Building an Il-2 Mission: Step 4 Opponents

No mission can work without some opponents who fight it out in the sky. The source material I have states that the Japanese used bombers and fighters to launch their attack. Nowhere types are mentioned so I have to guess which aircraft would have been used. My sources do state that the Japanese arrived from Taiwan, suggesting the Japanse Army launched the attack. This leads me to two planes:

1/ Ki-21 Sally

This heavy bomber able to carry 750 Kg of bombs over a distance of 2700 Km will serve as the main attack force against the air base

2/ Ki-43 Oscar

This fighter was the most numerous in the Imperial Army and came second in numbers to the more famous Zero. These fighters will act as escorts for the bombers and in the second phase of the mission offer the most resistance against the player.

But which aircraft will face the Japanese? The same sources state that P-40's from Clark Air Base tried to repel the attack while P-35's from a nearby airfield came to aid them. The P-40 is a straightforward choice (the player will fly the B-model), but the P-35 poses a problem. This model does not appear in the simulation.

So I decide to opt for the P-39. I have not checked whether the aircraft flew in that theatre, but call it a creative decision. (let's face it if we wanted to be 100 % historical accurate, half of the missions available for download would not exist).

Now that I have decided which aircraft to us it is time to start designing the mission. Meanwhile you can read the third part in the Tunis AAR. You can find it at SimHQ or on this blog (scroll to the bottom of the page to view the third part..

Happy Reading