Talk:Piston Fighter/@comment-26556524-20150917015458/@comment-2094030-20150917063207

Back then, propeller planes were single role. Fighters were used for dogfighting only, and specialized bombers were assigned and designed for anti surface combat. Most fighters did not carry any weapon except their own machine guns and/or autocannons. Some "multirole" fighters could carry rockets or small bombs for limited ground attack capability, example is the F4U Corsair, J1N Gekko, and DH.98 Mosquito. In real life, in the past, attaching weapons to fighters would severely impair their dogfighting ability and speed due to their weaker engines compared to today's jet engines. Even fuel tanks were immediately discarded when fighters move for a dogfight against enemies.

Historically speaking and from the video :

Spitfire has 2 20mm autocannons as machinegun, 2 12.7mm machineguns replacing MSSL or MGP, it will have 2 110kg small bombs, or 1 230kg large bomb (common bombs for dive bombers).

P38L has 1 20mm autocannon as machinegun, 4 12.7mm machineguns replacing MSSL or MGP, it will have 6 110kg small bombs, 6 230 kg large bomb, or 10 HVAR as RCL.

Bf 109 has 1 20mm autocannon as machinegun, 2 13mm machineguns replacing MSSL or MGP, it will have 2 21mm rockets, 1 250kg large bomb, or 4 50kg small bombs.

A6M5 has 2 20mm autocannons as machinegun, 2 7.7mm machineguns replacing MSSL or MGP, it will have 2 60kg small bombs, or 1 250kg large bomb (this weapon is carried for kamikaze only).

Differences in the number and caliber of guns may affect damage output. Spitfire, 109, and Zero 52 are more or less equal. Lightning has higher speed and larger weapon capacity.

Rockets for Japanese aircraft were not common, if any were even deployed at all. Japanese rockets were used for anti air weapons onboard warships. Air launched anti ground rockets were only used by USAF and Luftwaffe.