Renard R.38 - Belgium's best prop fighter

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The Renard R.38 is the last variant of the R.36 family that was fully built.
It was first flown on August 4th 1938 by SABCA test pilot Paul Burniat, who later said that the R.38’s flight performance place it between the Hurricane and the Spitfire.

It was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Merlin II engine, giving it an extra 40 km/h in top speed compared to the R.36, but unfortunately had to drop the nose-mounted cannon because the Merlin engine didn’t allow the cannon to be fitted, and had to rely only on the 4 wing mounted guns which could vary quite a bit in firepower, more on that later.

Renard R.38
376-1

Specifications

Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin II (1050 hp)
Wingspan: 11.64 m
Length: 8.8 m
Height: 2.9 m
Wing area: 20 m²
Empty weight: 1950 kg
Loaded weight: 2600 kg
Wing loading: 130 kg - Est. Turn time: 16 s

Max speed: 545 km/h at 5000 m, 430 km/h at sea level
Armament: 4 × 7.7 mm FN-Browning machine guns or 4 × 13.2 mm FN-Browning machine guns or 4 × 20 mm cannons (most probably HS-404s)*
Payload: 8 × 10 kg bombs + 1 grenade launcher with 30 grenades
Climb rate: 17.5 m/s
Service ceiling: 12900 m
Range: 1350 km

*About the 20mm cannons preset, i would put them as a researchable modification, since the 20mm rounds are more powerful but only 240 rounds make for a tradeoff suitable for a modification, and i would keep the 7.7 mm preset for a separate, lower BR plane, let me know if you disagree though

Spoiler

(source for the 20 mm cannons)

With the specs cleared up, it becomes pretty clear how one should play this aircraft.
While we could either ignore the 7.7 mm preset or keep it for a separate variant, the playstyle remains the same for all the Renard fighters and should be really close to how a Spitfire should play.
As Paul Burniat said, the flight performance of this plane is between a Spitfire and a Hurricane, meaning it is a middle ground between the Spitfire’s faster speed and the Hurricane’s tighter turning radius, coupled with four devastating 13.2 mm machine guns or even 20 mm cannons, it should make very short work of anyone trying to dogfight this plane (except some Japanese fighters, but their guns are worse so it’s fine)

It also has access to eight 10 kg bombs, only useful for AI targets or as a fun challenge in mixed battles, and if that’s too easy for you, you can always try out the grenades and try to kill open-tops or milk trucks with them!

As for where it would go, i would really like to see it in a Benelux tree, but if that doesn’t come true, then the next-best options would be either France due to Belgium’s geopolitical ties to France or Great Britain due to the nature of the plane and its engine, or maybe another nation, tell me in the comments!

Sources

Spoiler


“Renard R-36/37/38 & 40”, Nicolas Godfurnon

2 Likes

The 13.2mm machine guns would be fun. Also, what about the grenade launcher? Any details on that?

i don’t have much info on it, but you have 30 grenades to drop on milk trucks lmao

1 Like

Neat!

Is the type of grenade launcher

Hm? I’m not sure what you mean

You seem to have forgotten to mention that it was captured by the Germans and evaluated.

That’s because it wasn’t

Saisi par l’ennemi, il fut signalé à Munich etdisparut sans laisser de traces.

Literally in one of your sources.

Yes, that is not tested nor evaluated. You’re thinking of the R.37

So I guess they just flew it to Munich to stare at it? It was the standard procedure to evaluate all captured aircraft.

I know you really really want it for Germany, but there is no evidence it was tested by Germans and even less a picture of it under German colors.

1 Like

The fact that you left that part out the aircraft’s history makes it obvious you don’t want it to come to Germany.

Evaluated or not, the fact that it was captured is enough.

Of course i don’t want it to go to Germany that’s ridiculous.
Should Germany get every single plane a German touched?

I’m telling you, but I guess you just don’t want to hear it.

Sure you have the right to want it to Germany, as much as i have the right not to.
I’m saying Germany has a very weak claim to it.

We have plenty of captured vehicles in game.

And they were used by the capturing nation. There is no evidence the Germans even flown the R.38 to Munich

Captured aircraft are almost never used by the capturing nation. And the evidence that it was flown to Munich is in the source that you provided.

No, it was spotted in Munich