Strafers

The A-26 could also be fitted with under wing gun packs, two packs per wing , two guns to a pack. Ammo boxes were inside the wing.

B-25s carried 8-14 forward firing guns Top turret on later models could be locked forward and fired by pilot.

Early B-25 strafer;



B-25 with 75mm removed and extra .50s fitted.



Glass nose J test firing, please not there are 2 more .50 cal guns in the right of the nose that are not firing.

dobbie said:

Id go with the P47 and the Typhoon for ground strafers in a single engine aircraft. As for the twin engine, the P -38 as I understand it could lower flaps 10 degrees which gave it a slightly nose down attitude in level flight which would be an advantage-the only negative would be the liquid cooled engines. The advantages of these 3 would be speed and the ability to defend themselves against enemy fighters. If that were not a concern, the A26 with the 8 gun nose should do a fine job, as would the Mosquito. Amazing how much damage a wooden frame can take and stay in the air.....

Click to expand...

Most knowledgable strafers trimmed slightly nose when shooting at targets on the ground - if stunned, the a/c would pitch up slightly giving the pilot time to recover..

The Beaufighter from the mkIV on I believe used a dihedral tail to limit the sensitivity of the aircraft in pitch, apparently the earlier ones were quite sensitive in pitch , great for maneuverabiity, bit ropey when your strafing Afrika Corps trucks at low level!

Matter of opinion, I guess, but in my opinion the most successful strafers (of the properllor driven kind) was the Sea Fury FB11, used in the Korean war. They enjoyed a high success rate, winning a unit citation from the USN for their ship (very unusual for a foreign ship I believe) due to the effective support they wnd the Firefly Mk6s that flew alongside them. I wouldnt be so arrogant as to say they were the best ever, but the 4x20mm in an aircraft well able to also look after itselfis is a flexible and effecetive combination in anyones book. Ive got the claims awards at home but the CAG, consisting of about 30a/c undertook something like 2000 sorties in 3months (61 days at sea, with about 45 days on the line), destroyed a lot of stuff....

Shortround nailed the framing Questions..

As to selecting any of the above aircraft as King of the Strafers - are we talking about strafing airfields, rail, barge, and road traffic east of Brunswick from the UK or Formosa from the Phillipines, as part of our resume?

If so drop every a/c named so far except for P-47N.. and throw in the 4 and 6 .50 cal Mustangs into the mix. May not be 'ideal' but if they are the only airframes that did it, that gives it some brownie points in the discussion. If you rank aircraft as the highest value strafing targets then it goes to the top of the list simply based on results.

The Fw 190 and IL 2 are nice choices when they are lurking in a small tactical footprint closer to front lines. The P-38 gets more consideration for the larger footprint of tactical operation flexibility and the P-38J/L, P-51D, F4U, Tempest start looking better in comparison

Shortround nailed the framing Questions..

As to selecting any of the above aircraft as King of the Strafers - are we talking about strafing airfields, rail, barge, and road traffic east of Brunswick from the UK or Formosa from the Phillipines, as part of our resume?

If so drop every a/c named so far except for P-47N.. and throw in the 4 and 6 .50 cal Mustangs into the mix. May not be 'ideal' but if they are the only airframes that did it, that gives it some brownie points in the discussion. If you rank aircraft as the highest value strafing targets then it goes to the top of the list simply based on results.

The Fw 190 and IL 2 are nice choices when they are lurking in a small tactical footprint closer to front lines. The P-38 gets more consideration for the larger footprint of tactical operation flexibility and the P-38J/L, P-51D, F4U, P-47D-25 and P-47M/N andTempest start looking better in comparison