A beginner's guide to the planes

[wakespeak]

Actually I have been doing some research on the P-51 and too my somewhat surprise the real plane was not the best dogfighter out there. The game is looking more and more accurate. Its best virtue was range as an escort fighter while having excellent speed and decent maneuverability.

I read the actual flight manual and as many actual flight reports as I could find. The game's flight dynamics seem to match. The airplane had some real vices. The stall charactaristics ("spinning in") were not forgiving, especially if full of fuel and/or flying under 180 ias. Flick maneuvers were prohibited due to the tendancy to stall the opposite wing - which causes a spin just like in the game. At high altitude no aerobatics recommended. The airplane did not have a lot of power and did appear to lose energy quickly from what I read. It took a long time to reach cruising altitude and speed.

This graph gives a good idea what to expect. http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Im...51/P-51OLL.gif

If I am reading this correctly, the p-51 will power on stall at 200 ias if you pull a little more than 4gs, but it takes 8 g's to stall the airplane at ~250 ias. So keep it fast and you can use much more of the airplane's maneuvering envelope.

For range comparison, the La-5 only had about 40 mins of flight time, had wooden wings, and very low ammunition for its 2 cannons. Its a pure T&B fighter designed to provide air superiority at low altitude over a battlefield.

The p-51's virtues (aside from fuel economy/range) were handling at high speed, good diving speed, great visibility, and good guns. Life is good above 250 mph. Try to roll a spitfire in a high speed dive and you'll think the mustang is fantastic. The 50 cals have good ballistics and a high firing rate. If you learn where the convergence is, will light up your opponent instantly.

[Jihad_Joe]

In arcade, the I-153 maybe the slowest but it can kill any fighter models given players similar skills. Just keep looking at your six though and make sure any enemy is nowhere less than a kilometer from you.

[dkwookie]

If I get an I153 on my tail in arcade I pull out to about 1.2 km then spin around and blast them head on with my spit. Works every time in my Spit due to the superior fire power. There is no point trying to out turn them. They are pretty fragile, a couple of decent bursts wit most real planes will take them down

[bobbysocks]

same here. got into a game 1 on 1 with this jabroonie...in the lobby we both had G6s (1 vs 1 i like to play the same ac). once the game started within a minute he's on my tail out turning me like crazy. i thought this guy really knows his $#!T. after i respawned i see where he switched over to a 153 and started the game in a sneaky manner without me seeing the switch. so i simply dove away until i put sufficent distance between us and smoked him repeately in head ons. i refused to get into a dogfight where he could use his plane to its best ability. the only way he was able to take me out ( and, mind you, i am not that good ) was to taran ( ram ) me head on. the only time i like the 153 is CTA (or if its a biplane game). you can land that puppy on a dime and if you have good top cover...its an easy game.

[Jihad_Joe]

Perhaps your opponent does not know his tactics. Basically when flying an I-153, you surely lose if you fight head on and you can't definitely chase other planes. The tactic to kill a 105 or spit is to avoid head on, do a quick turn and use the 3-sec window to blast 'em out of the virtual sky.

[irishjg10]

Thanks for the info. Great details. Very helpful information.

[PRINCE_VALIANT]

Hello I am new of this, for what I got about the crafts variants guide, it changes their camouflage and weaponry. About overall performances are still the same right?

[bobbysocks]

that's about it. you can unlock different weight bombs and rockets but the guns stay the same for each variant. paint scheme is different for each model also...

[mavrickandgoose]

In reguards to p51 I'm going to have to disagree with it not being s good dogfighter all following info is from the u.s air war collage

Kill ratio 11-1
4950 kills- nearly half of all us kills in Europe
Max speed 443mph
Climb rate 3320 feet per min
Turning radius is much better then 109 and a toss up with 190
190 does have a faster rate of roll though

Also both the military channel and the history channel named it the #1 fighter aircraft of ALL TIME in their count downs

In my opinion it's much better then in the game obviously I have never flown one but to listen to those who have it seems like a dominating force in the ww2 skies

[PRINCE_VALIANT]

Originally Posted by bobbysocks

that's about it. you can unlock different weight bombs and rockets but the guns stay the same for each variant. paint scheme is different for each model also...

Copy that, thank you a lot mate.