Are ww2 planes actually useless against tanks?

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i have read article (https://www.operationbarbarossa.net/combat-aircraft-versus-armour-in-wwii/) that suggests that ww2 planes were actually useless against tanks. pilots from all sides have reported numerous confirmed tank kills, so much in fact that they often “killed” more tanks than that there were actually deployed by enemy. later research showed that actual damage due to planes was negligible (compared to all other causes).

so question is should planes still be so OP vs tanks ingame?

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Ya there were numerous studies done, and killing a tank with a bomb or rocket from a plane was akin to being struck by lighting.

The game is not terribly realistic, but it is fun

Things like every solider can carry a mine and a TNT bundle that is pure fiction , AT mines typically historically did not actually kill tanks btw as well, they immobilized them

In August 1944, the RAF claimed to have destroyed 135 tanks in the Goodwood area (Battle for Caen). In order to analyze the weapons and tactics employed and to evaluate the damage that was done on given targets, a small team of researchers was usually dispatched to the corresponding battleground, a common practice in most armies of that time. The British “Office of Research and Analysis” conclusion was eye-opening and contradicted the RAF pilots’ over enthusiastic display: Of the 300 examined vehicles, only 10 were actually hit and damaged by the Typhoon’s RP-3 rockets.

  • Mortain is another candidate of such over-claiming, between the 7th and 10th August, the 2nd Tactical Air Force of the 9th USAAF claimed to have destroyed 120-140 tanks, yet of the 46 Axis tanks lost, only 9 of them could be attributed to aircraft. In fact, in the entire Normandy campaign, the Germans lost no more than 100 tanks to Allied sorties. 13 Tiger tanks were affected, however seven of them lost to massive high altitude bombing on the 18th of July and only 6 of the German heavy tanks could be attributed to the low altitude air raids of the Allied pilots.*
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Here is the truth about CAS against tanks is that pilots just see a large explosion block out a tank and call it a kill. This can often result in pilots thinking a kill was achieved, but in reality the tank can be anywhere from totally busted to slightly damaged to the crew just being slightly rattled. Everyone from Thunderbolt pilots to Typhoon, IL 2 and Stuka pilots all tend to overreport how effective they were because they saw a big boom obscure a tank. However for in game, it should be fine.

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Killing a Tank with CAS was irl really difficult. Especially because of visibility. Not all Tanks were in open fields and without camo. Also precisioned bombing is hard.

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Tbh in this game yes. Planes are usually a pretty big balancing factor in Normandy for example, which can make the fight fair between one low level Allies player with a P-38 and one high level Axis player with a Tiger in the greyzone. It’s still easy to just miss and have to do another run, or need multiple rockets to completely wipe a tank.

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Normandie is such a freaking nightmare to use vehicles on, the maps are insanely cluttered and many are very small, I like using vehicles but I avoid Normandy like the plague, the only reason I play there is if the daily challenge asks me too, and then I just try to fly if I can

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image

Tell that to Hans Urlich Rudel

Yes it was difficult