Can someone tell me why a P40 warhawk can't land on a carrier?

[SUSHIMAKI]

It is rather annoying, some planes can land on a carrier and others just can't for no apparent reason. I'm in the final tutorial level and i'm about to loose a plane because i can't land it anywhere.

[bmorgan077]

land based plane, no arester hook to help landing on carriers, plus lighter landing gear wont handle carrier landings

[bmorgan077]

must land at airfield or exit map at "exit point"

[dethyl]

Only P40F and P40L variants can operate from carriers because they stripped down a lot of parts and replaced others. The P40 and other variants can't, they were simply not built for carrier operations.

It isn't because (as you say) "no apparent reason". The game uses WW2 equipment, some of them have very specific roles, especially aircraft from that era.

[SUSHIMAKI]

Thanks, i'm not a wwii specialist. Some kind of in game unit description or at least an in game wwii units encyclopedia would have prevent me from using that plane in this mission.

[CrustyThorn]

I would agree on that last point. To save you some time. TBD, SBD, FxF - these are some typical designations for US naval planes. I think "P" planes are typically land planes from the Army Air Corps. P-26, P-35, etc. Japanese planes are a bit easier to separate due to the strong separation between Army and Navy - the ones that begin in "Ki" (kee, as in Ki-44) are usually Army planes, while the naval ones capable of carrier landings are A6M, B5N, D4Y, etc.

By the way, shouldn't a guy named Makizushi be playing Japan? hehe

[Myrddraal]

A tip for the future, we tried to use a consistent colour scheme for carrier and land based aircraft, to make them easy to distinguish at a glance. For the US, land based aircraft use the green colour scheme, and carrier based the blue colour scheme.

[CrustyThorn]

Hello Devs, if you need a little help writing a one-line description of each vehicle, I am happy to help with the Japanese side. I run a site called Ikazuchi (and have played 200+ hours of this game): https://ikazuchisen.wordpress.com/additional-info-other-sources/

[widget639]

Each plane, in the information pane when you hit P to purchase, will list any special traits. Such as interceptor (better against bombers) or dogfighter (better against fighters). One of these traits is "carrier based" if the plane can be used with carriers.

[I'm Spartacus]

Originally posted by bmorgan077:

land based plane, no arester hook to help landing on carriers, plus lighter landing gear wont handle carrier landings

And the pilot would have to be carrier rated - it's not easy and you don't want a flaming wreck on your carrier deck - on either side of the war.

[Xam Huad]

Before the monoplanes settled in globally, japanese used biplanes (even on carriers). They had many accidents due to this however as back then they didn't have a proper engine yet the would blow out upon slow down to stop on the flight deck. The people at Mitsubishi were ordered to build a plane able to land and take-off properly using an aircraft carrier ánd be somewhat sufficient to repel enemy airforces.

There is a movie regarding this.
Kaze Tachinu ( http://www.waoanime.tv/kaze-tachinu-episode-1/ )

[Simulacra_53]

When you play historical wargames it pays to do some research.

The P- in army air corps / force nomenclature stands for Pursuit, which is a precursor for the modern F- for Fighter.

Naval fighter development in the interwar period lagged behind land fighter development because of the need to operate over water, take off and land on carriers. Different operational requirements.

While land fighters used inline engines and water cooling for high speed aerodynamic designs, naval fighters used radial engines because of ease of maintenance and reliability - which is handy if you fly over large stretches of water.

Same for biplanes vs monoplanes.

By the end of WW1 designers had figured out that monoplanes were the future. But fighter doctrine was still very much maneuver oriented, so pilots valued agility over speed. That's why most fighters of the twenties and thirties were biplanes. In the thirties the advent of more powerful engines and more importantly fast monoplane bombers that could outspeed slow biplane fighters did the fighter design philosophy change towards fast monoplane fighters.

Naval aviation lagged behind as their designs still had to have enough lift to be able to take off from carriers. Not only that, but naval aircraft have to be built more sturdy to take the beatings of naval operations and carry special equipment to safely operate over sea.

The Japenese solved the naval equation with the A5M, but by the time WW2 started in the pacific it was pretty much obsolete although still operational. The famous A6M "zero fighter" was the final answer to the equation. It had the speed, it had the fire power it had the range and maneuverability, but it came at a price. Compared to the US planes it lacked armor and full radio equipment.

The early US Navy types were more of a compromise, with the unsuccesful F2A and workhorse F4F. Especially the Brewster was handicapped by the extra weight it needed to carry for naval operations, that it suffered in performance. The F4F was less handicapped and together with good armor, fire power, pilot training and tactics it was able to play at least on a level playing field with the Japanese.

By mid war (1943) US Navy aircraft had caught up, the F6F and F4U were generally on par as fighter (fighter-bombers) with their air force equivalents, of course there are differences, but so were their operational requirements).

[Simulacra_53]

Originally posted by BrianHammerhand:

I would agree on that last point. To save you some time. TBD, SBD, FxF - these are some typical designations for US naval planes. I think "P" planes are typically land planes from the Army Air Corps. P-26, P-35, etc. Japanese planes are a bit easier to separate due to the strong separation between Army and Navy - the ones that begin in "Ki" (kee, as in Ki-44) are usually Army planes, while the naval ones capable of carrier landings are A6M, B5N, D4Y, etc.

By the way, shouldn't a guy named Makizushi be playing Japan? hehe

T B D = Torpedo Bomber Douglas
S B D = Scout Bomber Douglas
F4F = Fighter Type 4 Grumman
F4F-3 = .. Sub type 3

USN and IJN used simalar type designations

B 5 N = Bomber Type 5 Nakajima
A 6 M = Fighter Type 6 Mitsubishi
A 6 M 2 = .. sub type 2

The Zero comes from a parallel designation, using the year of a design.
Naval Type Zero Fighter ( zero sentoki - zerosen)
(There is another variant to based on design and engine upgrades, which will confuse matters even more).

The Army used Type n (bomber, fighter etc) designations next to their Ki designation, nice to mix up types.