I've noticed this tendency, that the Allied pilots in the current setup, more or less, don't have a clue on how to fight against Zeros.
With no disrespect, my guess is that the only experience most Allied pilots in CT have, in fighting against Zeros, is in planes that are more than at least 50mph faster than the A6M at all altitudes. Now, I know that there are many pilots who are more talented than me on both sides, and they probably never suffer the tactical problem I notice. But however, the rest of the average pilots who make up the Allied forces are grossly inexperienced.
Please, don't take this as a boast, or chest-thumping. I'm merely, but sincerely, trying to be of help here.
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The A6M2 is a very capable plane, and it takes a pilot with deadly accurate gunnery skills to dispose of them quickly.
However, it absolutely sucks in high speed maneuvering - it can tolerate high speed dives, and admittably that ain't much "historic", but it can only go straight forward at those speeds - much less roll or turn.
If you can't exploit these weaknesses, the A6Ms are an absolute nightmare to fight against between 200~300mph.. and especially if your plane cannot outrun it on a whim.
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I'm not an expert pilot, but today, I engaged 4x P-40s and 1x Spitfire singlehandedly at 24k. I alone fought all of them right down to 5k, shot four of them down, and one friendly Zero waiting at deck took care of the last enemy fighter.
Yes, I was lucky, and I had some help from the field ack between 10k to 5k. But the field ack did not kill any of the enemy planes, nor did I run straight towards the base. In fact I never fought directly above the base at all. The fight just happened to cross the limit of ack fire distance. All the ack did was split up the tight formation of five enemy fighters, which gave me a chance to take care of them one by one. There was still plenty of time between 10k and 24k for five planes to take me out.
As I said, I'm not an exceptional pilot. But I couldn't help but notice how the four P-40s and one Spitfire, just simply assumed that they could manage to enter a real 'dogfight' with me just because they had the numbers advantage. They were clogging the skies up for themselves, criss crossing their own wingmen's flight paths, going in and out in a manner of chaos, and really really disorganized.
As a pure dogfighter, the A6M2 is probably better than both the Spitfire or the P-40B. But the planes the Allied have in this setup, are still all faster than the A6M2 at most altitudes. The P-40B is at least 10 miles faster than the A6M2 under 23k. The SpitfireMkI, is at least 30 miles faster than the A6M2 at all altitudes.
The P-40B absolutely sucks in acceleration, and climb, but has very good high speed characteristics. The SpitI sucks in dives, but can turn with a Zero for a limited time, and out accelerates it significantly.
The advantage the Zero has, is the rate of climb(begins to outclimb SpitI at high alts), maneuverability, and cannons(120 rounds, 60RPG). The Allied planes aren't uber against the Zero, but they certainly ain't no slocuhes.
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Now, the largest problem I see, is that the people don't really know how to exploit the relative advantages and disadvantages against the Zero. Coming in from 25k, making a single pass and going straight home, is not "using the advantage", guys.
That's just looking for a stalemate. No doubt that certain 'tactic' boasts high survivability, but unfortunately it also boasts low enemy kills. How are you going to kill anything when you run away?
Now, I'm not saying running away is wrong. I'd do the same thing If I have a Zero behind my tail. But fighters are sent to the skies to fight, and destroy the enemy. You can't do that by just making high speed passes.
Nor am I saying that you guys should try to grab a Zero by its tail and turn and squirm. I'm talking about cooperation here.
When I saw those five enemy fighters, the single SpitI was obviously operating by itself, and the rest four P-40s seemed to be operating as a wing.
But the problem is, cooperative flying doesn't mean "welded wing" tactics. All four of them started the attack in the same angle, same direction, seemingly "following the flight leader."
The distance between planes was too close, and as they passed behind me, they made the same turn, in a tight group, and came by me again at the same style.
That ain't cooperative flying. That's "follow the leader". In that kind of flying, if the leader cannot get the target, the rest of the planes also cannot - they coming in from the same angle, remember?
Not only is it grossly inefficient, but confusing as well, as when the fight becomes even more tight and fast, all four planes try to follow the Zero. What happens is, all four of them gets outturned by the Zero, and all four of them now see the Zero closing behind their six. They panic, and spread into different directions - this is the moment when the mutual covering of wingman tactics ultimately fail, and the planes get shot down one by one.
Guys, if you see a Zero in the distance, and have at least one plane advantage against it, don't just make a pass and run. Also, don't try to stay close to your wingman. It's not a flying show.
Spread apart, make a loose formation. Maneuver so that the friendly planes surround the Zero from all directions. Make it so that the Zero never sees all enemy planes in one screen.
When the Zero is surrounded, don't barge in all at once. Go in turns. Make a high speed pass, but don't just run straight away. What you want to do is try for a shot, and if you miss, go into a gentle turn to coax the Zero to follow you. If you run straight away, you are leaving the immediate vicinity, and cannot help your wingmen if for any reason they need assistance.
Make a firing pass. If you miss, gently turn and coax the Zero behind you. If the Zero doesn't grab the bait, use the speed to reverse, and get back into attacking position, as other planes start attack passes on the Zero one by one. This is impossible if all planes are grouped up in a tight space.
The fights in this setup doesn't necessarily be have to boring. Alt advantage is bound to run dry at some point, and also, the higher you come, in the next sortie, the enemy will come higher.
Try a little more organized, mutually communicating flying - that's probably the only way the P-40 will ever get a Zero without zillion leagues of alt advantage, gangbanging, or vulching.
