I seemed to see Mossie IV's only slightly less often than b25s. You don't see the FB version terribly often, but that's likely due to the relatively poor ordanance loadout as compared to it's contemporary fighter bombers.

Personally, if I really want to make sure that something gets buffed, I take a mossie. It's quick enough to get there in time, it carries a usefull load and with proper tactics can deliver them accuratly. Just wish I could do full speed runs like roblex. <salute>

And although I don't do it very much, if you're going buff hunting, the FB is a great tool. Twin engines for survivability with the firepower of the FW and no convergence issues. Except for the seeming fragility of the elevator, it's right up there at the top. And, if you want loiter time, NOTHING beats it.

I guess I'm saying that *in my experience* it's been a very worthwhile addition, both for me and from what I've seen of others using it.

On the other hand, no, the ju87 does not routinely make apperances in the MA, but there is a whole world outside the MA. You might as well say that they should never have bothered creating the SBD or TBF in the first place. Only see those maybe every other TOD. And yet, they all serve a purpose don't they? They add to the mix elsewhere. Blitzkreig, 'nuff said.

I guess my perceptions of things differ lazs. I think they've made their investment back. Both stuka and mossie.

-bjh--

ddot Spectre posted 04-06-99 02:41 PM            

I love the mossie My bomber sorties this last tour were exclusively in the Mossie. I flew about 30 sorties and never got shot down. I had to run a couple of times, and the only time anyone got in guns range it was a 190-by the time he caught up to me I was at F1 so I dragged him through the ack and he died (why some people insist on following you down from 20k to 10ft to just die in the ack is beyond me).

Sure it dosen't take much punishment, but if you always have your eyes open and spot that con as soon as he pops in range, just drop the nose and haul ass for home

-ddot- Spectre

Strider posted 04-06-99 02:52 PM            

You don't see the FB version terribly often, but that's likely due to the relatively poor ordanance loadout as compared to it's contemporary fighter bombers.

Exactly the problem. They were supposed to carry 4 bombs, not 2! That PLUS the cannons in the nose. Also, didn't the bomber version carry the 4 in the bay plus the 2 on the wings.

On another note, I once got bounced by a 190D in the HA. I was running for home after a drop in the mossieIV. He missed on his first pass and then put the brakes on to turn with me. We went into a flat turning circle at 100ft, and before long I was on his tail. He started to run, with me in hot pursuit....

I had to laugh... here I am in an unarmed mossie, CHASING a dora! Whenever he gained enough separation to break back in at me, I'd turn hard and we'd go back into the circle. Before to long, however, he'd just get spit out again with me behind him. The dance finally ended when a fellow 417'er in a mustang polished him off.

Lousy 190 pilot for turning, but its suprising how well mossies CAN turn if needed, particularily with a bit of flaps.

Mossie stories, got to love 'em

Strider

SnakeEyes posted 04-06-99 02:58 PM            

Beaz is dead-nuts on... d8 elevator losses and a laser-guided Otto make the Mossie a relatively unsustainable aircraft choice.

Lazs is also dead-on. IMOL has this mentality that we need additional aircraft for use in Scenarios and SLs. Frankly, I'd rather see some of the latewar birds than another SL throwaway aircraft that nobody ever uses (can you say F2A?).

o-o-o-

"SnakeEyes"

Fourth Fighter Group

ik Jagdgeschwader 77 posted 04-06-99 04:25 PM            

You don't see many mossies because most of the guys who were wishing for one wanted a furballing uber plane. Similar thing happened when the P47 was voted into the planeset, no one flew it at first.

We'll see more mossies when 2.6 comes out. The nose guns will be a big plus and it will lose its glass tail that is characteristic of our 1.5 foot diameter tracers.

Tschüß

ik

"I fly close to my man, aim well, and then he falls down." -Oswald Boelcke

members.cruzio.com/~jeffs

funked posted 04-06-99 05:21 PM            

A LOT of the desire for the Mossie was because Fighter-Bomber tactics were very common before the "upgrade" to WB 2.5.

In 2.01 you could take fighter bombers, close the field, kill the cons, and capture the field with a landing. It was fun! You could play strat and win the war while still getting kills and not having to fly a bus. I can remember taking out 5 targets, getting 5 kills, and capturing a field all on one hop.

In 2.5 you have to get Ju-52's in. Now it's (perceived to be) more important to just knock down the ack and vulch while your Ju-52's come.

Also 2.5 brought much increased .50 cal, 20mm, and 40mm ack accuracy, and the ack can not be suppressed anymore!

