Fighter Complement

Expendable

Spaceman
Would the larger fighters/bombers of the WC2 era reduce the number carried by a Bengal?

Conversely, would the smaller fighters/bombers of the WC2 era increase the number of fighters carried by a Concordia carrier?

And, any ideas for Carrier Air Wing listings? What mix of fighters/bombers would such a wing carry on a Bengal? And of what types?
 
Expendable said:
Would the larger fighters/bombers of the WC2 era reduce the number carried by a Bengal?

Conversely, would the smaller fighters/bombers of the WC2 era increase the number of fighters carried by a Concordia carrier?

And, any ideas for Carrier Air Wing listings? What mix of fighters/bombers would such a wing carry on a Bengal? And of what types?

The problem with fighter complements isn't just physical size (though this was important when your hangar space was as tight as that aboard a Tarawa-style light carrier), but also support equipment and personnel. No matter how big or small the fighter or bomber is, there will be a number of people needed to feed and maintain the craft, and a certain amount of equipment with which to fuel and repair it.

Bengal-class Strike Carriers carry 104 fighters, which comes out to about eight 12-fighter squadrons plus a squadron leader's craft. Each one of those fighters will require some deck space for the crew to work in, equipment to be emplaced, and physical area within which the fighter rests when not in use. While extremely large bombers like the Broadsword might reduce the number of fighters that can be carried, the smaller WC2 fighters were not as combat-effective as larger craft (Epees and Ferrets were notoriously light on armor and weapons), and carrying more of them would not necessarily bring an advantage to any carrier.

As for the Bengal-class ships, I'd assume they follow a similar pattern to that which we saw on the Victory - equal complements of light fighters for scouting, medium fighters for interceptor and general combat duty, heavy fighters for limited strike and space-superiority roles, and bombers to play with the big ships.
 
Squadrons flucuated like a mofo in WC.

I think it was 12 birds per squad in WC1, 15 for WC2, 10 for WC3, 16 for WC4, and back to 12 for WCP.

In WC4, a fleet carrier had a standard load of 2 light fighter, 2 medium fighter, 1 heavy fighter, and 1 torpedo bomber squadron in 16-bird squads. So that's a good balance to start off.

In WC3, a fleet carrier had either 9 to 10 squadrons. For the 9 squad, I was guesstimating at 20 light fighters, 30 medium fighters, 20 heavy fighters, and 20 bombers. For the 10 squad wing, add another squad of light fighters.

WCP said a fighter wing would have 84 fighters. So that would mean 7 squadrons of 12 birds. Because the philosophy moved from (light, medium, heavy) to (scout, point defense, space superiority, bomber), I still have to think about it. But I'm guesstimating 1 scout, 1 point defense, 2 space superiority, 2 multi-role, and 1 bomber as of right now.
 
My understanding is that squadrons were still made up of sixteen planes circa 2654 - so the 'Claw carried six squadrons (plus support craft). We see five squadrons in WC1 alone: Blue Devils (Scimitars), Yellowjackets (Hornets), Killer Bees (Hornets), Black Lions (Rapier IIs) and Star Slayers (Raptors).

A kink in this, however, is that squadrons were *mixed* (in a limited amount) in WC1 - for instance, we see that both the Black Lions and the Blue Devils were each assigned a pair of Broadswords (bombers not being the absolute necessity they are a decade later).

The fifth is *probably* a point defense squadron, made up of Epees and Razors.

The support group (8 fighters) included at least one Longbow and four (or five? I can't remember) Sabres billeted for S&R missions.

It also seems possible that the Blue Devils included at least a pair of Hellcat trainers (during the 'Academy' time period, anyway).
 
Bandit LOAF said:
It also seems possible that the Blue Devils included at least a pair of Hellcat trainers (during the 'Academy' time period, anyway).
I see how everything else adds up, but how do you think its possible there are Hellcats on the Claw (the debris field in the last ep?)? I thought we only saw the 'Cats in the simulator?

C-ya
 
If you are referring to Red and Blue (which is the only ep I can remember that involved a Nebula), no. Everyone in the mock battle were in Scimitars.

On another note in that same ep, I love the fact that we see Dralthi escorting that scout ship at one point, then they seem to dissappear. I guess they could have landed, but I think they were just forgotten about. :)

C-ya
 
Sylvester said:
I just watched it, the're in Hellcats

That's the opening simulator shot at the Academy, though - not the actual (mock) battle :)

I'm confused, though - since all the fighters in Episode 1 are trainers from the Academy, what does any of this have to do with fighter complements?
 
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