WW2 era fighters in modern Close Support-COIN role

Hey guys

Haven't been here in ages. Hope all are well. I am in the process of writing some short 'fantasy' stories set in no particular era.

I am curious to gauge opinions, ideas and thoughts of say WW2 fighters in Close support and COIN. Where supplies, parts and no fatigue of machinery is an issue. How would these aircraft do in such a role today dealing with more modern AA defences.

What would be needed to say have a FW -190 capable in such a role as an example.

Thanks again

Kym

 

i think radar directed aaa would chop em up pretty good but if all that aaa were supressed by f16s , the jabos and jugs would do just dandy and for a fraction of the cost of an apache or warthog

.hell, a beech bonanza or cessna 210 would be deady with modern guided munitions and some armour plate .cost 200,000 bucks , so you could feild 50 bonanzas for the cost of one apache and fix them for a lot less too . of course the us army couldnt own them cause the have fixed wings . intersevice politics .

 

Gosh, a trip down memory lane! Hi Robinson.


Ok, WW2 fighter-bombers as modern COIN aircraft...

Well, given that plently of light, slow craft are used for that these days, they would be no more susceptable to losses than those - they're probably a bit faster which will actually help. However, their payload will be much less, which will make them less effective. In addition, they would need to be extensively re-worked to allow for such things as guided bombs, missiles, etc. And as for their avionics...

For a modern example:

EMB-314 Super Tucano

 

Douglass Skyraider!

It came a tad late for combat in WW2 but was still a very good close support aircraft during the Korean and Vietnam wars. It was even credited to shooting down a North Vietnamese AF MiG though it was never meant to be a dogfighter.

When the USN decided to phase them out in the late 1960's, the USAF bought several from the USN for service as CAS & Air Rescue roles. Many were also given to the VNAF.

 

Hey guys thanks for the replies.

It would be an interesting 'realm' to see such aircraft take to the sky again.

I often wonder how some JU-88's would do in the COIN role during the 60's and 70's much as the B-26 was used. Or some Mosquitoes.

radar guided AAA and men on the ground being armed with more automatic weaponry would be more of a danger to these aircraft not to mention the shoulder launched SAM.

Some things that were over looked in Iron Eagles 3

Ok guys if you had to build up your Air arm with some pre-45 era aircraft to be used on the 'modern' battlefeld, waht would you chose and in what role.


Kym

 

imo ,coin opperated aircraft are best suited for the super market , for small boys to ride in ...attack arcraft should be ones that can actually fly .

 

:lol: :lol:

 

I wonder how well heat seekers work on detecting piston engines?

 

The Argentine Pucara comes pretty close to the mark. It saw action in the Falklands but little was really learned there as British special forces blew most of them up on the ground.

It's interesting, though, that the Pucara is designated a counter insurgency aircraft which is a useful limited role for such a type and it is not actually intended for it to go up against modern military anti aircraft defences - which kind of answers your question.

 

Ah, yes, as COIN they are fine, on a modern battlefiels their survivability is limited...

 

So if you guys had a defence force and for whatever reason you could
draw on some pre-45 aircaft. And logistics and munitions were no problem, what aircraft would you select ?

The scenario is, you are a 'good guy' government and just recently you have been experiencing a growing insurgency problem in the mountain and jungle regions in your countries West.
You are combating two distinct groups an organised crime-rebel movement that funds itself by kidnapping and drug dealing.
The other group is better equiped and more organised, a Maoist style revolutionary army bent on turning back the clock and creating a left wing utopia.

Kym

 

Obviously you've got to go late war on this one, anyone would have to be mad to pick something like the Fairey Battle out of choice.

Personally, I'd go for the a choice between the A-26 Invader, history showed her to be a versatile plane and of course she was used for COIN purposes in the B26K incarnation or the Tupolev Tu2 which my bet is could have been as versatile if the situation had demanded it.

I'd go for twin engines and multi-crew personally, because I reckon you'll need as much wing space for disposable stores as possible and internal space will be handy for modern electronics. Anything smaller than a twin and you may run into space issues, anything larger and you're making a bigger target.

 

How about the old favourite, the Bristol Beaufighter?

Proven track record, lots of guns, lots of space for stores.

 

Definitely!

 

Looses out a bit on load carrying though, a stock A-26 can carry 6,000lbs, quite a bit more that the Beaufighter (Although a very quick google doesn't reveal much in terms of weight, but the TF-X carried a torpedo and up to 8 RPs under the wings which I guess comes in at quite a bit less).

The Beaufighter would be a reasonable pick, given the choice between that or an A-26 or a Tu-2 and to me the Beau comes a distinct 3rd.

 

True.

 

i notice in my sim game the beau has an enlisted man faceing aft with a small bubble canopy but NO GUNS , this does seem a bit of an oversight ...even a single ww1 vintage lewis gun would be better than shooting only hateful glances ..

 

Early Beaus did as did some Fulmars IIRC, though it wasn't unique to have guns removed, I believe the He219 also originally had a rear mounted Mg131 which wasn't fitted to most production aircraft, and the rear mounted Mgs in the Bf110 and Ju87B seemed largely ineffective.

I can't help wondering if it was partly a confidence thing, if the crew knew they had a gun to the rear they might go a bit easier on evasive manouevres to give the gunner a chance to line up a burst although in reality a single gunner with one or two rifle calibre MGs wasn't going to be enough to even the odds against a fighter carrying a much heavier fixed forward firing armament, whereas the extra effort put into dodging tracer might just buy enough time to escape or for another friendly to get involved.

 

Unfortunately the choice of later war British Mediums/Lights tends to be more than a little uninspired. It seems offhand that the last worthwhile mass produced medium/light bomber we produced was the Mossie, slightly later attempts like the Buckingham seem, well, frankly embarrassing. It seems almost like once lend-lease Mitchells and Marauders became a possibility for the medium/attack role the British aero industry just lost interest in new designs until post war.

If the choice was to go for a pre-'43 plane, that opens the field more than a little, as it is there are potential contenders there from the Luftwaffe arsenal too, but glancing over the figures, on paper I'd have to pick the Tu-2 closely followed by the A-26 which both seem head and shoulders above their contemporaries, although the P-61 would be another good choice.

 

The B-26K is a natural as it was successful in this role into the 70s.

The Typhoon would no doubt be good as a rocket bus and I would like to use some late model ground attack FW-190s for COIN and 'mopping up'.

The P-61 would be a good night intruder and gun straffer against rebel 'convoys' in those 3am raid's much needed to keep the bad guy on his toes.

Though like it is said above if they have radar guided AAA or shoulder launched SAM's it would be a problem, but surely if used in conjunction with more modern counter - measures this could help sustain the aircrafts battle field survivalability.

Kym