WW2 aircraft in Traveller
In reply to #1549 Ship Designs 1 of 4 by Stephen D Smith
[email removed] (Stephen D Smith) writes: > More mundane question: What are the penetration > values of the different air to air missiles? Suppose my > players want to fire a radar homing AIM-7 Sparrow at a G > Carrier? First, the Sparrow has a slight problem - you have to keep pointing at the target all the time the missile is in flight, because it homes on reflections of _your_ radar beam which has bounced off the target. More modern missiles, e.g. AMRAAM, Phoenix, Russian AA-10 contain their own radar transmitters. It might be worth incorporating some rule to deal with this in MegaTraveller; all TL 7 radar guided missiles have this problem, so far as I know. As for what its penetration value is, the short answer is not much. For more precise figures, someone will need to tell me how big the warhead is, preferably by comparing it to a cannon shell. (Is it equivalent to a 5cm shell? A 7cm shell?) I can then get its penetration from the Striker tables. Also take note that air to air missiles have high explosive warheads, and usually proximity fuses. Aircraft aren't armoured much, so you don't need a lot of penetration to hurt one. As someone said in a previous letter, to harm a G-carrier or other armoured vehicle, you really want to use an anti-tank missile, e.g. Maverick, with a HEAP warhead. > Focke-Wulf FW 190 TL=6 Fighter > ... > Off: MMG*2 Fixed forward firing, > 20mm autocannon*2 Fixed forward firing, > Fuselage hardpoint*1, > Outboard hardpoint*4, > Maximum external stores=1400 Kg Late versions had HMG instead of MMG (13mm guns replaced the 7mm guns). Most versions had 4 autocannon, not 2. I only know of 2 hardpoints on the wings, not 4. Some of the nice things which could be mounted on those hardpoints were rockets (one 21cm tube on each, or racks of 24 5cm rockets); extra fuel; and gun packs (2 20mm cannon in each). > Ju-87 Stuka TL=6 STOL Attack Aircraft > ... > Off: MMG*2 fixed forward firing, > MMG*1 Flexible mount rearward firing, > Fuselage hardpoint*1, > Outboard hardpoint*4, > Maximum external stores=1320 Kg I wonder if the outboard ones shouldn't be 2 hardpoints, with dual bomb racks. If other loads were carried, it was one unit per wing, e.g. the 37mm cannon used on the Russian front. > Mosquito TL=6 Medium Bomber > ... > Off: MMG*4 fixed forward firing 600 rounds, > 6 cm High Vel forward firing, 10 rounds, > Maximum internal stores=2000 Kg What you have described there is the anti-shipping version. There were two standard types: the pure bomber version: Off: Outboard hardpoints * 2 Maximum internal stores = 1800 kg And the fighter-bomber version: Off: MMG * 4 fixed forward firing, 20mm autocannon * 4 fixed forward firing, Outboard hardpoints * 2 Maximum stores = 900 kg internal, 900 kg external Hardpoint loads can include extra fuel, bombs, or quad rocket racks. There was also a night fighter with radar in the nose; later versions had improved radar with a domed covering, which meant the MG's were no longer there. > Remarks: The famous bomber that the British used to create > havoc during Goering's speeches about how none of the > allies could penetrate his invulnerable Luftwaffe. Dam > Buster, Sub Hunter, Night Fighter etc. Light, fast, and > plywood. Not the Dam Buster; that was the Lancaster, and that modified. Trials were conducted with bouncing bombs on Mosquitos, but the weapon was not used on Mosquitos in operations. - -- "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: [email removed] UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: [email removed]