As a result, fighter-bomber skills have gone down the toilet. I can't remember the last time I saw a well-executed jabo attack. It's been months. Most of the buffers seem to be still dropping stuff, but the non-buffers seem to be exclusively furballing just outside their own ack, or vulching.

Anyways, I think both Mossie variants are great planes. But the porking of the strat model has removed the demand for them.

BTW Yes add the extra bombs! And add the 2 x 250kg wing bombs on the Fw 190A!

triggr posted 04-06-99 07:19 PM            

One other point. The external view for the Mossie buff is porked on the Mac version so I don't fly it as much as I would like.

ddot Spectre posted 04-06-99 07:27 PM            

There is no external view on the mossie buff because thats how it's supposed to be. Only buffs with robogunners get the external view to simulate all those eyes scanning the sky.

-ddot- Spectre

Beaz posted 04-07-99 05:00 AM            

There is no way I'm going to fly a Mossie FB when I can fly a P-51 or an F4U on an FB mission when they carry the same amount of ord and I'm twice as likely to survive because I don't have an elevator that goes "ping"... gone!

Also... my personal belief is that the Mossie is way too fragile in general but maybe thats simply because of this thing with the bloody elevator again and my perceived annoyance over a period of time... probably. I'll pass judgement once 2.6 is out. I'm hoping the new gunnery system sorts out the problem. I don't think it will entirely but it should be a hell of a lot better than what we have right now.

To answer "ik" Mossies are flown stupidly in the arena anyway... alot of people think they can take off in one of these "hot" rides loaded to the gilles with bombs and rocks and hit the nearest airfield, turn with the cap and come out heroes... just doesn't happen... if your in the bomber version then there is no better IMHO and once you get upto about 18k+ very few people are going to be able to catch you but if you use it as it was historically intended then you can seriously piss alot of people off ...and it is real adrenelin rush even in the MA... try this...

Into the Lions Den

Try this if you want something different. Its an acquired taste and it doesn't appeal to alot of people... but for me it tastes really good when you get it right This is how to have fun in a Mosquito and seriously piss off alot of people on the other side at the same time... depends on what frame of mind you happen to be in... if I'm pissed off in any way and feeling particularly nasty I fly these intruder type sorties, this is the number one adrenelin rush in the main arena IMHO and will only get better when the new gunnery model comes out. This is a high risk sortie. The chances of you coming back alive are about 3 to 4 in 10. This is increased in the HA arena to about 6 in 10 due to the decreased icon ranges... but still very dangerous! I often imagine that I've just sneaked up on someone and ended their 30-40 kill streak ... makes me feel so much better... hehe If you happen to try this with a wingman doing the same thing then your survival goes up by a factor of ten as you can cover each other while the other guy attacks. Voice comms is essential for this!

The idea here is to stake out the back of an opposing airfield in an unexpected place and vulch people taking off or coming into land... nasty I know... evil I know... satisfying?... Oh yes, especially when you play cat and mouse with people in "The Lions Den" and eventually land the sortie with 4+ kills The best time to try this are the 3 days following the introduction of the Mossie FB into the RPS so that you don't get run down by P51's and high powered FW's or Spits.

Take a look at the map in the tower and study the directions that enemy aircraft are moving too and from. If you can see on radar a steady stream of aircraft taking off for an opposing airfield, maybe your own but these are usually not the best, then chances are that there is some sort of operation on to take the other colours field. Situations like this that entail two other opposing colours are absolutely ideal, they just don't expect you at all. A target field with only one runway is often the best as you can predict the flight path of aircraft taking off and coming into land. You want to pick an airfield and "hunting" position whereby the enemy aircraft taking off ususally turn immediately towards the opposing airfield and start to grab... idealy directly over the top of you... its human nature you are preying on here... the need for the other guy to get back into the fight ASAP The absolute ideal situation is if two opposing colours are really going hammer and tongs at it. It becomes obvious after a while that if one side has a numerical advantage then that one side will eventually launch Ju52's to try and take the opposing field... you have a window of opportunity. When this happens you have reached the "holly grail" of intruder flights.. lots of nice fat slow juicy targets

Once you have picked your target field for your intruder flight grab a light Mossie FB, lots of nice cannons , put no more than 20% fuel in the tanks. The Mosquito will fly for ages on 20% fuel... its probably way more than you actually need for the sortie! Take off and fly no more than 50ft above the ground so that your icon doesn't show up to any enemy aircraft over d21 to you and you stay off the enemy radar. Fly flat out at 50ft and watch the speed rise to 340-360 knots. Proceed to the target area via a non-obvious route... keep the speed high by making slow shallow turns... use rudder in the turns to keep the nose down. Use hills to hide behind and valleys to travel along until you get to your target area. Once at the target area stake out the back of the opposing field and wait at 50ft for something to appear... learn the lay of the land... plan your approach and escape routes. This takes alot of concentration flying so close to the ground and at such high speed... all part of the fun You can get quite close to the opposing airfield without the ack going off but be careful... this is also all part of the fun

