@Cmdr:
I am really seeing strategic bombers more in a strategic role where it is mostly used for bombing facilities and bases. I am kind of inclined to make them immune from AA Gun fire in order to encourage this.
The trade off for having built in paratroopers, and the ability to conduct SBR (which I am proposing be removed from dive bombers), etcetera is they cannot go to naval wars. Makes sense, I have never heard of an Operation where fleets of ships were attacked by Flying Fortresses at high altitudes, not like cities, bases, and complexes were in World War II (i.e. stationary targets.) I have heard of dive bombers attacking fleets however, Pearl Harbor, Taranto, Battle of the Bismarck, etc.
In my perfect world, Fighters and Tactical bombers are the main aircraft on the board. Major super powers with money to burn are tossing out a few strategic bombers to tip the scales through carpet bombing economies. Kind of like late in the game when the United States is sitting in Tokyo Harbor wit 12 battleships and using attrition to burn down the defenses of Japan - not because battleships are cost effective, but because the United States has IPC to burn and nothing better to do with it.
Hi Cmdr Jen,
Here is something about Japanese StB Betty (not a Flying Fortresses, but still an StB according to A&A) which should be notice:
Operational history
The G4M was similar in performance and missions to other contemporary twin-engine bombers such as the German Heinkel He 111 and the American North American B-25 Mitchell. These were all commonly used in anti-ship roles. The G4M Model 11 was prominent in attacks on Allied shipping in the 1941 to early 1944, but after that it became more and more an easy prey for Allied fighters.
The G4M’s baptism of fire occurred on 13 September 1940 in Mainland China, when 27 “Betties” and Mitsubishi C5Ms of 1st Rengo KÅkÅ«tai (a mixed force including elements of the Kanoya and Kizarazu KÅkÅ«tai) departed from Taipei, Omura, and Jeju City to attack Hankow. The bombers and the reconnaissance aircraft were escorted by 13 A6M Zeros of 12st[clarification needed] KÅkÅ«tai led by the I.J.N. lieutenant, Saburo Shindo. A similar operation occurred in May 1941. In December 1941, 107 G4Ms based on Formosa of 1st KÅkÅ«tai and Kanoya KÅkÅ«tai belonging to the 21st Koku Sentai (Air Flotilla) crossed the Luzon Strait en route to bombing the Philippines, and this was the beginning of the large-scale invasion of the islands of the Southwest Pacific Theater.
IJN aviators pressed home a torpedo attack against American ships off Guadalcanal on 8 August 1942, suffering heavy losses. The plane on the left and at extreme low-level (approximately 5 meters) was flown by Jun Takahashi, who is still alive in 2013.
As a torpedo bomber, the G4M’s most notable use was in the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse off the eastern coast of British Malaya on 10 December 1941. The G4Ms carried out the attacks along with the older Japanese bombers, the Mitsubishi G3M “Nells” which were doing high-level bombing runs. The battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse were the first two large capital ships to be sunk exclusively by air attack during a war, while in open waters. The bomber crews were from the Kanoya Air Group of Kanoya KÅkÅ«tai (751 Ku), Genzan Air Group of Genzan KÅkÅ«tai (753 Ku), and the Mihoro Air Group of Mihoro KÅkÅ«tai (701 Ku), trained in torpedo attacks at an altitude of less than 10 metres (30 ft), and in long-range over-ocean navigation, so they could attack naval targets moving quickly at sea. They later carried out an extended series of attacks against U.S. Navy and Allied ships, as well as on land targets during the six month long Battle of Guadalcanal (in the Solomon Islands) in late 1942.
On 8 August 1942 during the second day of the U.S. Marines landing on Guadalcanal, IJNAF’s 23 G4M1s conducted a torpedo attack against American ships at Lunga point, Guadalcanal. A total of 18 of the attacking G4M1s were shot down, due to very heavy anti-aircraft fire, and air attacks from Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters based on three American aircraft carriers. In all 18 Japanese crews – approximately 120 aviators– were missing at the beginning of August 1942. More than 100 Japanese G4M1s and their best pilots and crews (with no replacements or substitutes available) were shot down during the subsequent numerous battles on and near Guadalcanal (August to October 1942).[2] In the two days of the Battle of Rennell Island, 29 and 30 January 1943, 10 out of 43 Japanese G4M1s were shot down during night torpedo attacks, all by U.S. Navy anti-aircraft fire. About 70 Japanese aviators, including Lieutenant Commander Higai, were killed during that battle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G4M
