T18B (57)
| This page is about the Swedish bomber T18B (57). For other versions, see B18 (Family). |
.jpg)
Contents
Description
The T18B (57) is a rank III Swedish Bomber/Attacker with a battle rating of 3.7 (AB), 4.3 (RB), and 4.0 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.95 "Northern Wind". It is an Attacker/Bomber designed to take out ground targets and give support. Designed and built by Svenska Aeroplan AB (SAAB) for use by the Swedish Air Force. Bearing similarities to it's ''Twin'' T18B-1 , the T18B-2 is the version which carries the 57 mm akan m/47 automatkannon with 40+1 round magazine to take out heavily armored opponents. The designation "57 mm automatkanon m/47" is translated to "57 mm autocannon model 1947". Comparing to the counterparts in the War Thunder's battlefield, This Bomber/Attacker is a shining star in terms of performance and Firepower.With some downsides that comes with housing a big autocannon addition to the old armament of the T18B-1
General info
Flight performance
| Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at 6,000 m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | |||
| Stock | 570 | 552 | 10800 | 27.3 | 28.4 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 450 |
| Upgraded | 616 | 592 | 24.8 | 26.0 | 14.0 | 10.1 | ||
Details
| Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | X |
It is Important to note that this ''Dive Bomber'' does not come with the Air-Braking-System that was installed in the earlier tech tree variants!
| Limits | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
| Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
| 735 | 320 | 467 | 438 | 290 | ~7 | ~3 |
| Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
| < 370 | < 350 | < 400 | > 420 |
The Flight performance of this aircraft is very good. Medium bombers in rank IV are generally known to be sluggish and slow,mostly due to the defensive nature of the medium bombers requiring lots of turrets and crew to defend itself.T18B-2 is none of them. Powered by two Daimler-Benz DB 605B piston engines. This bomber offers Heavy-Fighter grade flight performance even with the weight of the Auto-Cannon,achieving a respectable climb rate of 10.1 m/s with a Spaded turn time of a competitive 26 seconds .While also having amazing straight line speed of a Heavy-Fighter. Because the airframe first designed for both Torpedo-Bomber and Dive bomber roles, this aircraft offers both amazing low-speed maneouverability and respectable High-Speed maneouverability, complimenting the armament in targeting responsiveness.
Survivability and Armour
- 10 mm steel - cockpit floor under pilot's seat
- 10 mm steel - pilot's seatback
- 10 mm steel - rear gunner protective plate
- 10 mm steel - cockpit floor under gunner's seat
- 10 mm steel - aft protective plate
Modifications and economy
| Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Offensive armament
The T18B (57) is armed with:
- 1 x 57 mm Akan m/45 cannon, chin-mounted (41 rpg)
- 2 x 20 mm Akan m/41A cannons, chin-mounted (60 rpg = 120 total)
- 1 x 13.2 mm Akan m/39A machine gun, nose-mounted (300 rpg)
Suspended armament
The T18B (57) can be outfitted with the following ordnance:
- 8 x 50 kg sb m/42 bombs (400 kg total)
- 8 x psrak m/49A rockets
- 8 x srak m/51 rockets
- 8 x hprak m/49 rockets
- 8 x 50 kg sb m/42 bombs + 8 x psrak m/49A rockets (400 kg total)
- 8 x 50 kg sb m/42 bombs + 8 x srak m/51 rockets (400 kg total)
- 8 x 50 kg sb m/42 bombs + 8 x hprak m/49 rockets (400 kg total)
Defensive armament
The T18B (57) is defended by:
- 1 x 13.2 mm Akan m/39 machine gun, turret (300 rpg)
Usage in battles
Air Superiority
Having Heavy-Fighter Characteristics gives this plane incredible potential to rule the sky and with it, the battle. But to do it, you need to play very carefully. Identified as a dive-bomber, it gives a very important bomber airspawn. Use the 10.1 m/s base climbrate to climb into a favorable altitude position that is often needed with planes like P-38J-15 to be effective. Then start distrubting fighters climbing or gaining energy,Spitfires,109's,Yak's and Lavochkins are formidable foes who might seek altitude to gain the edge on you.Dive on them and use your fast-firing guns to eliminate them.If they dodge you, gently extend in a straight line and slowly climb with your speed again,While dodging enemies climb will be disturbed and you will get more chances for stall moves like ''Hammerhead''. Be sure to check your surroundings because if someone outclimbs you, you are in trouble.If you are in trouble,extend to gain some speed and seperation so you can plan your next move.
