#me 264

[deutschland-im-krieg]

Messerschmitt engineers and mechanics, led by Gerhard Caroli (centre), converse after one of the test flights of the prototype of the four-engine Me 264 V1 (RE+EN) bomber in Augsburg, 1943. The Me 264 was part of the Amerikabomber programme, had been developed to bring aerial warfare to the United States and attack cities on the East Coast. Note the oil trails on the cowlings of the heavy Jumo 211J engines and the aircraft's low ground clearance, thanks to its tricycle landing gear and the engineers' meticulous efforts to minimise its profile. The man leaning out of the cockpit is Messerschmitt chief test pilot, Flugkäpitänn Karl Baur. Construction on three was begun however V3 was never completed

[usafphantom10]

23 December 1942. First flight of the Messerschmitt Me 264 V1 ’Amerikabomber’ (RE+EN). Long-range strategic bomber developed during World War II for the German Luftwaffe as its main strategic bomber.

@ron_eisele via x

[hjmarseille]

ABOVE Nowhere to hide. On 28 March 1944, an RAF Mosquito PR IX of No. 540 Sqn, flown by Flt Lt A. T. Leaning, with his navigator, Flg Off S. G. Dale, managed to capture the Me 264 on film as it overflew Lechfeld. The RAF’s Central Interpretation Unit at Medmenham gave the Amerika Bomber the identifier ‘Lechfeld 127’.

Photo and caption featured in Osprey X-Planes 2 Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerika Bomber by Robert Forsyth

[deutschland-im-krieg]

Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerikabomber, location and date unknown. For more, see my Facebook group - Eagles Of The Reich

[deutschland-im-krieg]

[1994] Another good overview, my copy

[deutschland-im-krieg]

Messerschmitt Me 264 V1 (RE+EN). First flew on 23.12.1942 and it was Messerschmitt's proposal for the Amerikabomber project. It was ultimately a failure and only three were ordered, V1-V3. It was unarmed and unarmoured, and while in service with Transportstaffel 5, it was damaged by an Allied bombing raid on 18.6.1944 and was not repaired. The V3 was destroyed during the same raid. The V2 was destroyed in October 1943 during another bombing attack.

In 1943 the Kriegsmarine cancelled any interest in the Me 264, in favour of the Junkers Ju 290 (which was built and operated) and the proposed six engined Ju 390 (two were built and flown). The Luftwaffe also cancelled any interest and preferred the yet unbuilt Focke-Wulf Ta 400 and the Heinkel He 277.

The whole Amerikabomber project was cancelled along with the He 277 on 23.9.44. The aircrafts similarity to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a coincidence, as the B-29 first flew only three months before the Me 264. The B-29 was vastly superior in every way to any planned version of the Me 264, as was the Ju 290/390. For more, see my Facebook group - Eagles Of The Reich

[deutschland-im-krieg]

Messerschmitt Me 264 V1 (RE+EN) undergoing flight trials. It first flew on 23.12.1942, three months after the Boeing B-29 Super Fortress' first flight. It was Messerschmitt's proposal for the Amerikabomber project but was ultimately a failure. It was in service with Transportstaffel 5 when it was damaged by an Allied bombing raid on 18.6.1944 and was not repaired. For more, see my Facebook group - Eagles Of The Reich

[boohbeau]

This week on shit War Thunder Balancing ideas with me as your host:

This fucking god-forsaken enemy of mid tier

The Me 264 - A B-29 with less bombs and objectively better attributes in all other stats.

‘B-but the max speed and max height are lower!!’

Have you ever gotten a B-29 to 12000m without being intercepted by a jet fighter with a roof of 18km? Exactly. And the top speed is lower, but realistically? You ain’t gonna surpass 370km/h in a B-29 due to spawn height being so low and optimal alt being so high (5000m in between on average, so with a (SPADED, might I add) fully loaded bomber with 2m/s of climb, it would take you a fuckin long ass time to reach that height. The Me 264 technically suffers the same fault - low climb rate…but uhh it has to climb 3000m less so it’s just better due to having the same climb rate.

It also has better defensive armament for a bomber. Fight me. I’ll take 2 roof mounted and 1 ventral 20mm over 12.7mms any day because 20mm actually do damage.

So in normal conditions, it’s faster, better defended, turns better than some fucking fighters at its BR and yet is below the B-29…by 2.3 BRs…riiight.

Send it to 7.7

Or fix the B-29’s fucking awful BR and make it spawn higher so spawning isn’t a fucking death wish, but Gaijin won’t do that, so I suggest nerfing everything until it balances out (nerf Me 264 to 7.7, nerf jets to 10.0, keep going until reserve is 3.0 or something and we’ll get somewhere).