Warbirds Firepower Charts

The Warbirds Firepower Charts compare the firepower between the Warbird's planes

Firepower is directly related to the number and type of rounds a plane can spit out at a particular time. Other factors, like distance to target, and weapon placement on the fuselage affect these. There are two aspects of firepower I am going to cover in these charts, sustained firepower and snapshot firepower. Sustained firepower will be firepower delivered from the plane per second, and snapshot firepower will be average hitting power per ping.

A quick description of my understanding of Warbird's gunnery model is in order. Warbirds does not model every round fired due to various reasons and instead models a maximum of eight "shots" per second per bank of guns (primary or secondary). Each "shot" represents the firepower of a 1/8th second burst from the gun sending the "shot" out. Thus, to figure out how much damage a particular "ping" does, you need to know which gun fired it, it's Warbirds firing rate (how many of the eight "shots"/sec it has allocated to it), and its "real life" firing rate. From there you can find out how many rounds that "shot" represents. That dictates how much damage a ping representing that shot will do to a particular component of the target.

Unfortunately, this gunnery model all but eliminates shell/bullet spacing from the system. A Spitfire Mk I firing 8 .303s spewing 120 rounds/second is going to have 16 modeled "shots" just like a Zero firing 14 rounds/sec from the cannon and 25 bullets/sec from the machine guns (39 "real" rounds). Thus tighter shell/bullet spacing and it's effects with hitting planes is not modeled very well. Neither is relative damage between a single high-caliber cannon shell and a machine gun round. If a ping from a Fw 190A8's outer cannon hit your elevator, that elevator is going to take the damage from 6 20mm rounds, even though you might have flown by at 80 degrees deflection, 500mph, with 1/10th of a second exposure time to the shell stream. But this is the system we have to live with for the time being (and IMO is the best system currently in existence for a flight simulator).

The methodology used is this. Assign each type of round a damage potential. I used the information from page 6 of Robert Shaw's Fighter Combat. From this I am assigning these firepower values (adding 50% to the 20mm cannon numbers, since Shaw's tables did not factor the shell explosive part, only the weight as if it was a solid shot):


Round
Firepower
Rating/round

Average ROF

Avg Firepower
.30 cal MG round 1 15/s 15
.50 cal MG round 5.7 12/s 68.4
20mm cannon round 24.1 11/s 265.1
30mm cannon round 72.2 9.8/s 707.6
37mm cannon round 152.5 1.5/s 228.8
75mm cannon round 1220 0.25/s 305.0

Note: I converted shaw's figures to single round damage potential and normalized them for a .30 cal round being 1. I also took the 20mm cannon round figure, and the 37mm cannon round figure and approximated the 30mm cannon round figure from it. It's an inaccurate system I know, but it can be useful in showing different firepower capabilities, especially between similarly armed planes.

Note #2: the 30mm firepower ratings seemed a bit off, so I did a bit of math scaling the 20mm shell by 50% and figured it's firepower based on this. An increase in size by 50% in the x, y, and z axis results in a 1.5*1.5*1.5=3.375 increase, or a 337.5% firepower increase. Computing the same way the 37mm shell would have a firepower increase over the 20mm shell of 633%. The above charts reflect this, as does the charts below.

For figuring the 1 second firepower rating, I simply took the figures from the plane charts on number of rounds each gun fired/second, and multiplied that number by the firepower rating for the ammunition type. I then added all the different gun's values up to come up with a final figure. Planes with a higher firepower rating will do more damage per second fire.

For figuring the snapshot potential, I took the damage/ping values and determined what the average damage per ping would be. This assumes someone firing at a target going by, landing one ping, what would be the average amount of damage inflicted to some vital component. Naturally planes with lower numbers won't be as good at doing damage during snapshooting. This figure is also useful for sustained bursts, since most people will miss 3/4ths of the ping potential, and it's nice to know what the average firepower of the pings that do hit will be for a particular plane.