When something does appear you have to way up all the pro's and con's of wether to attack or not... identifying the aircraft is probably your number one priority. Decide wether the guy has seen you or not... which direction is he flying... is he ascending or decending... wether or not he may be damaged and unable to manoevre properly? What is his energy state? Put yourself in the other guys cockpit... ask yourself what is he doing? Are there other enemy aircraft in the circuit and if you attack will you be seen by those other aircraft?

Once you have decided to attack you have to time your run on the enemy aircraft so that he is far enough away from the airfield so that the ack doesn't go off and yet he is still low enough so that you can disappear in the weeds quickly if the need arrises. Plan out your escape route before hand because once you go above 300ft to engage your target then your icon will appear to enemy aircraft all the way out to d69 and you will be seen on radar... so be careful

I usually steer clear of B17's and B25's as otto usually does you alot of damage. Other Mossies are sriously good fun as are Ju88's, 110's, Ju52's, Zero's (because they go bang nicely)... infact any other plane that you think you can sneak up on and escape from the situation. You need to approach from obviously very low 6 and keep your time above 300ft to a bare minimum. Streak in and fill the opposing aircraft with 20mm cannon shells and then get out the area. One pass is all thats needed. You might be able to stay around the airfield if no one has seen you... the next 20-30 seconds are critical in deciding this as you try to hide in the undergrowth again. The pilot of the aircraft you just killed probably won't be any wiser as to what actually killed him if you did it right. If you stay too long though then someone will eventually pick you up. I usually stay for 2 kills and then rtb... anything over that then you are definately pushing it. Once you have rtb'd then choose a different target airfield for your next sortie... the simple reason being that people wise up pretty quickly and enemy "search" aircraft start appearing in places that they have no right to be

Now... one Mossie flown in this way is all thats needed to seriously piss off an entire countries effort in taking another airfield. If you time it right and a whole load of Ju52's appear then you can just wade into them and escape before any fighter escort has the slightest inkling that you are indeed in their neighbourhood.

Try it... its a pure adrenelin rush... brilliant nasty fun But beware it is high risk and the chances of you coming back alive are about 3 to 4 in 10 in the MA.... not for the feint hearted

Regards

Daren

Beaz CO

249 Squadron RAF "Gold Coast"

"With Fists and Heels"

Part of the Duxford Wing

roblex posted 04-07-99 07:40 AM            

Somebody mentioned that JU88s do not get used a lot. I can tell you what JU88s excel at...dragging! Try it sometime. Load up with bombs drop them on a field from about 5K and keep going. As with the Mossie you will probably get in unmolested but as you leave you will pick up two or three fighters on yr tail who will follow you for ages not believing that they are not catching you. Slow down a little until they are just in range and they will obligingly sit there as you pick them off with your rear guns. For some strange reason people see a JU88 and think 'Slow bomber without lethal rear otto' and chase it where then would have let a Mossie go. They then sit there ignoring your rear guns when your speed means you can place them exactly in your gun range but out of range of theirs.

I have done this several times and it always works. Those of you who fly in DOA just imagine how stupid it would be to chase a Bristol Fighter that has rear guns above and below.

Roblex

fltp posted 04-07-99 07:54 AM            

As far as the mossie being a useless plane that people just whined about, I disagree. I don't think the mossie is useless, I think that IMOL has neglected to put in any targets of value that the mossie would have been historically used to hit. I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that the mosquito was used on precision strikes on targets with strategic value. We don't have any of those. We have targets with tactical value, but not strategic (IMHO). Put in cargo shipping, sub pens, headquarters for the enemy's army and the like, and give me some reason to hit it. Make it hurt the enemy if I take out the target. Then you'll see more of them.

Also, the mossie normally used weeds and underbrush as cover while moving to and from the target area (IIRC). In the water terrain, there is none. I can see mossies pretty well against the water. Give us a terrain with mountain passes, valleys, forests, etc, and I bet you'll see more of them.

Just my HO-

Flip-Top

-fltp- <4th FG, 334 SQ>

Starre posted 04-07-99 08:17 AM         

I dont know whats so hard about hitting targets at full speed with the mossie.

The last sat of the last TOD our Squad sent Three of us out on a Tactical strike mission. The three of us hit ALL the Frogs Radar at ALL FIELDS with no RTB in between. All three were in Mossie IV

I Myself got the radar at f14 and f13. another hit f26 and f25. and the other hit f12 and f11.

