The greatest fighter plane you've never flown.

[gofaster]

The Yak9T.



Pros:
* Good visibility all the way around, probably as good as  P-51D and P-47 bubbletop.

* 1 shot, 1 kill capability via the awesome 37mm nose cannon.

* nose-mounted cannon means no convergence worries.

* fast enough to engage the other late-war planes, such as the Mustang, 109Gs, 190D, Corsair, etc., so long as you use the 12.7mm machine gun to ping them up a bit and scare them into turning.

* compression is not an issue, unlike the 109G series and P-38 Lightning.

* durable and turns fairly well, particularly down low.

* unlike the Yak9U, the 9T has WEP.

* cannon has better ballistics than the 30mm mounted in the 109.

* could probably put a hurting on ground armour if I could avoid nose-planting long enough to see the results of my handywork.



Cons:

*Don't leave the airfield perimeter with less than 50% fuel, particularly on the bigger maps like AKDesert where the airbases are spread far apart.  

* slow rate of fire in the nose cannon, and only 32 rounds of the 37mm shells, so fire it like a sniper rifle - 1 shot is all you need and it'll be awhile before the 2nd shell reloads, so make that shot count.

* 12.7mm machine gun is good for strafing gun emplacements, making the wild-guess snapshot where you just want to wound the enemy plane as best you can, and for pinging a running plane at long distance.



Advice:

* Don't fire the cannon and the machine gun at the same time.  You'll never know if you're hitting with which gun.  Use the cannon for the kill shot and the machine gun for general-purpose shooting.

* Use tracers.  I normally don't use tracers, but for this plane I think the tracers have the advantage of allowing you to scare the other plane into turning if you fire a few rounds of 12.7mm past his canopy.  Tracers will also let you figure out the rate of fire of the cannon.

* The cannon has good muzzle velocity and seems to keep its trajectory pretty well, certainly better than the 30mm in the 109.  Still, you don't get many shells so make sure you have a shot before you squeeze that trigger.  This means get in close if you're a bad marksman like me.

[Ghosth]

Both yaks are a blast & I fly them often.

Yak9T is my bomber intercepter of choice.
Just takes one good pass to knock apart a b17 formation.

As to GV's, it works but it takes practise, I've had my best luck with very low runs, get a shot or 2 off around 3-400 yards out then extend for another pass.

[Halo]

Very good presentation.  I love flying the Yaks too -- peppy, nice handling, and excellent visibility.

But the T is slower and not as agile as the U, right?

[Soulyss]

It's been my impression that the U out performs the T in allmost every regard except of course firepower.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Originally posted by gofaster

* Don't fire the cannon and the machine gun at the same time.  You'll never know if you're hitting with which gun.
 

Sure you do. If it goes down it was the 37mm, if it doesn't it was the 12.7mm

Ok, joke aside, it's true that you should fire them seperately. It's not like the 9U, where the 3 guns can supplement each other. The 37mm doesn't need any help.

[Soda]

The 9U is by far the better fighter though the 9T can be very useful in AH.  9U out accelerates, climbs, and has vastly better speed.  WEP in the 9T is ok but 9U performs better without it and will never run out when you need it most.  The 37mm gun is excellent but not as great against an aware enemy fighter that is maneuvering to avoid you and the single 12.7mm is not really all that dangerous unless you can lock it onto someone for a while.  I find the 9T a little less stable too, bit more difficult to aim as the weight of the cannon in the nose seems to hurt the balance (at least in my opinion).  If all you meet are HO'ing aircraft though you can teach them an ugly lesson with a 37mm to the face.

That said, 37mm vs bombers is awesome and the muzzle velocity of the big cannons is actually better than a hispano.  Easy to aim.  Also a fantastic vulcher, one 37mm landing anywhere near an enemy fighter will usually kill it (even if you miss slightly).  The 37mm is almost useless against armour, I think the general concensus is that the 9T was a fighter and not primarily a ground-attack aircraft and I've had little/no success against tanks.  I can damage them sometimes, usually get the kill based on total damage, but actually killing one out-right is rare.  Even point blank the 37mm doesn't seem to be able to punch reliably through a Panzer at any angle.

Good summary overall though gofaster, I think my Eval on my webpage says something similar.

[Sikboy]

I spent 2003 almost monogomous to the Yak9U, and never took up the 9T, being on the inccorect side of the "Tozholy/Tankovy" debate.

After reading a thread in the Aircraft and Vehicles forum, I decided to just take the 9T up for a few fighter sorties.

I couldn't stop laughing. This is the most fun I've had in years of flying on line.

