P-39Q

Vinkman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:38:31 GMT

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	===Fighting in the {{PAGENAME}}===		===Fighting in the {{PAGENAME}}===
		+	The P-39 strengths are its maneuverability at low and high speed. The P-39 can dive to over 550mph without significant compression effects. At low speed it can maneuver with a smooth hand without buffeting or departure at speeds as low as 100mph. With 5 levels a flaps it can really put on the breaks. Very effective elevators and Rudder combined with low polar moment due to mid engine configuration make rotating the plane at low speed easy. Reducing throttle during these maneuvers helps quite a bit, so work the throttle. Good pilots will be able to use the planes e-bleed and high and low speed controllability to dive down and drop in behind bandits that other planes would overshoot. Once there the P-39 can use its controllability and cornering ability to get a good first shot. But you better make that shot at the first opportunity because the P-39 has two big weaknesses. The first is the gun package. The 37mm will kill any fighter it hits with one shot. But the fire rate (200rpm) and the poor ballistics make hitting a maneuvering fighter a challenge even for the best aerial marksmen. Randomization of bullet trajectories on the 37mm means you can't expect the second round to follow the path of the first round adding frustration to your attempts to zero in on your bandit. So this weapon is for up-close and personal encounters between 200-400 yrds. The cannon is also limited to 30 rounds so spraying at a target will run you out of ammo in 10 seconds. Since the ballistics and fire rates are so different from the machine guns, be sure to set up the cannon for the secondary trigger and use sparingly. The base gun package only has two 50 cals in the cowling which shoot through the propeller, which drops there fire rate and makes them pretty ineffective. The second gun package adds two more 50s in wing gondolas which are needed to make the machine guns affective. Use the 50cals at long and medium range, and the cannon in close.
		+	The second big problem for the P-39 is that it gains and holds Energy very poorly. It's underpowered so sustained turning or looping fights will enable your bandit to regain the advantage. This also means the plane is very poor in sustained vertical maneuvers. 250mph is the limit for a loop attempt in a close dog fight. Below that you will be too slow at the top compared with most bandits in the LW arena. Hard cornering bleeds energy very fast in the Airacobra, so stick to yo-yos and barrel rolls which the plane excels at while bleeding less energy.
		+	In 1v1s the P-39 can be flown aggressively to enable first-shot-first-kill tactics as long as you are a good shot. In the furball this should be avoided as the P-39's poor acceleration, and low top speed make the P-39 a bandit magnet and limit your exit strategies. BnZ works best here but the gun package and high instrument cluster makes high deflection snapshot kills very difficult.
		+	The P-39 does excel as a bomber killer. Good maneuverability at high altitude and no compression problems, combined with the powerful cannon make it ideal for dropping down on bombers. From the vertical, the ballistics of the cannon improve, and the large wing area of the non-maneuvering bombers are ideal conditions for scoring hits with the 37mm. Dive, fire three cannon rounds, watch bomber explode, dive through, climb, repeat. Killing 3 Buffs is easily do-able with just 10 cannon rounds. Getting over the top of them requires patients as the P-39 only climbs at a sustained rate of 2.5Kft/min.

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