The Winds of Fire booster has been announced and will include the Hurricane, Zero and other fighters of the Pacific front.
The Winds of Fire booster has been announced and will include the Hurricane, Zero and other fighters of the Pacific front.
Goodie, I'm in dire need of more hurricanes + decks for the Battle of Britain.
Pacific Theatre is something I'll focus later on.
Fingers crossed for the Brewster Buffalo, Fokker D.XXI, Mitsubishi A5M4 Claude and the Nakajima Ki27 Nate.
I hope they come out with many boosters.
The more the better...going to need that Hellcat and Corsair!
I do believe that the Dutch flew the Buffalo against the Japanese in the early invasions of their pacific territories (Indonesia) and helped the British at Singapore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl_Brisgamer
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Fingers crossed for the Brewster Buffalo, Fokker D.XXI, Mitsubishi A5M4 Claude and the Nakajima Ki27 Nate.
Interesting. Where were the Brewster and Fokker used on the Pacific front?
I'm much more familiar with their use in the European theater.
The British, Australians, and New Zealand flew the Buffalo in Burma, Malaya, and Singapore. I have read of several flights of British Buffaloes flying along with or around the area where the AVG flew.
I think that the USA flew some in the Philippines against the Japanese invasion.
I hope this helped.
Andy
Andy: Thank-you for that. I'll definitely have to look into it!
The Bufferlows were also flown by the Marine Corps at Midway.
To add to this:
The Brewster Buffalo was the most numerous allied fighter airframe in the first few months of the Malaya/NEI and Burma campaigns. In Commonwealth service (Australian, British, and New Zealand pilots in RAF squadrons) it was designated Buffalo I. It was pretty much the only fighter they had in theater. In Dutch service it was designated B-339D and flew aside an assortment of other aircraft, although it was the most numerous. Both governments had picked them up on the cheap on buying expeditions to the US. After seeing it fall in droves to nimbler Zeros and Oscars, everyone regarded it as a terrible fighter. This is where the Buffalo's reputation as the worst fighter of WWII was born. The arrival of Hurricane IIs in early 1942 was felt to be a big improvement.
American combat use of the Buffalo, designated F2A by the Navy, was actually confined to Midway. The Marine fighter squadron based on Midway had mostly Buffaloes. The Buffalo did, as expected, quite poorly against the Zero. The poor showing at Midway hastened the Buffalo's retirement from combat service. But, for a time, there were Buffalo squadrons at many Pacific island bases as well as on the West Coast.
The AVG flew in Burma, so they were fighting alongside RAF Buffaloes. Some American P-40E squadrons were rushed via Australia to the NEI, basically just in time for the fall of Java, and would have flown alongside Dutch and Commonwealth Buffaloes there, too. No Buffaloes in the Philippines, though, as there was no Navy or Marine airpower except for seaplanes and the Army had nothing to do with this aircraft.
Navy Buffaloes are an interesting what-if. Although the Navy had wanted the Buffalo as its main carrier fighter in the late 1930s, it did not perform as advertised and--more important--Brewster was badly mismanaged. The Navy therefore turned to Grumman for the Wildcat and pawned the Buffaloes off on the Marines. Some Buffaloes were still in carrier service, though, at the outbreak of war. If there had been a carrier battle at Wake Island in the first weeks of the war, F2A-3s would certainly have been involved.
Of course, the Finns did much better with their "Sky Pearls" in the Winter and Continuation Wars. Some credit this to the Finns' decision to lighten their aircraft, making them nimbler in comparison to Pacific Buffaloes. I think the more important factor, though, is the opposition. The Finnish Buffaloes were flying against early-war Soviets; i.e., bad pilots in bad planes with bad doctrine. The Pacific Buffaloes, on the other hand, were flying against early-war Japanese in Zeros and Oscars, probably the best dogfighters in the world, and were foolishly attempting to dogfight with them. Also most of its pilots had very little time in type, if they had much experience at all, and were demoralized early on. I think in retrospect, the Wildcat was not much better; it's just that its pilots, who were probably the best American fliers at the time, came up with the right tactics.
