So, Gaijib, when?
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The addition of a completely unique, limited-service, WW2, tech-tree aircraft with no copy-paste potential should be celebrated. It shows Gaijin still puts their time and effort into bringing these types of vehicle to life.
Removal of the “Late” model is probably for the best, I’d personally rather not see Early/Late suffixes on vehicle names at all. Interested what the difference would have been, perhaps the 76 vs. 77 engines?
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The 76 and 77 are the same engine, one just spins the prop anti-clockwise and one spins clockwise. Each Welkin was therefore fitted with a 76 on one wing and a 77 on the other, to counteract the prop torque.
The F.1 ‘Late’ was a one-off prototype fitted with Merlin 113/114s, but these weren’t necessarily an upgrade over the 76/77s, more of a sidegrade. It would have been an ideal low tier premium, so it’s a shame to see it go, but at least we are still getting the regular Welkin.
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All Merlins spin clockwise from the pilot’s POV (i.e anti-clockwise if you’re looking from the front), even on 4 engined planes like Lancaster
The difference between the 76 and 77, is that the 77 has a pressurisation drive for the cockpit installed.
You can tell they spin the same direction on Welkin because the pitch direction of the blades is the same. Whereas on something like a P-38L where the engines do contra-rotate, the blades pitch in opposite direction between the two engines
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You are correct, I don’t know where I read about the opposite rotations but obviously that was wrong.
Yes but even the regular Welkin isn’t going to be low tier- it’s gonna Rank IV. which is ridiculous. It should be rank II, no different in BR than, say, the Me210, given its severe issues at normal in-game combat altitudes.
Why??
Not true - The Horner had engines rotating in oppostite directions - starboard engine used a standard Merlin 130, while the port engine used a Merlin 131, which was modified with an extra idler gear in the reduction casing to spin the propeller counter-clockwise.
But AFAIK it’s the only one, so the vast majority did indeed rotate in the same direction.
Pub trivia item - Merlin engines were only allocated ODD serial numbers by Rolls-Royce. This is because in WW1 the Company was required to supply some engines with right-turning propellers and some with left hand airscrew rotation. Odd and even numbers helped to identify the differently set-up engines. Merlin engines had right-hand tractor propellers; therefore, odd serial numbers. (Griffon engines mostly had left-hand tractor props; therefore, even serial numbers.) - from https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/rolls-royce-griffon-versus-merlin-engines.55809/
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Yes, but unfortunately, gaijin has put the cart before the horse by adding this…thing as its purpose was to engage (our) high altitude aircraft, none of which exist in this game. If gaijin actually reads their own forums, then they would surely be aware that ever since the B3C was added to Sweden in 2019, players have been clamoring for a Ju 86 for (our) the German side for seven years with the most obvious choice being the Ju 86 P & R-Series
Your statement implies that gaijin has the mistaken notion that the Ju 86 P-Series was recon only, this belief being the reason for why it (& the Ju 86 R-2) still remain missing from this game. In other words, gaijin has had seven years since the addition of the B3C to implement a high altitude model for Germany, yet the so-called counter (Westland) gets released first?..Contrary to your statement that the ‘Ju 86P recon aircraft’ was a recon only aircraft, a nice Ju 86 suggestion was created by myself. I do suggest that you folks at gaijin take a thorough look at it
Or was it that the Westland was instantly rendered obsolete by the introduction of the Ar 234? Furthermore, there are a multitude of ‘particular threats from Germany’ that could be added into this game such as the bombers Hs 130 E, Ju 188 S, Do 217 P, He 274 A, & Ju 388 K
TL;DR The Westland will certainly have no real purpose in this game since it has no high altitude (German) bombers to engage (or was the intention to uptier this thing to fight B-36s (soon™) & Tu-95Ms?)
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Thx for the update!
I would like to know from you or @Smin1080p_WT if you will continue your special treatment of British twin engine day fighters.
Most people don’t know that currently just these 5 British twin engine day fighters have an Air Superiority fighter role and an air spawn at 2 km altitude:
Whirlwind + premium Whirlwind at BR 3.7
Hornet Mk I (premium) + Hornet Mk III at BR 6.0
Mosquito F.Mk. II (Norway) at BR 3.7
Across all other TTs the 1 km higher (compared to interceptor spawn) air superiority fighter spawn aircraft are either night fighters (Do 217s, Mosquito NF Mk II / J 30 and 2 P-61s) or 2 low BR 2.3 Potez aircraft (630/633) accompanied by the BR 1.7 (all Air RB) Do 17 Z-1.
