Learn how to take-off and land in both single engine and twin engine planes. Learn how to set trim, adjust fuel mixture and set your superchargers correctly. Learn or map crucial keys that are not always set at all in default mode.
That should take you the better part of a week, only kidding. Go to quick mission builder, climb in a plane you like, make four friendly stuka’s join you and launch the mission.
Then try and shoot the friendly stuka’s down.
It is one of the best ways to practice gunnery. They might moan at you but they will not try and avoid your fire.
When you can safely zoom down and dispatch one with a two second burst you are ready to put some ai enemies in the sky.
Know your planes. If you like turn fighting, the traditional dogfight then the best planes are:
Zeke (Zero) – turns on a dime but burns easily.
I-16 – Turns on a dime but if not handled with kid gloves can flip over and spin easily.
Spitfire – Turns well – Gives a false sense of security, a good 109 jock just may surprise.
La 5 – Turns well – Will lose its wings in any high speed dive.
All the above planes perform well in turn fights but most good boom and zoom pilots will never enter a turn fight.
Boom and Zoom planes:
P51 has speed and grace – Stalls easily in any turning fight.
Me109 is the king of boom and zoom from early war to mid war (the F to G series). Cannot turn with much, however the G2 can stay in the running with most planes.
FW190 – Takes the title from the 109 and holds it till the end of the war. Lots of big guns as well. A stunning roll rate. Drawbacks are deadly spins and very poor turning circle. The spins will come with any attempt to turn fight.
Middle of the road planes.
P39 has big guns and is an ace maker but if you get into a flat spin it takes forever to get out of one.
Hurricane is an okay plane.
Brewster is great can turn well but lacks power.
Me110 can get kills but only by luck or in a good team play.
All Yaks are okay and remind me of the Spit.
P38 the only true twin engine fighter, good all round performance.
P47 is a plane that can take damage and dish it out.
Suggested planes for starting out.
If I were new to the game I would learn how to fly the Me109, as it is found throughout the war in and will most likely be available to fly in most online servers making your transition from off-line to online easier.
The Zeke because it is very stable, hardly ever spins out and handles like a dream. It is also easy to take-off and land. It does require more engine management than the 109.
Lastly if you are really battling to learn how to fly, the Stuka is a dream, an ideal plane to learn take-off and landing in.
These are just my opinions on the planes you will form your own soon enough.
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