British Heavy Bomber - Short Stirling

[25tH-Rome]

Alright, before you guys start flaming me for suggesting a heavy bomber, read it all thoroughly.


As you know, the Lancaster was one of the most famous bombers. Its portrayed in tonnes of movies and games. But one bomber that seems to have been forgotten is the Short Stirling, one of the first British heavy bombers. This baby was pushed to second line duties after 1943, but still did a great job.

Some data:

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Specifications Short Stirling MkI:

    * Wingspan:               99' 1" (30.2m)
    * Length:                    87' 3" (26.59m)    MkV - 90' 7" (27.61m)
    * Height:                    22' 9" (6.93m)
    * Empty Weight:       46,900 Pounds
    * Maximum Weight: 70,000 Pounds
    * Powerplants:           Four 1,500 hp Bristol Hercules XI air cooled radial engines
    * Armament:             Eight .303 Browning machine guns, nose turret (2), dorsal turret (2), tail turret (4), 17.000 Pounds of bombs
    * Maximum Speed:  255 mph
    * Service Ceiling:     16,500 feet (maximum load)
    * Range:                   2,330 miles
    * Crew:                     Eight


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Specifications Short Stirling MkIII:

    * Wingspan:               99' 1" (30.2m)
    * Length:                    87' 3" (26.59m)  
    * Height:                    22' 9" (6.93m)
    * Empty Weight:       46,900 Pounds
    * Maximum Weight: 70,000 Pounds
    * Powerplants:           Four 1,635 hp Bristol Hercules VI or XVI air cooled radial engines
    * Armament:             Nine .303 Browning machine guns, nose turret (2), dorsal turret (2), tail turret (4) and underfuselage hand held mount (1), 17,000 Pounds of bombs
    * Maximum Speed:  270 mph
    * Service Ceiling:     16,500 feet (maximum load)
    * Range:                   2,330 miles
    * Crew:                     Seven


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Specifications Short Stirling MkIV:

    * Wingspan:               99' 1" (30.2m)
    * Length:                    87' 3" (26.59m)  
    * Height:                    22' 9" (6.93m)
    * Empty Weight:       43,200 Pounds
    * Maximum Weight: 77,000 Pounds
    * Powerplants:           Four 1,635 hp Bristol Hercules XVI air cooled radial engines
    * Armament:             Four .303 Browning machine guns in tail turret, 17,000 Pounds of bombs
    * Maximum Speed:  270 mph
    * Service Ceiling:     19,000 feet (maximum load)
    * Range:                   2,360 miles
    * Crew:                     Five


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Specifications Short Stirling MkV:

    * Wingspan:               99' 1" (30.2m)
    * Length:                    90' 7" (27.61m)
    * Height:                    22' 9" (6.93m)
    * Empty Weight:       43,500 Pounds
    * Maximum Weight: 70,000 Pounds
    * Powerplants:           Four 1,635 hp Bristol Hercules XVI air cooled radial engines
    * Armament:             None
    * Maximum Speed:  280 mph
    * Service Ceiling:     18,000 feet (maximum load)
    * Range:                   3,000 miles
    * Crew:                     Five

A few pictures:



(Oops?)


Some operations the Stirling took part of:

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The first operations

In the evening of February 10 1941, operations began with 7 Squadron, three Stirlings attacked oil tanks in Rotterdam. Five days later the docks of Boulogne were attacked, in the night of February 24 Brest was attacked

Daylight raids were started on April 29, but the final daylight raid was made on December 18, 1941, also a raid on Brest.

15 Squadron commenced operations on April 30, 1941 with a failed attack on Berlin, none reached the city.

149 Squadron was operating Stirlings at the end of November 1941

218 Squadron commenced operations in mid-February 1942

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Normandy, Arnhem and the Rhine

From mid 1944 onwards the Stirling was to see its greatest use with airborne forces duties. Including that of glider tug; the MkIV being purpose designed for this, and, with the MkV as a transport. On the eve of D-Day in Phase II of Operation Tonga, four squadrons dropped men of the British 6th Airborne Division around the Orne bridges to secure the left flank of the Allied landing beaches. On September 17, 1944 Stirlings were used for operation Market-Garden.


If you're missing anything to make this a proper suggestion, let me know and I'll add it.