Air Defence fighter | Game roles | War Thunder Wiki
And in case you decide to reply - why have the 3 German night fighters (110 G-4, He 219 & Ta 154) either a strike arcraft spawn (110 & 219) or just an interceptor spawn at 1 km? The He 219 flies quite nice with a stick (in test drives) - you can increase premium sales of these aircraft (He 219 & Ta 154) quite substantially if you give them the same spawn as UK/US night fighters…
Thx in advance!
Addition:
To make this clear:
I played more than 1,100 prop Air RB battles for the UK with WRs above 70% in my 3 most used aircraft and always enjoyed the (on average) way higher skill level of my UK teams .
Therefore i do not see the need for any kind of artificial support by gaijin with artificially increased spawn altitudes. For night fighters with additional weight a higher spawn is justified and adequate - but not for day fighters.
I reached recently rather easy 13,394 meters in a Ki- 94 II and scored a kill whilst diving on my target (I-225) at 11,100 meters . Kill scored at 11,800 meters alt with ~ 800 kmph TAS. No red line, nothing. Link.
Dude, they added in an ahistorical turret basket, refuse to add any armour to our tanks, gave us only two anti-radiation missiles (which makes zero sense, considering the fact the Eurofighter can carry six), among many other nerfs. I highly doubt the 1km height we get (which means absolute jack honestly) is that concerning.
Your assessment might be related to your excessive 😉 knowledge regarding ground vehicles. Altitude is stored (potential) energy and extremely decisive in fighting enemy aircraft. In other words: The player with more energy can act and dictate the fight, whilst his opponent can just react.
That’s why a low and slow Spit is doomed and the Mosquito NF Mk II (look it up if you don’t believe me) has a better Kill per Spawn ratio than any Spitfire at any BR in any TT (Source: StatShark, May 2026) - and is the British aicraft with the highest KpSpawn ratio in the British TT.
Game Impact:
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The 2 km air spawn allows comfortably to intercept any medium bomber spawning at 3,500 meters with an altitude advantage (as the Mossies climb rates are roughly around twice of the average bomber climbrate) - depending on map often even before those poor guys can drop their payload.
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The fact that US players suck with their P-61s having the same advantage needs imho no explanation (and might be also related to their habit to use P-61s as base bomber), but the similar poor results of the 3 German night fighters are imho clearly a result of their disadvantageous spawn altitude.
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I mean when even the free (=everybody, especially guys without having any clue are using it) BP Swedish J 30 Mosquito outperforms any German night fighter regarding KpB and KpD you have circumstantial evidence for that.
So where is your spirit regarding fairness and sportsmanship? 😎
Have a good one!
premium after premium 
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Wow, you mean to tell me a plane that a very select people play, with a niche play style only a few people actually like had a better KD ratio than a turn fighter people enjoy playing? Shocker! Fine, I’ll take your balance, and give everyone ground spawn. That’s true balance right there.
Don’t forget this one too!, specially felt because 410s don’t climb as well as late BF-110s
Me 410 B-6/R3 | War Thunder Wiki
I am not sure if you have noticed that the Me 410 B-6/R-3 had actually an anti-ship radar and was never a night fighter.
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Learn something new everyday, I guess?
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Not really - it is rather easy to get mislead by radar equipment and how gaijin implemented it in wt.
And as written earlier: A night fighter carries a lot of additional equipment which affects the flight characteristics and somehow justifies a higher spawn altitude compared to twin engine day fighters which have due to less weight (and often drag) without this equipment at least in theory a better performance.
Granting the Me 410 B-6/R3 a 2 km air superiority fighter spawn would make sense based on the rather poor performance at a currently (imho) too high BR in Air RB. But it is the same story like with Mosquitos which had air-to-surface radars too - they are all no real night fighters.
I mean technically seen the fellow player is correct - my list is not complete. I did not mention (on purpose) the ultra-rare Ju 388 night-fighter (which was foreseen to play a similar role to the Welkin = ultra-high alt interceptor). But as this event aircraft has slightly downward firing cannons (which are not easy to use) and was played just 1,400 times last month (with poor results) i decided to skip it.
I am not sure if you are aware of the difference between kills per spawn, kills per death, kills per battle and K/D ratio - but yes, the raw data are not lying from a statistical pov.
This would make no sense as the allocation of air spawns is a main balancing factor for aircraft effectiveness. My criticism was not aimed to make twin engine night fighters useless - if you read my question to gaijin’s CMs again i simply asked why:
- RAF/USAAF night fighters get a better because higher air spawn and their contemporary adversaries not ?- and:
- Why do have certain British twin engine day fighters the higher “night fighter spawn” which grants them an advantage vs GER or JP twin engine fighters?
Balance would mean that all night fighters get the same air superiority fighter spawn and all twin engine day fighters an interceptor spawn.
Have a good one!
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