Ta 154 A-1

Description

The Ta 154 A-1 Moskito was a German twin-engined interceptor and night fighter built in small numbers for the Luftwaffe. The plane received its nickname from the British de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber, as it was supposed to be fast and made mainly from wood just like its British counterpart. The development of the Moskito started on personal request of Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch, the State Secretary of the RLM. This caused a dispute between Milch and the RLM and Ernst Heinkel, who both favoured his He 219 Uhu for acceptance into service. On July 1st 1943, the first prototype achieved a speed of 700 km/h, although with no armament and radar installed, surpassing the Ju 388 and He 219 it was tested alongside. The third prototype was the first to carry armament, and the weight of the guns and drag from its radar made it slower by 75 km/h than the first prototype, but still faster than the He 219. A series of 15 planes similar to the V3 prototype was made and accepted into service as Ta 154 A-0. By June 1944, a series of 154 Ta 154 A-1 equipped with Jumo 213 engines instead of the Jumo 211R was manufactured. However, prior to delivery, the factory producing glue for the airframes was bombed by the RAF and different glue had to be sourced. The replacement glue was found to react corrosively to the airframe and caused several catastrophic accidents of the Ta 154 and caused delays in the He 162 program as well. The Ta 154 project was cancelled by the RLM in September 1944 with about 50 completed aircraft, with an unknown number serving with Nachtjageschwader 3 and a few used for pilot training.

The Ta-154 A-1 was introduced in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai" as a part of the revenue share program and was created by Vitaly "NovA29R" Vostokov (model) and Michael "__StrafeMike__" Ioannidis (texture). The Ta 154 A-1 has very powerful frontal armament, placed in the fuselage, which can give you quick and easy kills. Unfortunately, it doesn't turn very well at low speeds so it is recommended to keep your speed up and Boom & Zoom. Turning should be a last resort. If you try to get an edge in a turn-fight using your flaps, you should watch your speed as your flaps can break off very easily at speeds above 450 km/h (279 mph). The roll-rate of the Ta 154 is almost as good as the Fw 190's roll-rate, this is due to the fact that there are no fuel tanks in the wings. This advantage can and should most definitely be used when flying evasively but when at low altitude, do periodically check what's in front of you.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

• 12 mm Steel - Front cockpit plate
• 10 mm Steel - Instrument panel - central plate
• 8 mm Steel - Instrument panel - side plates
• 10 mm Steel - Pilot's seat
• 10 mm Steel - Rear cockpit armour plate
• 50 mm Bulletproof glass - Armoured windshield (centre window)
• 38 mm Bulletproof glass - Armoured windshield (side windows)

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Ta 154 A-1 is armed with:

• 2 x 30 mm MK 108 cannons, fuselage-mounted (110 rpg = 220 total)
• 2 x 20 mm MG 151 cannons, fuselage-mounted (200 rpg = 400 total)

Usage in battles

The Ta 154 A-1 is best played either as a boom-and-zoom fighter or as a bomber interceptor. At the start of a battle, climbing is recommended. From there, you can either go after lone bombers or dive on unsuspecting fighters below you.

Beware of fighters such as P-47s, P-51s, Yaks, Spitfires, and J2Ms as they can outclimb you, and therefore can have an altitude advantage over you. In terms of bombers, notable targets include B-17s, B-24s and Lancasters: all these bombers are more than capable of defending themselves with their numerous turrets.

