Rudder to help turns???

That's right!! I don't know about E, but I use all the rest of them. The trick is knowing where the "balance" point of your plane is. The 47 will turn pretty damn good using the rudder! I just did it today against a K-4 and was GAINING on it! It takes some practise. In stunt terms, using rudder at the top of a climb and applying full throttle is called a hammerhead. It works well in arcade mode. Applying up elevator and rudder simultainiously produces a snap roll. I haven't tried that yet. The "slipping" in a turn to get your nose ahead of your opponents works! Unfortunately, my aim is the worst of my problems and I miss all the damn time!!!!!!!!!!!

The key to getting the "balance" right is practise and flying the same mount. If you keep switching planes, you'll never get the best from any of 'em.

If you use rudder to turn tighter, the aircrafts wings will not be perpendiclar to the ground. If they are, you WILL stall. The wings are about 45 to 60 degrees to the ground, and that's where your "balance" is. Tip the wings over further, you stall. As you get in the turn, keep pulling the elevator farther and farther back, keeping the plane "balanced". It turns tighter and tighter. How tight depends on physics and gravity! And keep the throttle up! You will lose speed and get outturned anyway because your opponent is turning faster.

Go into practise in your favorite mount. Put yourself up against the best turning planes. 5 or 6 of them. Figure out how to stay with them. I don't use it all the time. It depends on the situation and what I'm in and what I'm up against.

Oh, and I'm NOT one the best aces! So I might be full of shit.

[kozzm0]

before you start relying on your rudder for that extra edge, keep in mind the benefit is minor. You'll probably be fine if you just rudder into turns, and use rudder to get your plane pointed in the right direction quicker in complex 3d turns.

Relying on ability to "outturn" the opponent is a last-resort tactic. If you're pursuing an enemy who has a faster or tighter-turning plane, you can stay in control of the situation by simply keeping the center of your turning circle behind theirs. No matter which direction they turn, they'll have to cross your guns to make you overshoot, unless they're masters of evasion, in which case they're likely to give you a chance to disengage and then re-engage to try again.

If you're being pursued by an enemy in a tighter- or faster-turning plane, chances are your plane can simply outrun them.

Whether you have a fast or slow low-radius turner, trying to shake an enemy off your 6 by picking a direction and turning invites disaster. The enemy's best chance to hit you is if you remain in their guns plane for a long strafing burst. If you just turn, they can set up their crosshairs at just before the right amount of lead, and then you have to fly through a long gauntlet of rounds. Even worse, if you're in a tight turn, they'll probably be shooting at the top of your plane which is a big target compared to the 6. But if you roll instead, the enemy can't set up in front of you cause you're refusing to fly into their crosshairs no matter where they point them. Rudder is an effective way to vary the rolls to make them harder for the enemy to predict. If the enemy flies close enough trying to aim for a snap shot, as they usually do, you can slow down and stalemate them in a Lufbery or rolling scissors.

If you find yourself in a concentric-circle chase with a fast turner, you already made serious tactical errors to end up there.

One other thing to keep in mind is turning fast and turning sharp are not the same thing. If your plane's corner speed is higher than the opponent's, don't get into a sharp turn contest. Use oblique turns and yo-yo's to maximize your turn rate by keeping your circle bigger - or disengage.

[HauptmannMolders]

Awesome thanks guys!

Good fudgin advise, Kozzm0!!!!! I'm gonna print that and tape it to my game table!! Seriously. Really well put.