Pacific Storm: Allies
Aircraft Overview
cdv Software Entertainment USA
Pacific Storm: Allies unleashes several new and powerful aircraft types to spearhead players’ air campaigns. From piston engines to jet technology, a wide variety of aircraft are capable of being researched and built. Some aircraft which historically did not appear during the War (such as the British Vampire or U.S. P-80 Shooting Star) can actually make an appearance in the game, if you play your research and production cards right!
GREAT BRITAIN
Great Britain was not known for having the best aircraft in the Pacific – most people think of the Zero or Corsair when thinking of Pacific air battles – but the ones they fielded were actually versatile and quick. A Great Britain player can easily field a wide variety of aircraft in the game, tipping the scale in favor of the Allies and perhaps change history.
Sea Fury (Great Britain)
Standard Production Time: 15 d
Cost (in thousands of GBP): 48.2
Iron (Tons): 2.5
Aluminum (Tons): 7.5
The Sea Fury was one of the fastest fighter planes in the world during its time. It was created to serve the Royal Navy near the end of the war, and was later changed to be a fighter-bomber. Capable of attacking with a variety of weapons, it went on to serve well in the Korean War up through 1955. It was also the last piston-engined fighter to serve the Royal Navy.
Vampire (Great Britain)
Standard Production Time: 10 d
Cost (in thousands of GBP): 65.5
Iron (Tons): 2.4
Aluminum (Tons): 6.8
The Vampire was one of the fastest jet fighters, created shortly before the end of World War II. It was the second jet fighter made by the British, the first being the Meteor. Its speed outclassed pretty much every other aircraft in the sky, although it didn’t make much of an impact during the War due to its production not taking place until a few years after the end of the War. It was at first produced to be a fighter, but was later modified to be a fighter-bomber. Some Vampires served in other country’s air forces until well into the 1980s.
JAPAN
Japan was known at the beginning of the War for its technologically advanced aircraft (when compared to what the Allies had in the field, at any rate). Japan dominated the early war years with nimble, powerful aircraft that cleared Allied planes from the skies easily. As the war progressed, their ideas for aircraft production continued to creatively stretch the envelope’s edge, but their lack of resources later on stymied many projects they had worked on. Still, as a Japanese player in Pacific Storm: Allies, you could easily change your production schedule to accommodate a line of futuristic aircraft.
J7W2 (Japan)
Standard Production Time: 40 d
Cost (in thousands of Yen): 179.8
Iron (Tons): 2.0
Aluminum (Tons): 5.8
Known as the Shinden (“Magnificent Lightning”), the original piston-engined concept plane was designated ‘J7W1,’ with plans to build an operational jet-powered fighter (the J7W2) that could easily have been one of the best fighters of the world at the time. With jet engines, the Shinden would be able to reach speeds of up to 750 km/hr, and that combined with four 30mm cannons would have made it a terror among the clouds. As it was, the jet version never left the drawing board, and the propeller version only had two built, with only one flight tested, before the end of the War.
G10N (Japan)
Standard Production Time: 70 d
Cost (in thousands of Yen): 1183.6
Iron (Tons): 10.6
Aluminum (Tons): 29.0
This plane was initially designed by Japan to be a bomber capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. The plan at the time was to have it fly from the Japanese-occupied Kurile Islands, bomb the U.S., then land in German-occupied France. Since it was going to fly far beyond any fighter escort range, it was designed to be loaded with defensive armament, more so than most conventional bombers of the time. With a range of 19,000 km, it could easily have reached targets on the West Coast of the U.S., or perhaps even Australia, or any of the dozens of major Allied bases scattered throughout the Pacific. One version planned by the Japanese was to carry 400 downward-firing machine guns which could have sprayed ground targets with up to 6,400 rounds per second. Fortunately, this behemoth was cancelled in 1944 with only a few engines having been built and tested.
UNITED STATES
The U.S. was the ‘sleeping giant’ that Japan awoke, and its industrial might serves as a wicked fuel to feed its enormous production capacity. Because of this, a U.S. player will probably have more choices than they can keep track of, but picking an aircraft production strategy early on will ensure they can field an overwhelming horde of aircraft against the Japanese.
P-80 (U.S.)
Standard Production Time: 10 d
Cost (in thousands of USD): 113.3
Iron (Tons): 2.4
Aluminum (Tons): 6.8
The P-80, known as the “Shooting Star,” was the U.S.’s first production jet aircraft; it first flew in January of 1944. It never saw combat service during the War, however, as design problems grounded it until just afterwards. The Shooting Star lived up to its namesake, though, capable of reaching speeds of almost 900 km/hr. With six 12.7mm machine guns, it could easily tear apart anything that was unlucky enough to find itself at the center of a P-80’s sights.
F5U (U.S.)
Standard Production Time: 25 d
Cost (in thousands of USD): 194.6
Iron (Tons): 2.7
Aluminum (Tons): 10.1
The F5U “Flying Flapjack” was a very unique design, incorporating a low-aspect wing and low-speed propellers that would allow it to take off and land vertically, as well as hover like a helicopter. Armed heavily, the F5U was, unfortunately for its designers, never built in numbers because of its lengthy development; the U.S. Navy cancelled the project in the late 1940’s in favor of jet aircraft, dooming the Flapjack to obscurity.