Manual Engine Control

Ta 154 A-1 in action in War Thunder

MEC usage guide

The overheating issues on the plane can be remedied with manual engine controls

• Prop pitch - Set to 90% and leave it there. Do not set it lower than 90% as it will result in noticeable performance loss. Unlike most German aircraft, the Ta-154 uses a constant speed propeller and there is no risk of overrevving the engine.
• Radiator - Varies with map. On cold maps (Smolensk, snow-covered maps) 15% should be enough to keep WEP on permanently. On summer maps keep the radiator around 50%. On hot maps (Spain, Sicily) values above 80% might be required to sustain WEP for long periods of time.
• Supercharger - The optimal supercharger gear switch altitude is 3,500 m, although it can vary slightly depending on map and airspeed.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Exceptional armament (with decent ammunition count)
• Heavy armour and nose mounted 2 x 20 mm and 2 x 30 mm cannons are the perfect combo for head-on attacks
• Manoeuvrability is sufficient to keep up with other heavy fighters and heavier American single engine fighters
• Absurdly durable airframe and cockpit (Engines are often destroyed long before the wings or pilot are lost)
• Can operate on a single engine (enough to get back to the airfield)
• Decent climb rate
• Interceptor spawn, will gain altitude much faster than its opponents
• Exceptional speed in a straight line
• Low wing load gives the plane a good turn rate at higher speeds
• Exceptional roll rate
• Excellent bomber interceptor
• Fear factor: Many Allied pilots who would normally go head on will break off from a head-on engagement, allowing you to either extend and make another pass or shoot him down if they pulls up or rolls to dodge
• Excellent glide ratio owing to wooden construction and low wing loading

Cons:

• Flaps break off easily at speeds above 450 km/h (279 mph)
• Varying muzzle velocity of the Mk 108 and MG 151 cannons makes long range shooting difficult
• Turns horribly at low speeds
• Can fly on 1 engine but only around 300 km/h (186 mph)
• Landing gears are very sensitive and will break when landing at speeds above 240 km/h (150 mph)
• Prolonged WEP can lead to engine problems, using manual engine control is highly recommended with this aircraft
• A rather large target
• Weak suspension on landing gear, watch descent rate closely
• Tail likes to fall off during belly landings, belly land only as a last resort
• Easy to over G at high speeds due to wooden construction
• Sensitive engines, will overheat quickly if radiators are punctured
• Occasionally can be pilot sniped in a head-on or by gunners through the thin plate behind the nose
• Elevator compression becomes severe past 660 km/h (410 mph), requiring a lot of room to pull out of a steep, high speed dive to avoid crashing into the ground

History

Squadron of Ta-154

The Ta-154 was a fast twin-engine German interceptor/night fighter created and developed by renowned aircraft designer Kurt Tank during World War 2. It was eventually cancelled as it was to complicated to build for war-torn Nazi Germany.

The origins of the Ta-154 dated back to the late 1930s when Kurt Tank and his engineers were working on a twin-engined medium bomber called the Ta-211. It was planned to be made out of plywood bonded with a special chemical called Tego film. Only the pressurized cockpit would be made out of metal. The aircraft was supposed to use the Jumo 211r engine (which was why the Ta-211 had the number 211) but was instead fitted with the more powerful Jumo 213 engine when Junkers could not produce the Jumo 211r in time. The aircraft's serial number was changed to 8-154 and it was given the name Moskito as a tribute to the RAF's Dh.98 Mosquito.

The Ta-154V1 prototype made its first flight on July 1st, 1943 with the Jumo 211F engine. A few days later, the V2 prototype with the Jumo 211N took off for the first time. In trials, the Ta-154 easily outperformed its rivals- Ju-388 and He-219. The Ta-154 reached at top speed of 700km/h or 440mph in testing. The V3 prototype was equipped with radar and a second seat for the radar operator and was consequently 75km/h slower than the other two prototypes with its heavy night fighting equipment.

In early 1944, the Jumo 213 engines finally arrived and a production run of 150 plus Ta-154A-1 models were ordered. Several were produced before the factory making the Tego-film glue was destroyed. As a result, the Germans substituted the Tego-film glue with an inferior type of glue. This inferior type proved to be complete garbage as several Ta-154s created with it fell apart in flight. Similar problems also struck the He-162 Volksjäger.

In August of 1944, Kurt Tank finally ordered the end of production of what could have been an amazing fighter as the Germans needed to turn their attention to faster aircraft like the Do-335 and could not waste time or resources. With that, the few Ta-154s built were used in night fighters squadrons or in training units. Several Ta-154s out of the 50 or so built saw combat in World War 2 as night fighters until the war ended. With that, the Ta-154s were examined or scrapped. One was captured by American forces but its fate is unknown.

Even though the Ta-154 only had a minor impact in real life, you can take control of the mighty Ta-154 in War Thunder and wreak havoc on the bombers that escaped its wrath back in WW2.

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Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Ta 154 A-1 from live.warthunder.com.

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

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance

References