Here is a closer look at the Boeing P-26, Dewoitine D.500-510, and Breda Ba.27M, in a spectrum from Tier II (on the left) to Tier III (on the right).
There are many similarities, and interestingly, all of them served in China.
Comparison
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-- P-26 in-game has flaps, meaning it is actually a P-26B (flaps + R-1340-33 engine upgrade); delivered 02/10/1936 to 03/07/1936 (details here).
-- Data above comes directly from other tech tree projects (USA, Italy, China; sources identified there) and Wargaming data in-game as of today (05/11/18).
-- Purple text = tier is known directly based on a module that exists in-game (SPAD.510, Fairey Fantome)
-- Maroon text = tier is inferred based on known modules
Summary
D.500 | D.501 | D.510 | |
Engine | II | II or III | IV |
Airframe | |||
Armament |
II (S)
|
III (E) and ? (W) |
III or IV (E) and ? (W) |
Overall |
Discussion
It is difficult to reach a firm (indisputable) conclusion for Overall tier for each without knowing Airframe tiers, but if some inferences can be made from the Comparison and Summary alone above, then it would seem that:
-- D.500 is tier II
-- D.501 is tier II or III
-- D.510 represents the apex of the design when compared to P-26 and Ba.27M. If premiums are still considered to be 'middle of the road' for a tier (as claimed in the distant past), then D.510 should be tier III ('top of the tier').
-- D.500-510 airframes could be considered to be 'sleeker' (better aerodynamic qualities) in that they are cantilevered with no external bracing, yet perhaps more 'fragile' (less hitpoints) for having a single-spar wing.
-- The 20mm Oerlikon cannon in-game for Fantome is the S9 and is rated tier IV. The 20mm on the D.501 is the S7, so presumably tier III. The 20mm on the D.510 could be either the S7 or S9, more data needed, but for balance purposes S7 alone could make sense if the 12Ycrs engine is indeed tier IV as it is for the Fantome.
But, let's try to look closer at airframes anyway --
Airframes
If it is possible to determine the tier of airframes based on their defining features compared to those of aircraft already in-game, then here is what is known:
-- P-26 analogues
· Nakajima Ki-11 -- inspired by Boeing P-26, 4 prototypes of Ki-11 completed 04/1935 - 12/1935; lost to Ki-10 (tier II).
· Boeing YP-29 -- advancement of Boeing P-26; featured cantilever wings, retractable undercarriage, cockpit canopy, wing flaps; first flight 01/1934; did not proceed to production; in-game YP-29 (tier III).
· Breda Ba.27M -- Italian implementation of P-26 concepts; Ba.27M (tier III).
-- D.500/501-510 analogues
· Curtiss XP-31 -- all-metal; enclosed cockpit; wing flaps; full-span leading-edge slats; overweight [empty 1512kg, gross 1879kg]; XP-31 (tier II). (Bowers, 333-335)
· Henschel Hs 125 --
· Nakajima Ki-12 -- "apex of the design" could actually be the Ki-12 in Japan, inspired by D.510, developed with French engineers to have retractable undercarriage; lost to Ki-27 (tier III) for Japanese Army contract. A similar evaluation was made by the Japanese Navy with A5M3a, but ultimately lost to A5M4 (tier III) (represented in-game with Kotobuki 41 engine).
Conclusion
If it were up to me (it's not!), then based on all the above, I would still do:
Tier II = D.501
-- 1 engine upgrade [H-S 12Xbrs 660hp ► H-S 12Xcrs 690hp]
-- 1 airframe upgrade [D.500 ► D.501]
-- 2 armament upgrades [2x 7.7mm Vickers (S) ► 4x 7.5mm Darne (S+W) ► 1x20mm S7 (E) + 2x Darne (S)]
Tier III = D.510
-- 1 engine upgrade [H-S 12Xcrs 690hp ► H-S 12Ycrs 760hp]
-- 1-2 armament upgrades (1x20mm S7 (E) + 2x Darne (W) ► 1x20mm S7 (E) + 2x MAC 1934 (W) and if balance permitting, then the 2nd armament upgrade (20mm S7 ► 20mm S9)
Will edit above as more detail discovered.
Edited by J311yfish, 25 May 2018 - 10:20 AM.