Relative Firepower is compared to the Ki84. In theory, the percentage indicates how long the Ki84 would have to fire to kill a particular plane, on average.


 

Sustained Firepower by plane

Plane Relative Firepower Firepower
F6F Hellcat 55% 410.4
F4F Wildcat 55% 410.4
FM2 Wildcat 37% 273.6
F4U Corsair 55% 410.4
A6M2 Zero 50% 372.6
A6M3 Zero 50% 372.6
A6M5 Zero 50% 372.6
Ki43 Oscar 17% 123.1
Ki84 Frank 100% 740.1
Bf 109E4 60% 443.7
Bf 109F4 43% 317.4
Bf 109G6 57% 424.7
Bf 109G6R6 135% 998.3
Bf 109K4 114% 845.5
Bf 110C4 53%/? 394.9/?
Bf 110G2 269%/5.5% 1988.8/40.4
Fw 190A4 113% 835.9
Fw 190A8 161% 1,193.5
Fw 190D9 84% 619.9
SpitI 16% 120.8
SpitV 81% 600.2
SpitIX 91% 676.6
HurriI 16% 120.8
HurriII 146% 1079.7
P38F 73% 543.5
P38J 73% 543.5
P38L 73% 543.5
P39D 39%/20% 288.8/144.8
P40E 55% 410.4
P47D 74% 547.2
P51D 55% 410.4
D3A2 4% 30/9.7
B5N2 0% 0/9.7
SBD-5 18% 136.8/30
Ju88A4 3% 20.2/80.9/40.4/20.2
B25H 74% 547.2/136.8/136.8/68.4/68.4
B25J 37% 273.6/136.8/136.8/68.4/68.4/68.4
B17G 0% 0/136.8/136.8/136.8/136.8/68.4/68.4
TBF 18% 136.8/68.4/15.0

Note: P39D firepower is based on firing all machine guns, or firing the 37mm cannon + .30cals, as all guns cannot be fired together. First value is with machine guns, second is with the 37mm cannon. For planes with Otto, the regular guns are listed first, then each Otto mount, as listed in the plane's page. Planes with Otto, or extra cannon list values for the extra cannon first, then Otto, starting top, bottom, tail, nose, left, right.

Graph:

 

 

Sustained Firepower sorted from highest to lowest:

  Plane Firepower
#1 Bf 110G-2 1,988.8/40.4
#2 Fw 190A8 1,193.5
#3 HurriII 1,079.7
#4 Bf 109G6R6 998.3
#5 Bf 109K4 845.5
#6 Fw 190A4 835.9
#7 Ki84 Frank 740.1
#8 SpitIX 676.6
#9 Fw 190D9 619.9
#10 SpitV 600.2
#11 P47D 547.2
#12 B25H 547.2/136.8/136.8/68.4/68.4
#13 P38F 543.5
#14 P38J 543.5
#15 P38L 543.5
#16 Bf 109E4 443.7
#17 Bf 109G6 424.7
#18 F6F Hellcat 410.4
#19 F4F Wildcat 410.4
#20 F4U Corsair 410.4
#21 P40E 410.4
#22 P51D 410.4
#23 Bf 110C4 394.9/?
#24 A6M2 Zero 372.6
#25 A6M3 Zero 372.6
#26 A6M5 Zero 372.6
#27 Bf 109F4 317.4
#28 P39D 288.8/144.8
#29 FM2 Wildcat 273.6
#30 B25J 273.6 /136.8/136.8/68.4/68.4/68.4
#31 SBD-5 136.8/30.0
#32 TBF 136.8/68.4/15.0
#33 Ki43 Oscar 123.1
#34 SpitIa 120.8
#35 HurriI 120.8
#36 D3A2 30.0/9.7
#37 Ju88A4 20.2/80.9/40.4/2.02
#38 B17G 0/136.8/136.8/136.8/136.8/68.4/68.4
#39 B5N2 0/9.7

