BoB Defiant FM beta 0.90

[+baffmeister]

Drop in FM for the Veltro2K/Wrench Defiant package available here: http://combatace.com/files/file/13938-sf2-ww2-eto-boulton-paul-defiant-remod-pak/

 

Notes:

 

The Defiant saw its first action in early May 1940 and was withdrawn from daylight ops in late August 1940. They were never based in France but did operate over France and the low countries from bases in England during the Battle of France. Only 2 Squadrons saw any action during daytime ops. After some heavy loses the plane was used for night intercepts and was quite successful in that role. Some later versions received pilot operated radar equipment in the fall of 1941. This data ini covers the daylight phase only from May, 1940, to August, 1940.

 

To get the gunner to engage targets the plane is classed as ATTACK and the pilot is equipped with a fake gun included in the package. Put the fake gun in the Guns folder and put the Data ini in the Defiant aircraft folder after backing up the original.

 

Issues:

 

This plane uses some work arounds to get it to work and is mainly intended to make it's appearance during the Battle of Britain and then go away. The AI do get some kills and if player flown you can try leading your entire formation underneath the bomber formations to see how they do. If you get involved with any Luftwaffe fighters good luck to you! The gunner turret firing angles are quite realistic and can shoot 20deg left or right of forward, max depression 0deg, max elevation 72deg. The actual elevation possible was iirc around 80deg but there was a gun sight limitation. The real turret could rotate 360deg and fire straight ahead over the top of the prop but this one is yaw limited to 20deg left and right of forward.

 

I couldn't find a lot of aerodynamic information for this airplane but it seems to have had a reasonably good roll rate for the period. One interesting characteristic was the difficulty holding the aircraft in a dive at speeds over 350mph. This characteristic probably wasn't confined just to the Defiant and is something I will be looking at in the future. I have tried to model that behavior but it's not very accurate at present. Also, I have been having problems getting the plane to belly land so still some work required there. The Defiant got the 100 octane updates the same as the Hurricane and Spitfire but to keep things simple I am only making the "late" version of the Defiant.

 

Package here: DefiantPack0.90.zip

 

Thanks to Heck for doing some beta testing on the beta tester!

 

This is the last BoB FM I plan on making. Eventually they will get put in one big package for upload but that may take some time. Next project will be some Battle of France FM's and probably a few post BoB FM's so Britain can go on the offensive.