Brewster Buffalo, that is.
Counter Jockey has seen Midway and the topic of the F2A has come up.
It's a plane I flew a lot in IL-2 because I liked playing in the Finn campaign.
You get to shoot communists and you don't have to play a Nazi!
A plane I got scary good with in that sim is the B-239E.
That's an F2A-1 with a bigger engine and all the naval stuff removed.
It's a solid performer against the Soviet planes of the time.
Good range, predictable performance.
One thing that stood out was how difficult it was to land in the game. You really need to grease it in or it bounces really bad and it wants to roll over.
Come to think on it, I also got good with the FM-1 Wildcat and P-40 against zeros and oscars.
Hey Angus;
ReplyDeleteThe Buffalo was a solid plane if it went up against comparable enemies and it did do well during the "Winter War" against the Soviets. Unfortunately it was obsolete when it went against the Zero's performance.
Happily, for the Finns, the Soviet Air Force was not exactly on the leading edge of technology.
DeleteEven so, in the sim, a predictable but underperforming plane is better than more performance that was "twitchy". I even managed to get some A6M-2 kills with an old Gloster Gladiator!
Don't fight the way the enemy fights!
It seemed to me that the Buffalo was sort of like a bumblebee - - how does that stubby, heavy thing actually fly? I always liked the stout, stubby look of them, but was aware it wasn't a top competitor in the WWII fighter game.
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