Flying+the+P47

By Major Lee.
== Flying the EAW P47 can be trying at best, to those unfamiliar with the proper, and historical tactics, used to make this aircraft one of the most successful and respected of WW2. Like any aircraft, you must be familiar with it's strengths and weaknesses, if you are to exploit it's capabilities in combat. To that end, this tutorial is written with the following standards in mind: ==

I have installed the official Microprose EAW1.2 patch installed. You can download English, German, Italian, French and Spanish version from this site.

I have installed Enemy Coast Ahead: Online 1. These are, in my opinion, the most accurate flight models available for EAW.


 * Thunderbolt Basics:**

The P47 was, in all variants, a large, heavy and heavily armed fighter aircraft. Various models were powered with increasingly more powerful engines. They were rugged and dependable. These traits are well modeled in EAW. Upon take off, you will notice that it has a long time to climb, relative to other lighter fighter aircraft. This is something to keep in mind as you fly towards your destination; use this time to gain altitude. Remember the old fighter pilot adage: altitude is life.

In EAW, to gain the needed altitude advantage, do not use the "alt-n" feature. This will put you very near your target area, and you will not have time to gain any altitude. Instead, if on a long mission, hit "A", the auto-pilot feature, then hit the 8x time accelerator. When you reach a point about 25 to 30 miles from your target area, begin a climb to gain altitude. This will allow you enough time to gain the needed height for a tactical advantage, but not enough time for the enemy to match you. For instance, if you are on a high altitude escort mission, when you reach a point 25 miles from the target, climb at least five thousand feet higher than the bombers which you are escorting. You may as well drop any external fuel tanks at this point also. Remember, the P47 was best at higher altitudes, so climb up there, and try to maintain a speed of at least 350mph IAS.

Once you have gained your height, be careful not to loose it. This requires discipline and care. Turning is not the Jug's forte, so use good judgement when engaging in turning fights; do not give away your speed and altitude unnecessarily. When enemy aircraft find that you are 1,000 to 2,000 feet above them, they will usually "pop up" at the merge. This puts them at a severe speed disadvantage when they reach your height. Use this situation to gain a good shooting position. I usually fly my squadron with a wide (tab 6-7-2) seperation between aircraft, with the whole squadron spread out two miles wide. This lowers the chance of air to air collisions at the merge, and also allows for different squadron members to attack from more than one direction. If the pop up occurs behind you, use your airspeed to make a vertical loop; you will gain around three thousand feet, and be directly above your target. As you roll over the top, locate the nearest target which is pointed away from you, or at least not pointed towards you, and drop in behind him. If he tries to climb, he has become a slow moving bullseye. If he tries to dive away, he will become a fast moving bullseye. Nothing outdives a Thunderbolt. If he turns, then use your rising speed to zoom climb away. You will be above him again, and have kept much of your speed/altitude advantage. Be wary of stiffening controls as your speed rises.

When you make the drop attack, you can also try a quick passing shot, called a snapshot. Try to aim for the cockpit; remember that the idea here is to place a stream of bullets in the path of the enemy ship, through which he gets to fly. The eight fifty caliber guns can easily kill the Bf109 and Bf110's. The most you can hope for in this situation, against the FW190's and Me410, is to damage them.

When the inevitable turning fight occurs, you have a couple things going for you with the Thunderbolt. One is the basic stability of the aircraft. This allows you to "ride the stall" without too much difficulty. Practice turning the Thunderbolt; you will have to do it sometime. When turning the P47, it can be difficult to get enough "lead" on the target, that is, you must get your nose pointed ahead of your target. You have a couple of things you can do in this situation. First, work the throttle and flaps; this will change the shape of your turning circle. As your speed slows and the flaps deploy, your turning circle will tighten, allowing you to get into firing position. Another tactic to try is the high-yo. As you enter a turn, slide your ship high at the apex of your turn. You can use flaps to assist this manuever. The intention is to move your ship above the horizontal plane of your targets turning circle. As you reach your apex, turn your nose back towards your target.

When diving on targets, be aware that when you pull out of a 500mph dive, blacking out is going to be a real concern for you. Pull back too hard, and it will become very dark, very quickly. Also, watch for compressability, or the buildup of air pressure on the control surfaces. It can make things difficult, if not impossible to manuever. When this happens, cut your throttle, and work the rudder. I have read a number of instances where P47 pilots in high speed dives had to resort to moving the rudder trim tab, in order to induce any kind of drag to slow the aircraft down.

Another situation to watch for, is overshooting your target. This occurs when you are going too fast, or your target is making a tighter turn than you. When your target is turning, as in a classic split-S, you may have to slow down to catch him. I know that sounds odd, but when the Thunderbolt is diving, it is gaining speed, thereby widening it's turning circle. Slow down, and you will stay behind him.