In the Yak-9u, I would usually decline to engage most American fighters if I had a choice. I'm a poor shot, and they just take too much of my ShVAK ammo to get down. With the Yak-9T however, I seek them out. There is NOTHING funnier than knocking the wing off of a Jug with a single ping of the 37mm. I can just imagine the WTF?!?!?! and the look on their faces as they flip and spin into the dirt. I love it.

Personally, I suck at taking out bombers with it.

One thing that I've noticed, and -GF- didn't mention, is that it seems to me that this plane really holds its E well. If you start out with some alt, and convert it to speed, it really "feels" faster than it is, as it takes a while do decelerate to it's maximum sustainded speed. Now, I haven't actually confirmed this with testing or anything. That is just how it "feels" to me, so take it with a grain of salt.

-Sik

[MOSQ]

GoFaster,
Good write up. I used to fly both Yaks almost exclusively. I really fell for th 9-T though, primarily because of the one shot, one kill, amusement factor.

My favorite use for 9-T is in base defense against a combined A/C and GV assault. You can kill both types of attackers without the need to burden your plane with bombs or rockets, and even with ordnance disabled you can kill GVs.  It's far more survivable than an IL-2 if there is a chance of enemy A/C attacking you.

The 9-T is the only plane that when you're in a fight and taking under the nose deflection shots, when you see a hit sprite you can instantly turn away and look for other enemies. You don't have to look back, the other fighter is absolutley going down. I have never had a fighter survive a one ping 37mm hit from my 9-T.  Bombers, yes, fighters, no.

The 9-T 37mm has amazing range. It has an equivalent velocity to Hizzookas. I have cut the tails off p-38s and Me110's at D1.1.

It's a pretty good turner, not as good as a 9-U. Better to fly it BnZ. F6Fs, Spits, Nikkis, will eat you for lunch in a turn fight. I have defeated Spits in a turn fight, but only down close to the ground where I was better able to ride the absolute limit of my stall line than they were willing or able to do. They either hit the ground in a slightly descending turn while I kept my last couple of turns level at 100 ft, or they chickened out and I shot them in the back as they ran. However I have been killed plenty of times by good turning planes flown by pilots who could ride the stall correctly.

I've had good success killing Panzers. Get over the top of them and shoot straight down. Will either kill them or take out their engine. With no engine they usually .ef and you get the kill.

A few things to be aware of:

Acceleration is sub par. Don't rely on it.

Top speed is only middling. Many targets will out run you.

Fuel range is poor. Take 100%, never less than 75% unless you are strictly up for a quick base defense. Always start RTB at 1/4 or you won't make it back.
 
GV pintle guns can take out your radiator, and you will overheat in  flash. Better to attack GVs relatively close to base so you can land before the engine seizes. If you attack top down as above, most pintle guns can't swivel that high anyway.
 
9-T, like the 9-U, is a great diver. 550MPH.
 
Practice with the .target command a lot, you need to be very judicious in your use of ammo. Don't waste it! But don't be afraid to take a sniper shot at a D900 P-38 running from you.
Soviet pilots were trained to fire in no more than 3 shot bursts because of the shake throwing later rounds off. Sound advice for AH 9-T pilots too.

This plane is for Snipers, not spray and pray!

Soda, thanks for the vulching tip. I've never used it that way, I'll have to try it out.  I usually fly the 9-T for base defense, not offense, so have never been in a vulching situation.

[gofaster]

Originally posted by Sikboy
After reading a thread in the Aircraft and Vehicles forum, I decided to just take the 9T up for a few fighter sorties. ...
Personally, I suck at taking out bombers with it.

I think it was you who said "Hey, let's take up some Yaks" late one Friday night after Shillelagh ToD.  The problem was, you didn't specify which Yak!

I chose the -9T and engaged some bombers and didn't hit squat, but did manage to lose my wing in a collision.  Bah!  It sucks! I'm never trying this one again!

Then a few weeks later I got to trying the -9U.  Whoa, hey, this one isn't bad if you get in close.  Hey look!  I'm killing Spitfires!  And Mustangs!  Woo-hoo!  Now I go after Mustangs with much glee in my heart.  If I can ping them into turning, the -9U will have them.  The Mustang might be able to dive away, but he won't be out-turning the Yak-9U, at least not below 10k.

Then, recently for comedic effect I went back to the -9T, but this time with better gunnery skills.  Did a 1-man invasion of an enemy base to see if I could get somebody to up to defend.  Got locked on a N1K turning on the deck, punctured his fuel cell with the 12.7mm in a snapshot, then followed the trail of streaming fuel around for awhile before getting a clean tail shot with the 37mm and he went fell to pieces.  Then, LA-7 on climb-out tried to run and lost the back half of his fuselage.  Banked and yanked with a Spit IX on my tail on the deck and got inside of him. Two shots - BANG! (pause) BANG! First one missed, second one hit, and down he went.

