My second day into the World of Warplanes "Thor's Hammer" event didn't quite turn out the
way I had hoped. Although I did collect some pretty good rewards from the loot crates, my attempt at a side mission wasn't as successful. The requirements were to collect
some kills/damage in a Multirole aircraft and for some reason, I thought
taking out the premium tier V, Lend-Lease P-40 M-105 was a good
idea....
Thankfully, I was able to make up for it with a later battle in the Mustang H.
June 2017 is going to be a busy month for World of Warplanes. First, Update 1.9.10 just dropped to start things off, those details can be read here. However, it's the new event, "Thor's Hammer" that holds a lot of promise for participation and possible payouts. More information on that can be found here.
Despite the increased real life activity also taking place in June, I hope to be able to make time to play and continue on here as well. My commentary this month will be pretty much as I have posted in the past and for video content, I have changed the format for which they will be presented. Opening with the event
loot crate winnings (unless I run out of tokens before hand), video intro and a decent battle that ties in with the event or possible token reward.
As you might be able to see in the left side of the above picture, I still have a very long ways to go towards parking a tier IX FJ-1 Fury in my World of Warplanes hangar. While many current and long since gone players already have this aircraft, my little journey to getting one of my own could very well be as interesting as watching grass grow.
However, I have noticed a few folks have watched my Mustang H videos and I hope through my own trial and error (as well as listening to and applying good advice, when the grey matter is working properly during those critical moments) have seen some successful techniques to try, hopefully to avoid making some of the same frustrating mistakes I have in the past.
After a few intermissions, I have
returned to the progressive adventures in the Mustang H in World of Warplanes and it didn't
take long for the rust to start to build.
Over
the last while, I have noticed a....flux in the skill levels of
opposing bots. Some battles, they are perfectly programed aerial
terminators, highly efficient and deadlier than usual. Other times, they
fly like passive pushovers, dirty looks almost knocks them out of the
air.
The hard part, for me at least, is quickly figuring out which "mode" they are in and attempting to adjust both offensive and defensive tactics accordingly....
The Messerschmitt Me 109TL is one of those aircraft that appeared in the early days of World of Warplanes and was almost forgotten....
Originally, it was introduced as a tier IX German Fighter, above the Me 262 and below the Me 262 HG III. Some archived reviews from testing back then praised the aircraft for being nearly unstoppable, when flown correctly and downright deadly when flighted.
However, a few months before the official launch of the game, the Me 109 TL was switched out for the Me 262 HG II and it's fate remained a bit of a mystery (along with a few other tester favorites that have yet to make a return appearance).
There was a real plane, called the Bf 109 TL, well, almost....
In January 1943, the Bf 109TL concept was offered as a fallback option if the Me 262 did not come to production (at the time only three prototypes of the Me 262 had been completed and tested) or as a complementary fighter to operate alongside the Me 262, if production went forward.
The TL was a cobbled together project, the fuselage would come from the Bf 109H, cockpits from the Bf 109E/G, the wing to be sourced from the later aborted Me 409 project and the tricycle undercarriage came from the tested and abandoned Me 309. The same Junkers Jumo 004B-1 and/or BMW 003A jets from the Me 262 would also to be used. Proposed armament was to be 2X 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons and 2X MK 103 cannons mounted in the nose.
Despite design modifications and initial testing, the project was abandoned in March 1943, to focus on the final details of the Me 262. No known mockups, models or prototypes are know to exist today.
Although the real Bf 109 TL was lost to to annals of time, the Me 109 TL was brought back to life in World of Warplanes two years ago now and I have been having fun with it ever since....
Although the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is remembered as "The Wooden Wonder," there was another plane that almost claimed the title before it.
The Miles M.20 was originally conceived as a low-cost, single-engine, wooden monoplane fighter and to be based on the already in production Miles "Master" trainer. In June 1939, a mockup was displayed to the British Air Ministry, but due to low interest at the time, the project was shelved.
One year later, with World War Two well under way, a revised Mark II of the design was presented then built and first flown that September. Despite showing good maneuverability and acceptable performance, the first prototype was written off in a crash on February 1941. The cause was determined to be the brakes locking upon landing.
A second prototype was offered as a seaborne, catapult launched fighter for coastal and merchant marine ships. First flying in April 1941, the second prototype produced mixed results, despite the weight saving and structural improvements. Hawker Aircraft's entry of Sea Hurricane Mk IA was seen as the more favorable choice and the Miles M.20 program came to a close, the last prototype scrapped in November 1943.
In
World of Warplanes, the Miles M.20 is a premium, tier V British
Fighter. Other than sharing armament with it's same nation peers, performance and flight characteristics are more akin to Japanese fighters. Low operational altitude, weak climb and very good maneuverability, but with British camouflage and roundels.
Although not a strong, favorite aircraft among some in the community, the Miles M.20 is still a very capable plane, once it's limitations are learned and used to their full advantages....
Taking flight for the first time in February 1941, the Grumman XP-50 Skyrocket was designed to meet the prior United States Army Air Corps requirement for a twin-engine heavy interceptor aircraft. Although facing stiff competition in the form of the Lockheed XP-49, a prototype for a revised version of the Lockheed P-38, the US Army ordered a single XP-50, itself a modified land based version of the Navy's XF5F-1, to be built for testing, just in case the Lockheed entry didn't pan out
Successful testing and flights were carried until April (some sources claim May) 1941, when the sole prototype suffered a catastrophic turbo-supercharger explosion and was lost over Long Island Sound. Test pilot Robert Hall bailed out to safety and it is unknown if the wreck was ever recovered.
Enjoying a much longer service life than the real life counterpart, my own tier VI premium XP-50 is celebrating 3 years of ownership by yours truly.
Although I can't remember all the details of the given conversation, I was once asked to describe this aircraft, as depicted in World of Warplanes. My
answer was, "imagine a twin engine Corsair." At that time, I was flying both the premium and tech tree version of the "Bentwing Widowmaker" and found the same flexible playstyle in the XP-50. Very good and reliable firepower, great climb rate and maneuverability, it doesn't feel much heavier that a single engine fighter, except in extreme low altitude engagements.
In fact, here is a demonstration of what I have been talking about....