Close-Air-Support
This plane is most universally capable close to the ground raining shells to the ground targets.With Triple set of armament that are controlled seperately, efficiency is the biggest key factor for CAS pilots who are looking to make a dent in the enemies tickets. Less bullets ,more knocked-out units.But to destroy a whole division worth of equipment, you need to survive. If you play CAS in Air RB, you are aware of the fact that enemy fighters at the start of the game won't allow you to survive for long. So this makes early CAS runs nothing but a ''Death Ride''. So It is highly recommended to go for Air Superiority playstyle until enemy planes virtually cease to exist. Or sneak into the remote ground targets that are away from enemy airfields. Places where enemies won't expect a player flying there.After getting the clear and the job becomes mopping the ground. Do not forget one thing,ammunition is everything, To destroy as much as possible without having to return and rearm. Ammo conservation is highly recommended. Use the seperate controls for Primary(13.2mm),Secondary(57mm is secondary because its a modification),Extra(20mm) armament to seperately use them for their purpose.57mm for armored targets,13.2mm for small targets that needs precision like MG nests,20mm's for tanky soft targets like AA or Artilery placement.We highly recommend to watch out for trees and buildings.
Bomber Interception
Having 57mm Autocannon opens up interesting possibilites against other bombers,Especially Heavy Bombers.With the altitude advantage you get it is possible to catch the bombers before they get high above.But being a heavy twin engine bomber, you will be vulnurable to the enemy gunners fire,this is where the Autocannon comes into the play,most turrets at this BR won't be doing any damage at 1.5km seperation.but our cannon can. In this point It is recommended to use the High-Explosive belts to explode the target in a single hit , and avoid the Armor-Piercing belt that causes the shell to go straight on without damaging enough,giving you hit messages.But if you struggle with the leading of the gun without tracers APT belt is still doable.If a Boom&Zoom run is being made on the target, A good spray of 20mm's and 13.2 will be better suited for the situation.
Belt choice is critical for this plane. These belts are recommended:
- 20 mm x2 cannons - Use "Air targets", as the ground targets belt won't make a difference when attacking light ground vehicles. This belt will be good for bomber hunting
- 13.2 mm MG - "Air targets" is a good belt, because it contains a lot of High Explosive Fragmentation-Tracer (HEF-T), good for air and ground targets
- 57 mm autocannon - ''Ground Targets'' is needed to knock the tanks without wasting ammo but if playstyle is switched to Bomber Interception,''Air Targets'' is doable.
- 13.2 mm turret - Use "Universal", it is good for knocking common enemies out of the sky, like the A6Ms, Yaks, and Bf 109s.
Manual Engine Control
| MEC elements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixer | Pitch | Radiator | Supercharger | Turbocharger | ||
| Oil | Water | Type | ||||
| Not controllable | Controllable Auto control available |
Controllable Auto control available |
Controllable Auto control available |
Separate | Not controllable 1 gear |
Not controllable |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Excellent forward armament, has 2 20mms, a powerful 13.2mm, and the tank busting 57mm.
- 57mm cannon has a maximum penetration of 75mm and a rate-of-fire of 180rpm, making it very suitable for combined battles.
- Very fast and agile.
- Can carry up extra rockets and bombs added to the forward armament.
- Very good Bomber-Hunter.
