What aircraft would a Battle for Moscow senario need?

[IceFire]

I don't think anyone mentioned the Yak-7... I'm fairly certain that there were Yak-7s in operation here as well. Mostly 7A but later the 7B as well... would have to look at the timing closely.

[csThor]

@ unreasonable

Thx. If Prien says so then I stand corrected.

@ IceFire

IIRC the Yak-7's transition into a frontline fighter began in late 1941 but I am not sure if it did fly combat missions before spring 1942. Remember the soviet aviation industry was still in the process of relocation to the east and was not up to speed.

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by csThor

@ unreasonable

Thx. If Prien says so then I stand corrected.

@ IceFire

IIRC the Yak-7's transition into a frontline fighter began in late 1941 but I am not sure if it did fly combat missions before spring 1942. Remember the soviet aviation industry was still in the process of relocation to the east and was not up to speed.

Good point. I had a look at the Osprey series Yak Aces book and it says the first Yak-7 went into service with 172 IAP in September 1941. I don't know where they were nor if they flew combat missions. I guess further digging required to find out if they were used or not.

[JG53Frankyboy]

the Yak7 as fighter was in action in the Battle of Moskau area , according to Gordon&Kazhanov. But VERY few only. And personaly i would say, to include them as flyable would not be worth the effort as the performance difference to a Yak1 was so minor...

MiG3, LaGG3, Yak1, P-40 'Tomahawk' in whatever versions, are already a lot of work in the wanted quality i guess. And than there are still the Polikarpows

[csThor]

Hehe ... I can already envision the picture one Pe-2 recon pilot had when he was tasked to find the spearhead of a german Panzerkorps after the ground forces had lost contact. He came across a ten-mile long tank column and reported back - only to be asked how much Vodka he'd consumed before. It was not before a second pilot confirmed the finding that the higher ups understood that the soviet front had been broken.

[rga]

Mig-3 definitely. The world's fasterst fighter in 1940, excellent in all vertical maneuvers, retent energy very well even at very hight AoA. Not very good when turnning, especially at low altitude, but if you stick to Bnz, even the infamous Messer should fear (Unfortunately, real life Russian pilots couldn't afford the luxury to avoid the fight even when they were at disadvantage as their German counterparts ). Fly like a pig with full fuel tank. Truly the Russian version of P-51 if you ask me.

[Sven]

Yeah the Ruskies had a very good one with the MiG, very advanced aircraft for the time.

[carguy_]

Originally Posted by rga

Mig-3 definitely. The world's fasterst fighter in 1940, excellent in all vertical maneuvers, retent energy very well even at very hight AoA. Not very good when turnning, especially at low altitude, but if you stick to Bnz, even the infamous Messer should fear (Unfortunately, real life Russian pilots couldn't afford the luxury to avoid the fight even when they were at disadvantage as their German counterparts ). Fly like a pig with full fuel tank. Truly the Russian version of P-51 if you ask me.

I`m speaking what I remember from the old game. And IIRC the Mig burned like a torch, even from small caliber hits. It was famous amongst Luftwaffe virtual pilots to be one of the few planes that could be brought down by the MG fire alone.
Apart from that, significantly worse maneuverability when fighting the Friendrich below 5000m; worse dive maximum velocity.
The 109F2 is a better fighter ; anyhow the analogy with the p51 is interesting, as it also didn`t pose too much of a threat.