Sources:

www.stirling.box.nl
www.strijdbewijs.nl

[Natty]

no because we dont have any maps for bombers, so we dont need bomb-planes 

[THeTA0123]

Heavy bombers are very difficult to include. Even on BF1942. And balancing them is also a huge part.

Medium bombers is probaly the farrest FH2 will go.

And admit, a cool epic Wellington, JU88, Mitchell or DO17 is much more awesome then the stirling 

[25tH-Rome]

Well, the fact that we don't have any bomber size maps, is something that can get worked on. Even though you're a dev, you never know if there will be bomber maps or not 

And the balance issue.. Well, thats what the testers are for right? I mean, sure, the bombers don't have to be as devastating as they were in real life.

[THeTA0123]

Well, the fact that we don't have any bomber size maps, is something that can get worked on. Even though you're a dev, you never know if there will be bomber maps or not  

And the balance issue.. Well, thats what the testers are for right? I mean, sure, the bombers don't have to be as devastating as they were in real life.

zhy am not dev, but every regular here knows it is not possible, nor a priority atm.

Moar planes will come i am sure, but first P38+ ME110 then A20 havoc,Blenheim then maybe ju88 mitchell DO17.

Since normandy is the highest priority now, you will see more fighters, figther bombers and such.

[siben]

I don't think this game has room for a heavy bomber, but it would be nice to see some light/medium bombers like the ones i posted in the picture of the day tread.

[Fuchs]

Well Theta, luckily Natty is one then.

[hslan.Corvax]

Why not this one ?

http://gizmodo.com/5524604/real-goddamn-flying-nazi-soldiers-with-jet-packs

[THeTA0123]

Well Theta, luckily Natty is one then.

fjew

I was afraid he thought i was one

if that happend i would be black-helicopterd away by now

[VonMudra]

Short Sterling is quite a well known bomber....


And it probably will never be ingame because heavy bomber only maps simply don't work well ingame.  Medium bombers have a far greater chance of being ingame, things like the Mitchel, Ju88, etc.  However, currently any airplanes are purely ground attack (stuka, typhoon, beaufighter, etc) or purely figher roles(Me-109, Spit, mustang).  The only "big" plane is the tri engine Ju-52 for Kreta....

[silian]

Unlike the heavy bombers of the USAAF the Halifax and Stirling would be more fitting for the mod, the airborne versions atleast.

[G.Drew]

Well, the fact that we don't have any bomber size maps, is something that can get worked on. Even though you're a dev, you never know if there will be bomber maps or not  

And the balance issue.. Well, thats what the testers are for right? I mean, sure, the bombers don't have to be as devastating as they were in real life.

Oh yeh, thats right! BRILLIANT!  

Ill tell you what, we'll keep working on the 'other' things and you can:

Model, animate, skin, texture and import a Short Stirling bomber

Make a map to accomidate such a stratigical asset, and tell us if its overpowered or not, or even worth using.

And yes im fully aware of the other roles the stirling was used in, but frankly you'll be lucky to get a working glider, let alone a working tug.

[FatJoe]

First of, well made post, good job. Future suggesters take note: That's how you make a suggestion!

I love these big birds, the sheer amount of damage they can deliver just with machine guns, let alone the amount of explosives they carry. The sad fact is though that there simply aren't any maps for it in FH2 nor is there a gameplay that supports it. In a way these bombers don't have a role in FH2.

The Short Stirling is classified as strategic bomber, this means it was mainly used to level buildings or objects of strategic value, fuel dumps, factories etc. FH2 offers more of a tactical experience, where tactical bombers like the German JU87 Stuka fits perfectly.

However I'm not going to say that we'll never include it. One of our mappers might go nuts and do a special objective air map where one team has to defend points of strategic values such as fuel dumps or factories, while the other team tries to destroy it, as for example: FH1 "Bombing the Reich".
No map in that gameplay style is planned though and I have little hope of that happening any time soon.

[Natty]

To correct what I said... I would love a big-ass well designed air combat map. And when we had one of these prospected in the team, I heavily encouraged that mapper to make it. However.... we would need the whole team to work on this map to finish it... it needs so much custom stuff to work well.... Let's not say never, let's say hopefully we can have an bombing type map some day. But it won't come just because we make a bomber plane... there is a lot more to do than just that.

[Kelmola]

Why not this one ?

http://gizmodo.com/5524604/real-goddamn-flying-nazi-soldiers-with-jet-packs

Gott in Himmel! This is so request-worthy that it will become the new Maus.