Cons:
- Only one turret, gunner is vulnurable
- Because of the Auto-Cannon, only x8 of 50kg bombs are avalaible.
- Both heavier and higher Battle Rating than it's tech tree variants.
- Very unfavorable rocket placement needing extreme lead and no front mounted rockets.
History
Towards the end of the 1930s and into the early 1940s, the Swedish Air Force was looking for a new torpedo bomber, since they had not been able to acquire enough units of the previous model, the T 2. The Swedish Air Force then asked the Swedish airplane manufacturer Saab AB (formerly SAAB) to design a Torpedo bomber based on their existing design, the Saab 18. SAAB accepted the request and commenced work on the design titled "T 18B" immediately after they received the requirements for the project.
However, the Swedish Air Force kept changing their specifications, and in February 1944 they informed SAAB that it might be necessary to equip the T 18B with a 57 mm autocannon as an alternative to its torpedo. Conveniently, Bofors had already been commissioned to develop such a gun for the Swedish Air Force, which resulted in the development of a 57 mm fully automatic recoilless rifle.
The weapon was ready for testing in June 1944 and was tested by mounting it in a Saab 18 that had crashed. The tests showed that the blackblast caused by the weapon led to so much damage to the plane that it made the weapon impossible to use safely.
After their failure, Bofors offered to develop a new cannon that used conventional ammunition instead; this new weapon would be ready for testing in the autumn of 1947. Test firings on the ground had produced positive results, and the weapon was approved for service with the type designation m/45.
The T 18B had already been adopted by Swedish Air Force, not as a torpedo bomber, but instead as a conventional bomb and attack aircraft. During the prototype phase of the T 18B, it was shown that the T 18B was too fast to work as a torpedo bomber; so the 57 mm was the perfect replacement for the torpedo.
In January 1948, the Swedish Air Force section F 17 conducted extensive tests with the new gun in Kiruna. The new gun was then installed in the T 18B. In the air the 57 mm m/47 performed well as it had very little spread, with the heavy muzzle brake absorbing all the recoil. This made it possible to fire a full magazine in one go. Thanks to this, the stability of the plane was barely affected, which made the plane very easy to keep the line of sight. In addition to good combat performance, the weapon was very easy to install, as it could be installed on the plane in less than 3 hours.
In service, the weapon proved problematic to train with, as its high rate of fire and high damage destroyed practice targets too quickly. This meant that during larger exercises the last aircraft in line to shoot didn't have anything to shoot at. Even when the fleet used obsolete armored boats as practice targets, they didn't last long against the new m/45.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the aircraft;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
- other literature.
| Swedish Aeroplane Company Ltd. (SAAB) | |
|---|---|
| Pre-SAAB: SA / ASJA | |
| SA 'Jaktfalken' | J6B |
| SAAB 17 | B17A · B17B · S17BS |
| SAAB 18 | B18A · B18B · T18B · T18B (57) |
| SAAB 21 | J21A-1 · J21A-2 · A21A-3 · J21RA · A21RB |
| SAAB 29 'Tunnan' | J29A · A29B · J29D · J29F |
| SAAB 32 'Lansen' | J32B · A32A · A32A Röd Adam |
| SAAB 35 'Draken' | J35A · J35D |
| SAAB 37 'Viggen' | JA37C · JA37D · JA37DI · JA37DI F21 · AJ37 · AJS37 |
| SAAB 39 'Gripen' | JAS39A · JAS39C |
| SAAB 105 | SK60B · SAAB-105G |
| License Production | B3C (Ju 86K) |
| Export | SAAB-105OE · J35XS · ▄JAS39C · ◔JAS39EBS HU C |
| Sweden bombers | |
|---|---|
| B3 | B3C |
| B17 | B17A · B17B · S17BS |
| SAAB 18 | B18A · B18B · T18B · T18B (57) |
| T 2 | T 2 |
| Finland | ▄Ar 196 A-5 · ▄Ju 88 A-4 |
