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Thread: Airco Dh4 base vs card

  1. #1

    Question Airco Dh4 base vs card

    Howdy all,

    The card for the DH4 has A/A for the guns on the plane base. But looking at the card it has an A OVER a B followed by / B. Am I missing an optional rule somewhere?

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2

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    There are three different DH4s in the official release, with different gun configurations on each. I'd have to go look at the stands, but just go with the card, and use the stand for firing arcs only.

    PS: The AB/B plane supposedly had three guns on the front. Two sychronised Vickers on the cowling and an overwing Lewis gun. You draw an A and a B if there are no gun jams at long range, double this at short.

    PPS:
    WGF204A Airco DH.4 Unknown Pilot American Expeditionary Force ˇ 50th Squadron (A/A/H)
    WGF204B Airco DH.4 Flight Lieutenant F.S. Cotton & Lt. E.B.C. Betts Royal Naval Air Service (AB/B/H)
    WGF204C Airco DH.4 Sq. Leader C.P.O. Bartlett & Air Mechanic First Class W. Naylor Royal Naval Air Service ˇ 5 Naval Squadron (A/B/H)
    NOTE: (A/A/H) = A front gun(s)/ A rear gun(s) / H maveuver deck)
    Last edited by OldGuy59; 01-02-2019 at 12:18.
    Mike
    "Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss" Douglas Adams
    "Wings of Glory won't skin your elbows and knees while practicing." OldGuy59

  3. #3

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    Thanks. I hadn’t run across that before.

  4. #4

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    That particular DH.4 (Cotton/Betts) was intended for a long range recce of Kiel Canal... the mission was scrubbed, however, and the DH.4 was handed over to Home Defense (anti-Zeppelin?). The "A B / B" notation references the single Maxim in the cowling, two over-wing Lewis guns, and a single Lewis mounted on a Scarf ring for the observer. I don't believe the two forward-firing Lewis guns were on Foster mounts, so I don't think they were reloaded all that easily.

    There's a discussion of the model here: https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...t=cotton+betts

    I'd do as Mike suggested and fly my DH.4s with either an A or B forward, and probably a single Lewis (B) for the observer. Though, the double Lewis mount certainly is an option and makes an already tough nut all the more nasty.

  5. #5

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    Thanks for the link. Strange that Ares didn’t put a gun(s) on the top wing for that model like they did for the N17.

    And that brings up a good point, do I have the wrong base then?
    Last edited by BwanaJoe; 01-02-2019 at 14:49.

  6. #6

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    For anyone who has that Airco, does your base match your card?

  7. #7

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    I only have the Wings of War series, four of them, actually. All the bases match the cards. However, none of them are triple-gunned, just different configurations of single and twin guns.

    The only other triple-gunned plane in the Wings game is the "Fokker E.IV Leutnant Otto Parschau Kampfgeschwader I Luftstreitskräfte" card in the Immelmann booster deck for Wings of War. No miniature of that plane, yet, that I know of.

    Hmmm... Found this image on the Ares site:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	800x600-ww1_wings_of_glory-WGF204B.jpg 
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    WGF204B Airco DH.4 (Cotton & Betts/ Great Britain)

    This indicates the AB/B gun arcs?
    Mike
    "Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss" Douglas Adams
    "Wings of Glory won't skin your elbows and knees while practicing." OldGuy59

  8. #8

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    Good catch. Thanks. I’ll give a shout out to Ares.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by OldGuy59 View Post
    This indicates the AB/B gun arcs?
    Yep. Just checked my DH.4s, and the cards all match the bases. Quite the variety of armaments, though... the two American crewed kites are A/A (original and reprint), the RNAS 5 Naval (Bartlett & Naylor) is A/B, the No.18 Squadron (Atkey) is A/B gunned, the Cadbury & Leckie No.212 Squadron kite is B/B, and the aforementioned up-gunned Zep hunter (Cotton & Betts) is AB/B.

  10. #10

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    The MG mix is due to changing missions, even within the same squadron. While the A/A configuration was good for defense, it caused too much weight if you were flying higher or carrying bombs.
    Also, as the Bristol gunners found, it could be hard to swing the twin mounts around, esp. at higher altitudes.

    RE: the 3 gunned E-IV; it was a proposal that never made it in action, possibly never in the air except once for trials. It was found to be too front heavy, and too heavy overall.
    Moreover, there were already issues with the E-IIIs shooting their own props off, so adding another stream of bullets in the mix
    Karl
    It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by BwanaJoe View Post
    Thanks for the link. Strange that Ares didn’t put a gun(s) on the top wing for that model like they did for the N17.

    And that brings up a good point, do I have the wrong base then?
    That was an issue with the original Nexus release as well due to the guns being molded directly to the fuselage in an a A/B configuration and some of the colour schemes chosen having different weapon arangements. The DH4 model isn`t actually one of Ares best and hopefully they will get around to retooling the molds one of these days. The stand data should match the card for the colour scheme though so you may be right about having the wrong one.
    Last edited by Rabbit 3; 01-17-2019 at 14:00.



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