Mig-3

[Tempest123]

Originally Posted by IceFire

The biggest problem I have flying the MiG is that the armament is largely inadequate on normal front line models (1xUB and 2xShKAS) and it's maneuverability during a boom and zoom mean that if the enemy evades at all ... he'll get away. It's quite unlike other boom and zoom types that I'm used to. So I usually end up bleeding some speed to get a shot in and the 109 is also more agile. MiG has to be the most frustrating aircraft for me. The poor visibility for deflection gunnery doesn't help either

Any tips on overcoming these?

For the record I flew the entire MiG-3 campaign that comes with IL-2 1946 and it was a painful experience

I don't have any tips on overcoming the poor armament, but its a dog at low alitudes. Like you said, once you build dive speed, you lose the maneuvarability to put the guns on target. This works fine with a real human who hasn't seen you dive on them, but of course with the AI you can't "bounce" them, they always know where you are.
I find that forcing the fight up instead of down works sometimes, and always use rudder and aileron together, it will help the roll a lot. It is one of the fastest 1941 aircraft in the game at high altitudes, faster than a 109F. I tend to disengage if the opponent goes down low, cuz you will have a tough time.