Muzzy Lane Software, producers of Making History II: The War of the World, scheduled for release in February 2010, provide ArmchairGeneral.com’s readers this glimpse into some of the units that will be included in the game – heavy fighter aircraft. Earlier, ACG published a developer’s diary featuring insights into how this sequel will differ from the earlier Making History: The Calm & the Storm. ACG presents this information as a game preview and for the aircraft data’s historical interest. A gallery of model photos appears at the end of this article.

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Heavy Fighters
Heavy fighters were versatile and powerful aircraft that made use of the emerging aeronautical technologies and air doctrines of the 1930’s and early 1940’s. They were used in virtually all theatres of WWII in many roles: bomber escorts, night-fighters, dive bombers, interceptors, long-range reconnaissance and as torpedo bombers against ships. Most were far better armed and armored than the previous generation of fighters, bristling with rows of machine guns, cannons, rockets, and bombs. In Making History II, these fighters include some of the most famous and effective aircraft ever made, such as the Soviet Ilyushin IL-2 or the US P-38 Lightning, as well as aircraft that were either minimally or never produced at all due to invasion, such as the Czechoslovakian Praga E.51 or the French Potez 630.

Bristol Beaufighter
Role: Heavy Fighter-Bomber
Manufacturing Nation: United Kingdom (and Australia)
Introduced: 1940

General characteristics
• Crew: 2
• Maximum speed: 320 mph (280 kn, 515 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
• Range: 1,750 mi (1,520 nmi, 2,816 km)
• Armaments: Four 20 mm Hispano Mk III cannon (60 rpg) in nose, four .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns (outer starboard wing), two .303 in (7.7 mm) machine gun (outer port wing), eight 60 lb (27 kg) rockets or two 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs

The twin engine "Beau" was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. It had a long career– 5928 were built–first as a radar-equipped night fighter, then as a fighter bomber and eventually as a torpedo bomber. The plane was fast enough to catch German bombers even when fully loaded, and it was an effective counter to Luftwaffe night raids. As the faster de Havilland Mosquito took over in the night fighter role, the heavier Beaufighters were used for anti-shipping, ground attack and long-range interdiction in every major theatre of operations. The various models of the Beaufighter were soon deployed overseas, where its ruggedness and reliability soon made the aircraft popular with crews. In the Pacific War, Japanese soldiers referred to the Beaufighter as "whispering death", because attacking aircraft often were not heard (or seen) until too late. The Beaufighter’s Hercules engines used sleeve valves which reduced noise level at the front of the engine.

During the Battle of the Bismarck Sea Beaufighters flew in at mast height to provide heavy suppressive fire for the waves of attacking A-20 and B-25 Mitchell bombers. The Japanese convoy made the fatal tactical error of turning their ships towards the Beaufighters, leaving them exposed to skip bombing attacks by the bombers. The Beaufighters inflicted maximum damage on the ships’ anti-aircraft guns, bridges and crews during strafing runs with their four 20 mm nose cannons and six wing-mounted machine guns. Eight transports and four destroyers were sunk for the loss of one Beaufighter and four other aircraft.

P-38 Lightning
Role: Long-range heavy fighter-bomber
Manufacturing Nation: United States
Introduced: 1941

General characteristics
• Crew: 1
• Maximum speed: 443 mph (712 km/h)
• Range: 1,300 mi combat (1,770 km / 3,640 km)
• Armaments: Hispano 20 mm cannon, four .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, (combined rate of fire was over 4,000 rpm with roughly every sixth projectile a 20 mm. ), four three-tube rocket launchers, 2,000 lb (907 kg) bomb payload (or drop tanks, ten outer Hardpoints carrying 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity Aircraft Rocket) or bombs.

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