La-5fn

[Philosofrenzy]

I want to love the Yak 3. It rolls so nicely. It looks fabulous. But I don't find that, in terms of performance, it is in the same league as the La-5. It just doesn't turn as well. As for the La-7...different league. It's faster and more maneuverable. The plane is ridiculous. I pretty much choose not to fly it, on principle.

I need to learn how to make the roll rate of the Yak 3 work for me, because I want to love this plane.

[Soviet Ace]

Originally Posted by Philosofrenzy

I want to love the Yak 3. It rolls so nicely. It looks fabulous. But I don't find that, in terms of performance, it is in the same league as the La-5. It just doesn't turn as well. As for the La-7...different league. It's faster and more maneuverable. The plane is ridiculous. I pretty much choose not to fly it, on principle.

I need to learn how to make the roll rate of the Yak 3 work for me, because I want to love this plane.

For the Yak-3 and the rest of the Russian planes. Just have the sensitivity on ailerons and elevators all the way up (max). Then you'll see what the Yak-3 can do.

[Philosofrenzy]

"Just have the sensitivity on ailerons and elevators all the way up (max). Then you'll see what the Yak-3 can do."

Namely, stall.

Okay, but seriously for the Yak 3, I have ailerons at 20/20 and elevators at 18/20. At 19 or 20/20, I would stall on a tight turn, so I bumped it back one more.

[Soviet Ace]

Originally Posted by Philosofrenzy

"Just have the sensitivity on ailerons and elevators all the way up (max). Then you'll see what the Yak-3 can do."

Namely, stall.

Okay, but seriously for the Yak 3, I have ailerons at 20/20 and elevators at 18/20. At 19 or 20/20, I would stall on a tight turn, so I bumped it back one more.

Well how fast are you going into a turn? You might be going into the turn to slow. I usually go into a turn around 70% throttle, sometimes a little more or less.

I hardly ever have a problem with stalls when I'm like that. And the Yak-3 always out turns my enemy while doing so.

[Philosofrenzy]

It seems I was going too fast, perhaps. I'll give it a try later tonight then--you've got me excited because I love that plane and want to be able to do well in it. It's definitely my favourite in terms of looks.

[Soviet Ace]

Originally Posted by Philosofrenzy

It seems I was going too fast, perhaps. I'll give it a try later tonight then--you've got me excited because I love that plane and want to be able to do well in it. It's definitely my favourite in terms of looks.

My sig would agree. As well as my constant mentioning, and knowledge on the plane.

[Philosofrenzy]

Well I just spent about 45 minutes testing the two. I found a flat spot of ground and crashed, leaving a nice fire and smoke as the "starting point" of my turns, then turned 4 or 5 complete circles at full speed, then again at ~70 percent thrust.

The Yak 3 certainly performed worse at top speed than it did slightly slower. The best I could get was approximately 10.5 seconds for a complete circle.

In the La7 I was able to squeeze out around 9.5-10. I'm going to assume you know the planes slightly better and that you could get the yak to turn a little faster--so I'll grant that they are even, or that the Yak is slightly better under these non-combat conditions.

The difficulty is that in combat, the La-7 would toast the Yak because its superior engine would allow it to Yo-Yo more effectively, (in the La-7, I was able to turn at much higher speeds).

Final analysis: more testing required, but so far I would take an La7 into a TnB fight over a Yak 3--but I DID learn that the Yak is better than I thought and that I'd be willing to fly it at least.

[Swagger7]

I love the La-7, although I do have the problem with accuracy. Even though I still miss a lot, I've found that trying to deal with the La-7's guns has improved my accuracy with other aircraft.