I am pretty sure the Fokker D.XXI was never used in the Pacific. Dutch Fokker D.XXIs served in the Netherlands proper during the 1940 campaign and that's it. The Finns are probably the most famous user, though.
Perhaps someone is thinking of the Curtiss-Wright CW-21, which the Dutch used in the NEI, albeit in very small numbers. That is a different aircraft, though.
The Curtiss Hawk 75 would be an interesting choice. I think it flew alongside or against just about every plane that has been published, in just about every early-war theater.
As the P-36 Hawk, it defended Pearl Harbor and shot down some Zeroes. It was obsolete, though, and squadrons equipped with it converted to the P-40 before being deployed.
As the Mohawk, it flew for the RAF over Burma. There were also South African Mohawks in the East Africa campaign.
It also got to fly for the French on both sides. It was one of the most numerous French fighter aircraft in 1939-40 and had an excellent combat record against the Bf 109. Although you probably don't think of it, it was arguably France's fighter of the period. Later, Vichy Hawks flew against all sorts of allied aircraft, including an interesting tangle with USN Wildcats during Torch.
The Chinese, NEI, and inevitable Finns also used them.
Really you could fit this aircraft, in several nations' colors, into just about any early-war booster.
For an excellent read and information on the early air war in Malaya and the Duthch East Indies the following book is a must Balfe. J. (1984) War without Glory Macmillan. Melbourne.
Hello. I would like to ask whether the set will include some aircraft from the famous Polish 303 RAF Squadron?
Pilots like Witold Urbanowicz, Jan Zumbach?
Polish fans wings of war would certainly be grateful, because they are very proud of their pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain
Do they get a special rule where they cannot disengage from a fight with a German acft. until they've taken 50% or worse damage? IIRC, there are stories of British pilots having to "herd" expat pilots home to prevent them chasing the Germans all the way back to Festung Europa. (Not that they can be *blamed*, mind.... >:) )
We cannot forget about Sgt Josef Frantisek, brave Czech, who had the most kills during Battle of Britain. He also belonged to the 303 but he didn't fly in formation. He was fought as a lonely hunter. Unfortunately, in 8/10/1940 for unknown reasons he crashed into the ground and died. However, in 27/09/1940 F/O Ludwik Paszkiewicz, who is on the card in Dawn of War, also was shot down. He has been commemorated, so it would be fitting to commemorate the brave Frantisek.
Hurricane Minis have been relased, so they will not relased it a second time. So we would be happy, if the usual Hurricane cards with 303 will be relased, because our pilots the bigest damage to Luftwaffe made in Hurricane
Matek,
Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła! The Hurricanes were in good hands...
from...Jim "MayorJim" (Antoszewski)
I wonder how much maneuvers sets will be in this squadron pack. 2 or 3. 2 were in Dawn of War so for balance, there should be 2 sets. In this case, we can expect more Zeros and Hurricanes
Any idea when this boster pack is due out?
Also, during part of early 1942 USS Saratoga carried the Buffaloes of VF-2, while were own VF-3 and its Wildcats were traded to Lexington.
If you want to know anything about what planes were on a given US carrier at a given timeframe, the Navy was pretty good about keeping records, and I've been creating a spreadsheet of them over the past several years--send a PM, and I'll get back to you ASAP.
Looking at the aircraft it looks like it's 2-3 C decks in this one, IIRC there's 66 cards to a sheet so (finger in the air) a quick count of the number of cards in a C deck will give us a good indictation, my bet is 3.
Where are you seeing all of this? I've checked the Nexus site, but they don't say anything about upcoming stuff.
Yeah. Unfortunately this looks right, which rules out any aircraft of a drastically different type. Like say the Buffalo or some other earlier war type fighter. It doesn't seem like they'd throw in another deck when the two major aircraft types are handled by one maneuver deck.
I think the description pretty much rules out anything like the buffalo. If it's got Hurricanes and Zeros then it should have C decks. If they've done what they did with FL and EotR then that'll be it, they were basically a 1 deck type expansion with 18 aircraft for that deck. They may have gone for a C/D deck mix in which case the Wildcat will get a look in.
