I thought it’d be only fitting that I fly a famous American fighter for the July 4th Independence Day celebration currently going on in the United States. Here’s a short story of hunting some Me262s in the P-47D-28!
High speed, low drag

I have a lot of appreciation for the clean yet rugged lines of Republic’s P-47 Thunderbolt and after spending years with it in the original IL-2 it’s great to see it again in this third generation of the series.
Though best suited to higher altitude work, the P-47 can be made into a formidable fighter at any altitude. One thing is certain, however, and that is that its not a dogfighter. Gaining and keeping speed are essential and it is this technique that I decided to practice in today’s fight.
Hunting the storm
My opponent for this QMB were four Me262s (veruss our flight of P-47s) and the fight really kicked off after the initial merge. The AI in IL-2 are not what I would call fully tuned for either the 262 or the P-47 though both do attempt, at veteran levels, to use some vertical energy tactics.
I won’t bore you with the details because it was a long drawn out fight switching targets and trying to position to intercept one Me262 or another during one of their broad turns.
Finally, a quick opportunity presented itself with a dangerous head-on with one of the 262s. I knew he didn’t quite have an angle but at last minute pull up and I had him in my gunsight for just long enough.

Several rounds of .50cal machine gun bullets punctured what appeared to be his fuel tank setting it ablaze and leaving a long trail of thick black smoke behind him.
One Me262 down! My first jet shot down in IL-2: Great Battles Series no less!
Hopefully you enjoyed this short story and once again a happy Independence Day to all celebrating today!
AI below ‘ace’ is a bit short in the piloting department. I have given up on FC as most fights end up with the opponent pulling a series of lazy scissors at what appears to be about half throttle.
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The AI for the FC aircraft seem to be the least aggressive. WWII I’m generally ok with (it can always be better but veteran and ace offer good challenges) but for some reason the biplanes are not very aggressive.
I think there may be some specific tuning that the team needs to do for aircraft with different attributes. For example, at one point the AI flying the P-40E would spin and stall about 50-75% of the time. That’s all fixed these days.
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Nice story
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