From December 14th 6:00 GMT to December 16th 6:00 GMT

(From December 13th 22:00 PST to December 15th 22:00 PST)

+30% experience earned while flying any modifications of Beafighter and Me.410

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Heavy Beasts

Heavy fighters were a military aircraft class developed in the 1930s and early 1940s. Planes of this type were intended for a wide variety of tasks, from standard patrol and interception duties to acting as escort fighters, night interceptors, reconnaissance, ground attack, bombing missions and more, while enjoying high survivability and long flight range. For these tasks, aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 110, Petlyakov Pe-3, Westland Whirlwind and Lockheed P-38 Lightning were designed. But the harsh reality of World War II disproved many of the speculations, showing that the conventional fighters’ ability to outmanoeuvre the heavy ones was much more beneficial for survivability than additional armour. Only the most adaptive and versatile heavy fighter designs proved to be effective, shifting their roles to all-weather interceptors or torpedo bombers by the end of the War.

Germany’s main heavy fighter of the World War II was the Bf110, the aircraft that Hermann Göring, the Luftwaffe’s all-mighty commander, strongly believed in, when it entered service in 1937, however the results of its usage in the Battle of Britain and during the first month on the Eastern Front were obvious: the aircraft needed to be replaced with a modern and faster new one. The first attempt (the Messerschmitt Me210) had fundamental engineering flaws and so the Me410 was developed. Powered by two Daimler-Benz DB 603A, it possessed high versatility due to the usage of conversion kits system that allowed to mount a wide array of weaponry, including the fearsome experimental BK 5 50mm autocannon. The aircraft was mostly used as an elusive night bomber and interceptor.

The Royal Air Force realized that it needed heavy planes, capable of carrying radar equipment and intercepting German bombers in their night raids during the Battle of Britain. To fill this gap the Bristol Beaufighter was introduced in 1940. Being basically a modification of the Beaufort torpedo bomber, the model used the new Hercules engines that allowed the prototype to achieve the speed of 539 km/h. The Beaufighter was also one of the most heavily armed fighters of the time, fitting four 20mm Hispano cannons as well as up to 7 additional machine guns, underwing mounted rockets or a 450mm (18 in) torpedo in its different modifications. Its design was so good that some of the 6000 thousands aircraft remained in service till 1960.

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