Still had 20-something rounds of cannon ammo but fuel was a concern (darn this AKDessert map).  

Most fun I've had in AH in a long time.

The Yak-9U is the purebred dogfighter, with better speed and agility overall, it seems; its a real floorfighter.  The -9T is the slower, less agile one that'll knock you six ways to Sunday when it connects its punch.

I'll have to try MOSQ's straight-down shots on armour to see if that works.  Good info to keep in mind!

[MOSQ]

Regards killing Panzers. There is lots of info (read debate) about .50s and hizzookas killing Panzers in the threads here. From one of those threads I copied the following Panzer data:

Panzer IV Armor

Top/Bottom thickness of armor in mm.

Front Turret: 50/11
Front Upper Hull: 50 or 50+30/10
Front Lower Hull: 50 or 50+30/12
Side Turret: 30/26
Side Upper Hull: 30/0
Side Lower Hull: 30/0
Rear Turret: 30/10
Rear Upper Hull: 20/12
Rear Lower Hull: 20/9
Turret Top / Bottom: 10/83
Upper Hull Top / Bottom: 12/85
Lower Hull Top / Bottom: 10/90
Gun Mantlet: 50/0

Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War II lists the H turret top armor as being 15mm at 84 - 90 degrees. Superstructure is 12mm at 85 - 90 degrees and the hull is 10mm at 90 degrees.

Regards the power of aircraft weapons, from: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8217/fgun/fgun-pe.html :

Russian weapons such as the NS-37 were intended both for air-air combat and for use against ground targets. Usually only a single cannon of this type was carried, typically between the cylinder banks of the Klimov engines of the Yakovlev fighters.

The first gun in service, in 1940, was the powerful VYa, with a 152 mm long cartridge case. It was installed mainly in Il-2 ground attack aircraft, but also in some fighters. In 1942 the NS-37 appeared; this gun could penetrate 40 mm of armour at an angle of up to 40 degrees. The Yak-9T with the NS-37 was quite successful, and 2748 of these fighters were built. Because of the recoil of the gun it was advised to fire thee-round bursts, but a single hit could destroy an aircraft.

As you can see there is no armor on the top of a Panzer capable of stopping a 9-T cannon, the NS-37, if you come in at a steep enough angle.  

The NS-37 replaced the VYa in later IL-2s, I wish HT would add the NS-37 option to the IL-2 loadout.

Compare to the Hizzooka:
NS-37, projectile wt: 748 gms; Muzzle Velocity 890 m/sec
HispMkII, projectile wt: 130 gms; Muzzle Velocity: 880 m/sec.

No wonder you can shoot a mile in a Yak.  The weight of the projectile just keeps it going at a high speed a long way.  (the lighter a projectile, the quicker it loses velocity from air drag).

[Ecliptik]

unlike the Yak9U, the 9T has WEP.

Not much of a pro.  The T is still much slower than the U, even with WEP.

Regarding the 37 mm, I didn't know it had a similar muzzle velocity to the Hispano 20mm round.  That's very impressive considering how much heavier it is.

[gofaster]

Yeah, there's still a topspeed difference between the U and the T, but to be honest, when I'm in a dogfight the only two speed factors I'm concerned with are stall speed and the speed difference between me and the target.  If I find myself getting too close to stall speed, or I need a little something extra to help with the speed differential, its nice to be able to toggle the WEP.

MOSQ, that's real interesting data to remember when engaging ground vehicles.  Certainly worth keeping in mind.

[REVGST]

I often use the 9-T just because most people like the U.  I love that 37 mm on it and have actually hit bombers in a straight line past D1.0. Amazing to me!  Thu U does handle better, but I opt for the T because Ill take the better fire-power over the little bit better turning characteristics.

[Sikboy]

If you're interested in flying a few Organized Yak Missions, check out http://www.warszawa.hailcesarz.com (even if you're currently in a squad).

We could always use a few more pilots as we get this thing off the ground We'll be up tomorrow night around 1:00 am EST.

-Sik

[Pooh21]

P-39Q

I want


I want

 

I want


with yak-t IMO you hit with mg youl hit with the cannon, Ive gotten kills out to 1.1k with that method. Tap MGs, then fire cannon Best ever sortie was 7 kills with 26 shots. 4 kills 1 shot each 1 I accidentally shot him twice, and the last was Moojs lvt took 18 shots to kill.