Quote:
Originally Posted by K_Freddie
So, aerodynamic maths explain 100% of flight, a 100% of the time and the pilot's always wrong, according to the 'propellor head' on the ground.
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Aerodynamics as a science explains the flight characteristics of any aircraft with excellent precision.
Simulators are a different thing. Not only is the performance and handling characteristics always an approximation to some degree, the amount of things simulated may affect the actual
combat performance of the aircraft.
For example, if you choose to fly with wonderwoman view, the visibility (cockpit design) ceases to be a factor, which gives a lot of advantage to planes such as F4U, Bf-109, and many others. When you restrict views to cockpit view only, planes with better visibility suddenly become a lot more effective in combat because the pilot can maintain their situational awareness better.
This is an example of a factor affecting combat performance in simulator, without having any difference in hard aerodynamic performance.
Similar example would be the thing I mentioned earlier: Handling qualities, control forces required to maneuver the aircraft, things that the simulation can only approximate to some degree based on some data. How hard can a pilot deflect ailerons in A6M Zero flying at 500 km/h? How hard is it to actually turn a Bf-109 diving at 650 km/h?
In other words, while simulators can usually be very accurate with the aerodynamic performance modeling, the combat performance of aircraft in virtual sky doesn't necessarily fully take into account the other things that were a definite factor in real life. Pilot skill, physical condition, fatigue level, tactical situation in majority of engagements, tactics that are used, fabrication differences between individual planes, visibility from the cockpit - none of this is usually even discussed when we're comparing aircraft performance.
The notion that any combat pilot with any practical experience (bar the very beginning of the war) would have voluntarily offered fight in horizontal plane if their plane was faster than the other is quite amusing. Even if your plane has better turn radius and turn rate, you would still want to retain all the energy you can in case the bandit's friends pop up when you're working on them.
Losing your energy puts you in more vulnerable position, no matter what your aircraft can do.