F4u-4 and F8F

[horseback]

CONGESTED NAVY GUNSIGHT

You may now lower the brightness of the gunsight displays by assigning a key or button to increase or decrease the brightness. The USN sight does take a little getting used to, because the center dot isn't larger or more pronounced in any way, BUT it stands higher in your forward windshield above the cowl line, and once you get used to it, all those little lines and dots permit you to estimate angles and lead much more easily than that single dot hanging in the center of the circle. You can make higher deflection shots with your target still in your field of vision, which was what US Naval fighter gunnery doctrine was all about.

I find that the ai are quite good at changing direction the microsecond they disappear behind your aircraft's nose, even the stinkin' bombers; they can't do that nearly as easily against you in a Corsair or Hellcat, and it is even harder for a human pilot flying 'full real' to anticipate an opponent's firing solution that way in any case.

The only thing I have to say about the late-war IJN and IJA fighters' FMs is that they are BULLS**T, two parts imaginary and one part assuming that the 'factory figures' of the actual aircraft could ever have matched the basic production quality we assume for Allied aircraft, or had the fuels and competent maintenance available to the Allies at any point during the war. It's about 'gameplay' and symbolically sticking a thumb in the eye of that certain US defense company Who Shall Not Be Named instead of historical accuracy.

cheers

horseback