26.04.2008, 18:53
Two month old thread but nevertheless...
The F-2 was never fitted with an MG-151/20 motorkanone.
The preproduction F-0 was fitted with a 20mm MG FF/M motorkanone whilst the MG-151 was still being developed but these were based on heavily modified Emil airframes. When the changes were finally placed into the F-1 (which had the new MG-151 in 15mm) it was found soon after entering squadron equipment that tail sections broke and it had to be grounded and withdrawn. The Emil was subsequently returned to front line service as the E-7/Z until mid-41, when the strengthened F-2 was delivered.
You could conceivably mod an F-0 preproduction 109 but why would anybody want to? The MG FF is less effective than the 15mm motorkanone plus it overheated quickly in the engine mounting and jammed, which the 151 doesn't do so easily. Not only that but it would have to be modelled to reflect an inherent structural weakness and being based on modified Emil airframes would probably be much heavier and less refined than the production version, with relatively poor aerial performance.
By late-41 the MG-151 was finally being produced to fire a very powerful new 20mm shell, retaining the high muzzle velocity and rate of fire of the 15mm version. But what had happened which was far more important was the low compression DB-601E intended for the 109F had finally become available and the high maintenance "hotrod" 601N could be dropped.
These were fitted to recycled F-2 airframes to become the F-3 whilst a further strengthened airframe with some improvements, the new engine and the MG-151/20 entered production as the F-4.
The point being F-2's weren't retrofitted with MG-151/20 and it wasn't a modification kit for them. The F-2 could not be upgraded to F-4 standard without major structural modifications, so simply new engines were substituted and that was designated F-3 (an otherwise unchanged F-2). It was really just to save wasting airframes already produced or partially completed but still in the factory.
As for the F-4B and F-4R1 (bomb facility and MG-151/20 gun pods) it was said they stressed the structure of the otherwise magnificent F-4 airframe. F-4B models were certainly widely deployed but never in huge numbers and the F-4R1 was restricted to a very limited production equipping only one or two specialist units, and by that I mean like a couple of dozen aircraft at most through the entire production run. It was really the Gustav which was strengthened enough to routinely carry external stores in combat, and it paid for it with greatly increased empty-weight.
Finally, everybody around here has told me nobody modifies the flight-modelling or weapons-modelling for existing aircraft in the sim. I guess it has something to do with maintaining a good Axis-Allied balance for campaigns and online play.
You could request an new aircraft slot for an Me-109F-4R1 mod for example, but the flight modelling of this aircraft would have to reflect a dramatically reduced airframe life and a possible tendency to catastrophic structural failures. Meanwhile only a month or three after these appeared the Gustav was preparing to enter production anyway.
I think the main reason Oleg didn't model these armament options for the F-4 was they appeared in service only just ahead of the Gustav anyway, so saw a few months limited service at best and were more like a development experiment than actual service modifications.
My two cents worth.
The F-2 was never fitted with an MG-151/20 motorkanone.
The preproduction F-0 was fitted with a 20mm MG FF/M motorkanone whilst the MG-151 was still being developed but these were based on heavily modified Emil airframes. When the changes were finally placed into the F-1 (which had the new MG-151 in 15mm) it was found soon after entering squadron equipment that tail sections broke and it had to be grounded and withdrawn. The Emil was subsequently returned to front line service as the E-7/Z until mid-41, when the strengthened F-2 was delivered.
You could conceivably mod an F-0 preproduction 109 but why would anybody want to? The MG FF is less effective than the 15mm motorkanone plus it overheated quickly in the engine mounting and jammed, which the 151 doesn't do so easily. Not only that but it would have to be modelled to reflect an inherent structural weakness and being based on modified Emil airframes would probably be much heavier and less refined than the production version, with relatively poor aerial performance.
By late-41 the MG-151 was finally being produced to fire a very powerful new 20mm shell, retaining the high muzzle velocity and rate of fire of the 15mm version. But what had happened which was far more important was the low compression DB-601E intended for the 109F had finally become available and the high maintenance "hotrod" 601N could be dropped.
These were fitted to recycled F-2 airframes to become the F-3 whilst a further strengthened airframe with some improvements, the new engine and the MG-151/20 entered production as the F-4.
The point being F-2's weren't retrofitted with MG-151/20 and it wasn't a modification kit for them. The F-2 could not be upgraded to F-4 standard without major structural modifications, so simply new engines were substituted and that was designated F-3 (an otherwise unchanged F-2). It was really just to save wasting airframes already produced or partially completed but still in the factory.
As for the F-4B and F-4R1 (bomb facility and MG-151/20 gun pods) it was said they stressed the structure of the otherwise magnificent F-4 airframe. F-4B models were certainly widely deployed but never in huge numbers and the F-4R1 was restricted to a very limited production equipping only one or two specialist units, and by that I mean like a couple of dozen aircraft at most through the entire production run. It was really the Gustav which was strengthened enough to routinely carry external stores in combat, and it paid for it with greatly increased empty-weight.
Finally, everybody around here has told me nobody modifies the flight-modelling or weapons-modelling for existing aircraft in the sim. I guess it has something to do with maintaining a good Axis-Allied balance for campaigns and online play.
You could request an new aircraft slot for an Me-109F-4R1 mod for example, but the flight modelling of this aircraft would have to reflect a dramatically reduced airframe life and a possible tendency to catastrophic structural failures. Meanwhile only a month or three after these appeared the Gustav was preparing to enter production anyway.
I think the main reason Oleg didn't model these armament options for the F-4 was they appeared in service only just ahead of the Gustav anyway, so saw a few months limited service at best and were more like a development experiment than actual service modifications.
My two cents worth.