Years ago in the early days of the Ubi board (when it was charcoal grey and Stormin Norman was the moderator) I remember someone posting a very helpful film capture concerning how to down He-111's with an early Hurricane without getting caught. It basically involved climbing high above your target and then entering a curving dive to fire at the cockpit area. You then loop around, regain height and wait until you're in position to do the same again. Eventually, you kill the pilot and crew, or you hit the engines. The guy who made the film consistently downed them without taking a single strike in return. That should work for Do17Zs as well. Not so much with Ju-88s as they are harder to catch and formate on. In real life, during the early part of the BoB, Germany's bombers were not so well armoured (even 109s lacked head armour) and the RAF Technical Branch monitored every German wreck for evidence that armour plate was being fitted around oil coolers and radiators. Later during the battle (say Aug-Sept 1940) it became obvious that it had been widely adopted and cannons were then required. Incidentally, the Do17Z was Germany's most prevalent bomber until spring 1941, and it dominated the BoB Blitzkrieg, followed by the He 111 (which, however, is more famous - probably because it lasted in service until the end of the war and had what Eric Brown called 'a sinister shape'). The Ju-88 appeared in relatively small numbers during the BoB. Nevertheless, all were shot down in satisfying numbers by early Spits and Hurricanes. From pilot accounts I've read, it was only the Ju-88 that RAF pilots respected as a sometimes 'difficult' opponent, because of its speed and manoeuvrability.
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Topic: These Dornier Do17 just won't go down (Read 1808 times)