Speculation is fun
I'd not get your hopes up about other planes. If other WWII boosters are anything to go by, you'll likely only get reisens and hurricanes.
Any chance of the Commonwealth Boomerang making an appearance, do you think? Will the Hurricanes be IIb's and IIc's or just more Mark I's?
Jim and Marek... If all you want is some custom cards with Polish or Chec pilots, just PM me some info (maybe a link to and image too) and I'll whip up some cards in a jiffy.
Max. Here's a couple for example:
Last edited by Max Headroom; 03-23-2011 at 18:50. Reason: image insert
Yeah Great job. More info... lets see, what I got about 303 squadron:
Spitfire
RF-D - Jan Zumbach
Hurricanes
RF-E - Mirosław Ferić
RF-F - Witold Urbanowicz
RF-H - Jan Zumbach
RF-J - John Kent (Canada)
RF-M - Ludwik Paszkiewicz <- already agsist in DoW
RF-O - Witold "Tolo" Łokuciewski
RF-R - Josef Frantisek (Czech Rep.)
RF-U - Mirosław Wojciechowski
Something more details:
-Hawker Hurricane Mk I, RF-J V6665, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), Flt Lt J.A. Kent, Northolt, September 1940
-Hawker Hurricane Mk I, RF-F V6684, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), Squadron Leader Witold Urbanowicz, Northolt, September 1940
-Hawker Hurricane Mk I, RF-E P3700, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), P/O Mirosław Ferić, Northolt, September 1940
-Hawker Hurricane Mk I, RF-R R4175, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), Sgt Josef Frantisek, Northolt, September 1940
-Hawker Hurricane Mk I, RF-U R3975, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), Morosław Wojciechowski, Northolt, September 1940
-Spitfire IIB, RF-A Impregnable, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), Lt. Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, England, 1941
-Spitfire VB, RF-D BM144, 303 Sqn RAF (Polish), Lt. Jan Zumbach, August 1942
Last edited by Padi; 03-31-2011 at 06:16.
Speaking of the Brewster Buffalo, Armaments in Miniature now makes one in 1/200 scale. I have two I am working on , they look great! Now to figure out what deck they use
Soon, soon... I am planning 67 squadron motife. Need something to fly along side my flying tigers
I know they were a bit slower, definately less maneuverable.
Two photos of the Armaments in Miniature Buffalos are now in my Album on WW2 models. I apologise for the craptasitic quality, but my laptop for some reason no longer sees sdd cards. So, I had to use my cell phone which lieaves much to be desired. I hope to have good quality versions of the painted planes soon.
I know that the Buffalos used by the Navy and sold to the Dutch ands Brits were not the same as those sold to the Finns. However, most of the difference would have been climate and tactics. JD Webster (designer of the Fighting Wings games by Clash of Arms) had an article to concerning this in the new game "Buffalo Wings" which is a beginner system for FW set in the Finnish Winter and Continuation Wars. I don't know if the differences would translate to DOW scale or not.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
I suspect they would actually; broadly speaking the Finnish and some Dutch ones (the Dutch had two different engines, one of which was markedly superior) should have less hit points but noticeably better agility. The British and US ones should have a couple more hit points (armour and self-sealing tanks) but turn like a brick.... I'll try and remember to check tomorrow, as I've got a breakdown somewhere of the weight and performance differences between Buffalo models, and they're surprisingly substantial.... The better Dutch E model Buffs are actually very close to the Zero overall, which the heavier Brit and US ones could only dream of....
I have to echo other posters in asking...where are you getting this information Col. Haji?
Has any one a real information what is in the Package? Spezial this hole tread started one Years ago.
Sorry mate, you're more likely to find rocking horse poop or hens teeth!!
I was browsing some of the older messages in this thread and noticed the comments on Hurricane availability. Since I only do the WW1 minis, I am not sure if anyone has posted on this, but Flames of War (which I have used for WW2 simulation) has 5-6 different 1:144 scale "flights" of three planes each available, including one of the Hurricane. I painted up a flight of these a couple of years back and they are very nice. They come with good detail, flight stands (not useful for WOW though) and decals for the three aircraft. I know they also have the Sturmovik, as well as some German and USA aircraft.
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