Hi guys, I was just randomly thinking today and wondered what the most ludicrous squadron that could be added to WAS would be (while staying true to the real aircraft and the manner things are done in game). For clarity's sake, this should NOT be added, at least in this form.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the F7F Tigercat
F7F Tigercat Cost: 22 Fighter Speed A 1945 AA 8 Bomb 10 Main Gunnery 4 Armor 7 / Vital Armor 10 / Hull 1
Combat Air Patrol - At the end of the air mission phase, if this unit is in a sector that contains a friendly carrier and no enemy aircraft, you may move this unit to a sector within range 2 that contains an enemy aircraft.
Deck Hog - This unit can only be based on a carrier with basing 4 or 5. This unit counts as 2 aircraft capacity on a carrier.
Bypass Escort - if one enemy fighter with "Escort" is in this unit's square, this unit ignores that ability.
Interceptor 2 - If there are no enemy fighters in this unit's sector, this unit rolls 2 extra dice when making antiair attacks against enemy bombers this turn.
I figure not. It doesn't really appear on the twin engine fighters, as far as I'm aware. I took into account card space for the SA's to be as ridiculous, realistic, and space efficient as possible. This arrangement feels the most silly to me because:
1. no "fighter-bomber" means that this is a Armor 7 bomber which can't get expert bomber (makes sense considering fighter pilots would be using these rather than anyone trained for bombing things in the case that they were used in that role, similar to how a Hellcat could carry a torpedo),
2. it forces the opponent into a horrible choice of whether or not to escort the bombers, since one fighter won't escort, two will mean that there won't be enough bombers to get through late-war USN AA, and no fighter escort means that you could have 10-12 dice rolled at your bombers (this would make sense considering the aircraft was meant to be scrambled and slaughter bomber formations at high speed, long before they reached the fleet).
Albeit, the Tigercat probably could take any prop and most early jets in a dogfight, so long as it remained a vertical one, so Advanced fighter wouldn't be wrong, really.
I've forgotten about what might be an even dumber carrier plane from WWII: the XTB2D Skypirate, which is a single-engine torpedo bomber which could carry 4 torpedoes (or probably 4x 2000lb bombs for alt. payload). Mix between a Sparvierro and an Avenger?
I've forgotten about what might be an even dumber carrier plane from WWII: the XTB2D Skypirate, which is a single-engine torpedo bomber which could carry 4 torpedoes (or probably 4x 2000lb bombs for alt. payload). Mix between a Sparvierro and an Avenger?
Not a carrier plane, but BV238 seaplane anyone? Bombs: 20x 250kg and 4x 1000kg, or four torpedoes. Even at a high level bomber roll with a bomb load like that it would just be saturating.
A few other really out there ideas: P.108A with the 102mm anti-shipping cannon on it and could also carry 3x torpedoes. Like a bigger, meaner Italian B-25. UK Liberator Mk. I - carried rocket racks on the nose and was not used as a high level bomber, so would have rocket attack SA and not a high level bomber SA due to its usage. Mosquito B Mk. IV - it could carry the 4000lb blockbuster bomb, had no armament other than that but couple with high speed, would be a ridiculous unit with a decent bomb roll. AM-1 Mauler - Unofficial payload record for a single-engined prop aircraft (3x torpedoes and 12x 250lb bombs). The Mistel Weapons - Aircraft carried flying bombs were used against allied naval targets with 1,800kg warheads, they were released from the mother fighter and were supposed to fly into their targets and explode. Sort of like a German version of the A6M Kamikaze unit, or an SA for German fighters.
Now, are all these practical or feasible? Nah, but that's part of the fun!
Here is a night fighter version of the card (F7FN) we came up with. No bombs or torpedoes and a bit less insane then the version leading this post. At the time made, we figured that had it been available in WW2, it would more likely end up being land based vs put on a carrier due to having failed carrier deck suitability trials. If I recall, it couldn't safely land on a single engine on a carrier. I can't recall why the designer (one of the San Diego group members) opted for a night fighter but there it is.
As an added note, the F7FN actually didn't arrive until 1946 and was really a Korean War plane. The drawing is a generic Tigercat. The N actually had a somewhat budged nose. I never fixed that part of the art on the card.