Thread about the 109

[SNAFU]

The 109 has from what I experienced a better roll-rate at low speeds than Hurricane and Spits, which is an advantage in scissors. It is also nice to handle at low speeds. I don´t know about Spit or Hurricanes but from what I`ve seen they seem to have more difficulties in flying controlled slow.
I still have quite a way to go, but I just had a little airquakeing on the ATAG server and think it is the best way to get to know a plane, by not B&Z but just throwing yourself into the thick of the battle low and slow.

If you have managed that, you can B&Z with the comfort of knowing, that you can also get along, if you have to help you mate, without the comfort of excess energy. Sure it is the best tactic to stay fast and out of range, but if you really want to learn your plane, you should know how it handles at stall speed fights.

[Ze-Jamz]

Originally Posted by trumps

i definately prefer the 109 sight to the RAF type, i also use TiR5 and after resetting my center point when jumping into the 109 have less problems keeping it centered than with the RAF jobbies which i find drift out of focus excessively during manuvering and require me to over extend my head position to get it centered again.
regarding the 109 in combat, i pretty much fly the E-1 exclussively these days
it is an absolute weapon, i love it. it is definately a zoom and boomer, and can spiral climb away from anything. the main thing to remember is to always leave yourself an escape route if you do somehow end up in a disadvantageous situation, the 109 will out accelerate and outdive all others, literally leave em standing, so unless i know my intended target is a sure kill i don't get involved in a fight below 2k. this way i have room to dive away if i'm in the poo.
the biggest problem i find is actually spotting aircraft below me at any sort of distance, makes it hard to use effectively at times.

Cheers
Craig

+1 on the spotting EA situation, can be very hard in this game

[Ze-Jamz]

Originally Posted by SNAFU

The 109 has from what I experienced a better roll-rate at low speeds than Hurricane and Spits, which is an advantage in scissors. It is also nice to handle at low speeds. I don´t know about Spit or Hurricanes but from what I`ve seen they seem to have more difficulties in flying controlled slow.
I still have quite a way to go, but I just had a little airquakeing on the ATAG server and think it is the best way to get to know a plane, by not B&Z but just throwing yourself into the thick of the battle low and slow.

If you have managed that, you can B&Z with the comfort of knowing, that you can also get along, if you have to help you mate, without the comfort of excess energy. Sure it is the best tactic to stay fast and out of range, but if you really want to learn your plane, you should know how it handles at stall speed fights.

+1 to that too

[drewpee]

Sorry but low and slow in battle means DEATH.

[trumps]

for sure you need to be able to take it to it's limits when low and slow but it's not using the plane to its greatest advantage. it does have very good low speed controlability and can be held on the edge of a stall in a spiral climb much better than either the spit or the hurri, in this situation the hurri with its energy bleed doesn't stand a chance, and even the spit will soon drop a wing and be vunerable while recovering from a stall or spin. obviously these are just my own observations, and as always are subject to change with FM updates and patch releases. this is off topic but the thing that suprises me is all the people who won't fly without FFB sticks, the cues offered by the FM, sound and visuals are more than enough to let you know how hard the plane can be pushed without fighting a shaking stick and possibly over correcting, i think that a quality, well setup stick has as much to do with how hard and effectively the planes can be flown as anything.

Craig

[drewpee]

Being able to fight low and slow is alright for one on one but if your opponent had a wing man your toast. Now days I find keeping alive is a more realistic way of flying. To have no fear of dieing is the biggest immersion killer. My kill death ratio in my case is getting better all the time only because of the fear of virtual death. It's made me a better pilot.

[trumps]

Originally Posted by drewpee

Being able to fight low and slow is alright for one on one but if your opponent had a wing man your toast. Now days I find keeping alive is a more realistic way of flying. To have no fear of dieing is the biggest immersion killer. My kill death ratio in my case is getting better all the time only because of the fear of virtual death. It's made me a better pilot.

i agree mate, for the first time in a sim i am flying using tactics and the principals of the great german aces of the time and they work! it in no way takes any of the fun out of the fight, i actually enjoy it a lot more plus my K/D
ratio has totally gone through the roof! in previous sims i have pretty much always allowed myself to get suckered into furballing while in the wrong plane,
now i make a concious decision of how and when to attack, i don't know if it is
just me or if it is due to the game it's self that has made it so much more enjoyable but i'm lovin it

Craig

[SNAFU]

As I said, if you are looking for your stats (whatever they are worth for?) always stay high and fast, but the question was in the beginning, how to learn the plane, if I remember that correctly (but I might be wrong though).

That`s what I was trying to explain. The fastest way to learn the 109 is to fly it in the most extreme situations, and if you always make one high speed pass and repeat or run you do not learn the 109, you just learn deflection shooting.

So far CoD is all a state of testing. The most players are just flying around waiting for the opposing bombers to get in their way and have a little shooting practice on AI bomber, which do not have any other meaning but being shot down by players, at least you rarely see any objective in online missions for players. It is also hard to implement any mission goals in online missions, f.e. ships are not counted as ground units and there is no direct way to set a trigger for them being destroyed as a group. Futhermore the FM is restricted to medium-alt flying having a ceiling at 7800m (at least I couldn´t get the 109 higher than that). The ones flying with the highest graphic settings have huge disatvanteges, compared to the majority flying without trees, lower resolution, switched off shadows, etc. So it is hard to feel the immersion of the Battle of Britain online on the PvP Servers imo.

Me for example only fly on the PvP Servers for testing and the fast fun in between, but for the immersion I fly missions I made myself and which (I think) do reflect the essence of the Battle of Britain with the best compromise between playability and the history I know.

But I am geting OT...

[drewpee]

Historically the 109 is a energy fighter, if you fly another way and have success,well good for you. I must say though once you learn to retain energy it's the best way to fly it for most pilots. There is no need to as you say run away once the 109 has been mastered, although there in nothing wrong in knowing to cut and run. A fight often deteriorates into a low and slow fight and then yes knowing your aircraft stalling characteristics will help to keep you alive. But usually a low and slow fight tends to end in someone stalling and dieing.

[SNAFU]

Exactly and if you only know your plane at corner speed or above, the chances are high that you are the one stalling.