 

Snapshot Firepower by plane

Plane Relative Firepower/ping Average Firepower/Ping
F6F Hellcat 56% 25.7
F4F Wildcat 56% 25.7
FM2 Wildcat 37% 17.1
F4U Corsair 56% 25.7
A6M2 Zero 50% 23.3
A6M3 Zero 50% 23.3
A6M5 Zero 50% 23.3
Ki43 Oscar 33% 15.4
Ki84 Frank 100% 46.3
Bf109E4 60% 27.7
Bf 109F4 44% 20.2
Bf 109G6 56% 25.8
Bf 109G6R6 134% 62.0
Bf 109K4 104% 48.2
Bf 110C4 54% 25.0
Bf 110G2R3 268% 124.3
Fw 190A4 112% 52.1
Fw 190A8 158% 73.4
Fw 190D9 82% 37.9
SpitI 16% 7.6
SpitV 81% 37.5
SpitIX 91% 42.3
HurriI 16% 7.6
HurriIIc 146% 67.5
P38F 73% 34.0
P38J 73% 34.0
P38L 73% 34.0
P39D 51%/19% 23.6/9.0
P40E 56% 25.7
P47D 74% 34.2
P51D 56% 25.7
D3A2 8% 3.75/1.2
B5N2 0% 0/1.2
SBD-5 37% 17.1/3.8
Ju88A4 5% 2.5/10.3/5.1/2.5
B25H 74% 34.2/17.1/17.1/8.6/8.6
B25J 74% 34.2/17.1/17.1/8.6/8.6/8.6
B17G 0% 0/17.1/17.1/17.1/17.1/8.6/8.6
TBF 37% 17.1/8.6/1.9

Note: P39D has two values, first is the average firepower/ping when firing all the machine guns, the second is the average firepower/ping when firing .30cals+37mm. All cannot be fired at the same time. Also, ping values are for *average* ping only, thus an FM2 firing 16 "tracers" will have those 16 tracers averaged, while a Ki43 firing only 8 tracers will average those 8. Planes with Otto, or extra cannon list values for the extra cannon first, then Otto, starting top, bottom, tail, nose, left, right.

Graph:

 

Snapshot Firepower sorted from highest to lowest

  Plane Average Firepower/Ping
#1 Bf 110G2 124.3
#2 Fw 190A8 73.4
#3 HurriIIc 64.5
#4 Bf 109G6R6 62.0
#5 Fw 190A4 52.1
#6 Ki84 Frank 46.3
#7 SpitIX 42.3
#8 Fw 190D9 37.9
#9 SpitV 37.5
#10 P47D 34.2
#11 B25H 34.2/17.1/17.1/8.6/8.6
#12 B25J 34.2/17.1/17.1/8.6/8.6/8.6
#13 P38F 34.0
#14 P38J 34.0
#15 P38L 34.0
#16 Bf 109K4 31.9
#17 Bf 109E4 27.7
#18 Bf 109G6 25.8
#19 F6F Hellcat 25.7
#20 F4F Wildcat 25.7
#21 F4U Corsair 25.7
#22 P40E 25.7
#23 P51D 25.7
#24 Bf 110C4 25.0
#25 A6M2 Zero 23.3
#26 A6M3 Zero 23.3
#27 A6M5 Zero 23.3
#28 Bf 109 F4 20.0
#29 FM2 Wildcat 17.1
#30 SBD-5 17.1/3.8
#31 TBF 17.1/8.6/1.9
#32 Ki43 Oscar 15.4
#33 P39D 11.2/9.0
#34 SpitIa 7.6
#35 HurriI 7.6
#36 D3A2 3.75/1.2
#37 Ju88A4 2.5/10.3/5.1/2.5
#38 B17G 0/17.1/17.1/17.1/17.1/8.6/8.6
#39 B5N2 0/1.2

Back To Main Page