 * Gunnery:**

The Thunderbolt is equipped with eight Browning fifty caliber machine guns. This combination put more firepower (weight of rounds per second) on target than any other single engine aircraft in WW2. The P47 in EAW carries an ample supply of ammunition, so don't be afraid to use it, but don't waste it. "Spray and Pray" won't get you very far. Carefully placed placed quarter to half second bursts will show you "where you are". Once you have good lead and elevation, give a good one to two second burst; this will take out most anything in EAW. When making a snapshot, a one to two second burst should be sufficient to achieve the desired result. Anymore, and you are firing at the wrong time and position. Closer is usually better in gunnery. When you get in close, there is no where for the target to go, to escape from your rounds. Hub Zemke said that if he could shoot better, he would have knocked down twice the planes that he did, which was actually 17.75 confirmed air to air kills. There are a few really good places to hit certain aircraft in EAW. Twin engine aircraft become very easy kills once they are down to one engine. The Bf110 is just easy. The Bf109 is very vulnerable in the cockit and engine area. The Focke Wulf aircraft can lose a wing with relative ease, but must be beaten down steadily with accurate bursts, otherwise.

The whole idea, of course, is to combine your aircrafts manuevers with the intent of allowing you to place your aircraft in a position where, when you pull the trigger, your bullets will fly out and meet your target somewhere out ahead of you. This all takes place nearly instantaneously, but careful postioning, and good situational awareness can make your job much easier. When you fly online versus human opponents, you will find a new feature in EAW; the debrief board has hit statisics on it. The game counts all rounds fired, and any corresponding hits, which leads to the accuracy rating. Flying on line is a great way to improve your flying and gunnery skills. You can start flying online by going to The Zone or Kali.net.


 * Squadron Management:**

When you fly as an EAW Squadron Commander, you have many things about which to think; mission goal, mission completion, squadron pilots, and loadout for the mission. The primary goal as Squadron CO, is mission completion. You will eventually lose squadron pilots. There are a couple of factors to determine which pilots you send on a mission. I try to send low mission and low kill pilots on missions, to get the entire squadron built up to some level of proficiency. Once all the pilots have flown at least several missions, then I begin to rotate the various pilots through the missions. This way, a few pilots are not doing all the work,and becoming fatigued, while other pilots sit back and lose their edge because they have not flown. Fatigue and morale are factors in Squadron pilot performance. Squadron pilots can learn to be better pilots; they gain experience from flying missions and performing tasks. If you fly with a new pilot as wingman, then you can personally guide him into becoming a better pilot. When on your mission, designate a target ("t"), then call for your wingman to attack it (tab-1-4). It does not hurt if you damage that target a little. Once a wingman has a few kills, select another inexperienced pilot to be your wingman. This raises the performance standard for the entire squadron, making life easier for you later. You can even train squadron pilots to successfully attack ground targets using this method. Just select certain pilots for certain slots in the squadron, and have them make your ground attacks. They will eventually learn to actually hit heir target. On my first EAW MOH mission, my squadron attacked an airfield, taking out the entire command building cluster, and the airfield. This completed the mission goal, and allowed me to save my bombs and ammunition for other targets of opportunity.

Another technique to use, is to designate a target, and call for help (tab-8). This will send your wingman, and another squadron pilot against the same target. This does two things; it helps to assure that someone will make the kill, and it evens the odds more quickly than if the entire squadron acted on their own. Once a few kills have been made on a mission, morale seems to rise, and the Squadron becomes more aggressive.


 * Ground Attack:**


 * On ground attack missions, I usually run with Blue section "clean", that is, without bombs or rockets. This is my "top cover" section. I select my best "aces" for this section, and also keep track of which pilots I use for the actual bombing. The pilots can learn to bomb more effectively if they do it a few times. As I approach my target area (25 miles), I begin a climb, gaining 4,00 to 5,000 feet above the designated mission altitude. This puts me above the intercepting fighters, and allows me to dive slightly to gain speed, and therefore put distance between my squadron and the GAF. Be carefull not to gain too much altitude, as this will simply place the interceptors higher also. When I close to eight miles from the target, I call for Blue section to attack the interceptors, if neccessary, then proceed with the actual ground attack. I send White Flight in first, then assess their result. I then bring in Red Flight to finish off the target area. Hopefully, the target has been hit, and I can save my bombs for another target area, thereby gaining extra points for the mission.
 * On ground attack missions, I usually run with Blue section "clean", that is, without bombs or rockets. This is my "top cover" section. I select my best "aces" for this section, and also keep track of which pilots I use for the actual bombing. The pilots can learn to bomb more effectively if they do it a few times. As I approach my target area (25 miles), I begin a climb, gaining 4,00 to 5,000 feet above the designated mission altitude. This puts me above the intercepting fighters, and allows me to dive slightly to gain speed, and therefore put distance between my squadron and the GAF. Be carefull not to gain too much altitude, as this will simply place the interceptors higher also. When I close to eight miles from the target, I call for Blue section to attack the interceptors, if neccessary, then proceed with the actual ground attack. I send White Flight in first, then assess their result. I then bring in Red Flight to finish off the target area. Hopefully, the target has been hit, and I can save my bombs for another target area, thereby gaining extra points for the mission.

