Attacking from the rear seems like certian doom due to the tail gunner, but the betty is so fast that I have a lot of difficulty setting up side passes or forward passes because I can't pass it. Any advice on how to either:

A) attack differently
B) get more speed out of the hurricant? Currently I trim the prop to about 90% and keep the RPMs at about 2800-2900 and that seems to give me the best speed and accelleration. Any advice is welcomed.

Plan WAY ahead

That 20mm in the tail is a real stinger, especially when fielded by the "Jedi AI" of IL-2.

Try BnZ'ing the Betty. It worked for the Flying Tigers and it should work for you.

^ What he said.

Get some height on the bitch and stay out of the rear firing arc - the AI can pin a 20mm round to your forehead faster than you can spit...

But I guess the Hurribox isnt the typical BnZ fighter, huh? and the Betty is a fast ship...

I guess the safest way is to plan WAY ahead and then BnZ while staying away from thew tail gunners arc of fire...

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad it's not just me. I've been practicing 1 on 1 with a betty this evening and they get me about as much as I get them. Its hard for me to get long enough runs on it to really do any damage. Several times, the stupid thing has had time to land without me being able to bring it down and one hit from the tailgunner turns my hurricane into a fireball.

I'm doing what you suggested, setting up passes and avoiding the tailgunner like the plague. A head-on approach seems useful, but it is so fast that I really have only had one shot at that.

Also you might try aiming for the fuel tanks, they didn't call it the "one shot lighter" for nothing

you could kill the tail gunner

The other problem with the Hurri is ammo. 7.7mm bullets aren't very big and the Hurri carried just 328 rounds per outside gun, 324 for the center gun of each wing and at a final rate of 1200 rounds per minute (initially 1100) gives you just under 17 seconds of firing time so plan well.

Get in close and aim for fuel tanks and the cockpit. From a deflection angle of 30-40 degrees you could probably pump a few rounds into the pilot or co-pilot. (Remember, the pilot sits on the right, like a British auto driver, not on the left).

Amazing to think they were as effective as they were against German bombers, the Spitfire being used primarily against the fighters as it had certain advantages over the Bf-109.

I think killing the tail gunner is a great idea, however as Beebop says - the AI gunners in IL-2 have automatic sniper rifles, they will pop you in the 'pit every time.

Add this to the 20mm cannon in the Betty's tail - you got a recipe for disaster / death (deathaster)

Beebop also has good advice about the fuel tanks (even the Japanese crews lovingly called the G4M the "No. 1 Lighter") - the Betty burns even better than the Hurri!

The tanks are in the in board wing sections, IIRC.

After some practice, it got better. I set my convergence to 100m and didn't fire until I was right up on them. As long as I started high and continued to preserve my energy advantage, I was able to take regular passess and not get killed too much.

I hit the fuel tanks several times and got them going with just a shot or two. Still not an easy prospect, but its getting better. Thanks for the help.

One last question is top speed in level flight at about 220 kts with 110 throttle and WEP about what everyone else can get the hurricane to do? That's the best I've been able to get out of it with prop trim and flying as level as possible.

mrieder79 wrote:

One last question is top speed in level flight at about 220 kts with 110 throttle and WEP about what everyone else can get the hurricane to do? That's the best I've been able to get out of it with prop trim and flying as level as possible.

Depends an the altitude. I found out the hard way that the speed shown is Indicated and not True air speed. To find out your true air speed press F2 and on the gauge to the left is true air speed in Kilometers. K/ph divided by 1.61 equal Mph.


CWatson

dinosaurJR wrote:

I think killing the tail gunner is a great idea, however as Beebop says - the AI gunners in IL-2 have automatic sniper rifles, they will pop you in the 'pit every time. Add this to the 20mm cannon in the Betty's tail - you got a recipe for disaster / death (deathaster) Beebop also has good advice about the fuel tanks (even the Japanese crews lovingly called the G4M the "No. 1 Lighter") - the Betty burns even better than the Hurri! The tanks are in the in board wing sections, IIRC.

i would come in side ways, with the waste gunner in my range and shoot him or take a few shots to the tail

note: if you go to your conf.ini thing you can turn on HighGore setting...

it makes when the pilots are dead you can see them limping over in their seat... and in planes like he-111 theres blood