The purps had gotten f31 as I was approaching f13 so thats all the fields that the frogs had at the time.

For my runs I was at 19,900ft at full throttle.

I dropped one hashmark above the center and dropped 2 bombs on each radar.

Frogs promptly started to lose fields after that.

Any frogs that were on that saturday, Thats why your country went blind for 1/2 hr or

so (another gold had also hit the port at same time)

Starre

Moose posted 04-07-99 11:49 AM            

Man, when the Mossie VI came out, I was in love. I even ran up a couple of 8-kill streaks in it flying against other fighters. Eventually I went back to planes that didn't shed their elevators in strong wind gusts, and ones I could see out of. Nevertheless, if flown with the same kind of discipline as a P-47 or Dora, it's a pretty fearsome opponent--just get out fast if anybody higher shows up.

But the Mossie VI is still damn good at a couple of things. Otto notwithstanding, it is the best bomber interceptor in the game, bar none. It will continue to climb and fly almost 400 mph TAS at altitudes where most 190s are wheezing. The four 20mm cannons are concentrated in the nose so they are much easier to aim than those in the 190 and can concentrate their hitting power on one spot--plus they have more ammo and are easier to aim than the twin 30s on the Bf 110G. And it has the performance, speed, range, and durability (except for that glass elevator) to take on a B-17 and win. Remember, Otto may be able to hit you easily at d8, granted. But you can also gut or de-wing a B-17 at d8 with the 20s--I've done it many times. Hopefully both of these will no longer be possible with v2.6.

The FB.VI is also a king-hell vulcher. It's a fantastic field-suppression plane while waiting for the Ju 52s to show up. Use the bombs on any acks that happen to come back up, use the 20s to vulch, and use the near-endless supply of ammo for the quad .303s on any Zekes that happen to roll. Just keep a couple of single-engined friends handy to scrape the parasites off, and you're golden.

Moose

Flying Pigs

Baal posted 04-07-99 10:58 PM            

Both Mossies are wonderful planes, but they are lacking somewhat....

1. The elevator and in fact the whole tail unit comes off waaayyy too easily. Perhaps the new gunnery model in 2.6 will help this. I sure hope so. Currently if I attack a Mosquito while in my Spit IX I only need a 2-3 second burst with the two .50s only, no cannon, for a guaranteed kill. Unfortunately I've only got anecdotes, no hard stats, but in my IMO its' durability should be about the same as a B25.

2. The pilot's seat is waaayyy too low resulting in lousy visibility. Eye level should be about 2/3rds of the way up from the fuselage to the top of the canopy, not an inch above the fuselage. Also, the Observer spent a great deal of his time kneeling on his seat facing backwards to watch for badguys. A real life advantage that's sorely lacking in the WBs mossie. I wouldn't want to see an outside view like with other buffs, but something should be done to address this. Very unlikely until IMOL completely reworks all the cockpit art though.

3. IMOL gave us the bombloads of the Series I Mossies. Perhaps because they were afraid it would be an uber-plane if they did the later, and far more numerous, Series II. The FB.VI should definitely be able to carry 2 500lbers on the wings as well as 2 in the bomb bay. And although I can't be bothered to look it up right now, I'm pretty certain the rockets weren't used until late 1944, in which case Series II would make a hell of a lot more sense. As for the B.IV, 4 500lbers is the proper loadout in the bomb bay, but again, 2 more could be carried externally of the wings. The Series II could carry a 4000lb cookie instead, but if 500lbers were being used the load was limited to 4 of them in the bomb bay. Right now there's absolutely no reason to have a 4000lb cookie, but maybe soon we'll get some interesting targets.

B

Yoyo posted 04-08-99 03:15 PM         

Personally, I love the Mossie for what it does. In the AWT it's a great bomber to march down the island chain (F22/30/32/27) with a JU52 below. Climbs like a batouttahell.

I'm hoping the new gun modeling will somewhat alleviate the fragile tail problem. And a larger bomb load would be nice...

Yoyo

Yeeehaaa

JayJay posted 04-08-99 03:48 PM            

I agree with Baal.........

For me..the Mossie bomber is bar none THE bomber to get in and take out those last pesky acks or hit radar. I have yet to be intercepted and shot down in the mossie bomber.

--but--

while the ftr version does have good firepower, the VISIBILITY reaally s***s! I spend way too much time rolling and yawing trying to see/identify cons, and in any type of a dogfight...way too easy to lose sight of your opponent. Because of that..I rarely take up the ftr version...and only then for a buff intercept.