When making an attack on a heavily defended airfield, or any area with light AAA, you can make the AAA fire less effective by doing what Lt Tom Glenn did in WW2; double team the gun positions. Tom flew with the 9thAF, 36th FG, 53FS, all over Europe. In their many ground support missions, they found out one important fact: a German quad 20mm cannon can only fire in one direction at a time. Their standard operating procedure was to double team any AAA position. Yes, one pilot is very vulnerable, but the AAA fire was less accurate when they were getting shot at with sixteen Browning's from two directions! You can simulate this in EAW, by sending more than one flight across the target area at one time. This allows you to zero in on any AAA positions without being in danger, and take them out. Once the AAA is cleared, and the bombs have been dropped, send the squadron against any intercepting fighters, and you can finish off the target area with relative ease. The guns on the P47 will not destroy aircraft hangars, rail yards, larger buildings or any concrete bunkers or emplacements, so concentrate on smaller buildings, light vehicles, trains, V1 launch sites, radar sets, and oil storage tanks. This will boost your point totals, and get you the various medals.

When you are assigned a mission to bomb a target, as opposed to a vehicle interdiction mission, the actual target will dictate the size of the bombs needed to accomplish the mission. If you are assigned to attack a large factory, then use larger bombs. If you have to take out an airfield, then choose smaller bombs. The actual attack run is dictated by the type of bomb used. If you are dropping 1,000 pound bombs, then you must not be near when the bomb explodes, or you will be blown out of the air. This means that you should use a medium altitude approach, and make a high angle diving run. Get yourself up around 5,000 feet, line up on the target at least one mile out, and as you draw near, push the nose over into a near vertical dive. Point your nose directly at the center of the target building. Do this with minimum throttle, as the P47 will rapidly accelerate otherwise. As you near your target, drop from about 1,000 feet, and pull up. Check your six view, and watch the fireworks. Recall where you aimed, and your approximate dive angle and target distance. If you hit your target, then keep doing it like that, otherwise, go practice.

To successfully attack smaller buildings with smaller bombs requires a lower, faster approach. When attacking tanks and small buildings, approach at 500 feet or less. When you are almost on top of your target, drop your nose, look at your target, and drop your bombs. They will hit nearly every time. This method is instinctive, like braking for a stop sign; you just know when and how hard to apply the brakes. You just have to "know" when to drop the bomb. Practice if you have a hard time with this


 * Radio Chatter:**

EAW includes several useful radio commands, and you will hear a few important radio messages directed at you.

One request that you can make of ground control, is to request assistance (tab-7-5). Ground control will sometimes vector additional help your way, with perhaps a one in three chance of this happening. Otherwise you are on your own. It is worth a try.

Another important piece of news is when Ground Control tells you that the mission has been accomplished. Listen for this for this mesage, because if you return without actually accomplishing the mission's objective, your score and mission rating will suffer.

A very important piece of radio chatter is when someone requests help, or says "Somebody get him off me". One of your squadron mates is in trouble, and needs some help. When you hear this, look around, and see if you can zoom to the rescue. If you see one of your mates getting chased and shot at, but are too far away to help, use the tactical submenu, and order your squadron to break in whatever direction will bring the harried plane towards you. This will allow you to effect your attack. Once in proximity to the enemy aircraft, you might try a long range sniping shot, just to get his attention, and to get the heat off your mate. When you get within 10,000 feet, you can also designate a target, and ask for help yourself. This may or may not work, depending if anyone else is in range.

When engaging the enemy, be sure to drop external fuel tanks (shift-d), and you must order the Squadron to drop tanks (tab-6-7-2) also, as these will only slow them down.

When flying EAW, one useful thing to do, is to be well read in actual WW2 fighter history and tactics. I have read numerous books about WW2, P47's, the 56th Fighter Group, and many other topics. Sometimes, the old way is the best way.

Major Lee. When flying EAW, one useful thing to do, is to be well read in actual WW2 fighter history and tactics. I have read numerous books about WW2, P47's, the 56th Fighter Group, and many other topics. Sometimes, the old way is the best way.

Major Lee.