Over the course of 2+ years, I haven't flown the P-38 very often. When I do, I have no problem maintaining a reasonable K/D in it despite the fact that I was using it as a Jabo (27/4 over the past three tours).
This tour I wanted to explore its performance under controlled circumstances. So, I have been spending time in the DA and TA (mostly in the DA) learning every facet that I can discover. So, over the course of this tour, I spent about 50% of my online time in the DA and TA learning this complex and difficult fighter.
Much of what I learned surprised me.
I have flown guns on and off dogfights against most of the main rides in the MA, including the Spit IX, La-7, Yak-9U, P-51D and N1K2. I spent at least 10 minutes chasing S2F's Wildcat around as well. Most of the pilots I played tag with were of average or slightly better than average skills. Since this was what we generally encounter in the MA, I wasn't put off by it.
In the case of the F4F-4, it's lack of power means that the vertical regime is difficult to fight in. Once I got behind the Wildcat, there was nothing it could do to shake the big Lightning. S2F tried every possible maneuver, but the P-38 remained on his tail. Thanks to awesome rudder authority, low speed rolling was no problem. I trimmed the plane for full flaps, requiring a touch of forward pressure when speeds exceeded 200 mph (the flaps blow up, so the pressure eases on its own). It took some experimentation to find the best trim settings, but once I had them pegged, the P-38 responded better than I could have hoped for.
As for the speed demons of the plane set, any attempt at a maneuver fight against the Lightning quickly degrades into a bug-out by the hotrod. Either run or get clobbered. Two La-7s augered from high-speed dives trying to get away, only to find that damned P-38 right on their tails. With combat trim off, the speed boards work as advertised.
A couple of Co-E, Co-alt brawls with Yak-9Us revealed to me that guys flying these things figure they can out-turn the Lightning... They figured wrong. After a couple of hard turns, their airspeed was below 250 mph - a place you don't want to be with a P-38 close by. Down come the flaps (that's a nice feature of a HOTAS set up, flap buttons on the stick), and the fight goes close and personal. It wasn't long before the Yak's poor low-speed handling became a major liability. In each case, they then tried to go vertical. Another mistake.
Fights with the dreaded Spit IX were a revelation for both me and the Spit driver. Its only real advantage is in a sustained turn, essentially a Lufberry. Yet, even that advantage is fleeting if you use the Lightning's powerful rudders and torque-free characteristics properly to get in a shot. Should the fight continue for a long time, the Spit's chances improve somewhat. However, in each case, the fights didn't last long enough.
Fights with the N1K2 were very much like those with the Spits. One guy tried a scissors to shake me. Again, the awesome rudder authority allows for a flat skidding turn and the Niki was an easy target. Another niki jock was stunned to watch the big Lightning follow him through a series of low-speed loops. If he had ever seen Leviathn's P-38 film, he would have realized that the P-38 can loop endlessly.
Fights with 109s proved interesting. None of the post 109E type can hang with the P-38 at low speeds. The best turner being the 109F, which simply can't maintain enough speed to fight effectively enough in the vertical plane. The G models were good to excellent in the vertical, but not quite good enough, and turnfighting with a P-38 is death. Indeed, they really need to stay fast. Every 109 driver encountered wanted to fight in vertical. Again, at Co-E. Co-alt that's a problem for them. I would argue that the P-38 is the best vertical fighter in the game. Some guy, frustrated at having his Typhoon abused, grabbed a Spit XIV, only to discover that its vicious torque was a real handicap. I also flew against other P-38s. Quite honestly tho, not one of these guys had a clue how use the Lightning. With one fellow, we played a fun game. Each spawns their fighter on opposite end of the runway, we taxi mid way down the runway until nose to nose. On the count of 3, throttles are firewalled. Once airborne, the fight is on. He tried Spits, 109s, the 202, La-7 and even the Tempest. The result was the same. My P-38 was on him before he could get up and reverse. Eventually, he switched to a Zero. He never did understand how the big P-38 could get airborne, climb 200 feet and reverse before he could get his Zeke up and reverse. Each try netted the same result.... Bullets slamming into his cockpit. He even tried full flaps on takeoff. No improvement. It's all about power loading and torque free low-speed handling. Nothing in this game can match the P-38 in that regard. Sure, the Zeke can turn tighter circles, its problem is that it turns very tight, but very SLOW turns as it hasn't the power to accelerate to speed quickly. The P-38 has the advantage of not only getting airborne quickly with full flaps, it can immediately pull into a high yo-yo. The Zeke can pull into a high yo-yo as well, it just takes several seconds longer to get around. Going to just 25% fuel helps a bit, but it still can't quite get around before it gets slammed. At least this guy wasn't able to do so. It's a interesting and revealing exercise.
On the down side, the P-38 is a large, easy to hit target. Visibility is generally lousy, requiring constant rolling and skidding to check below and behind.
Anyway, I've come away from this "training", if you will, with a new found appreciation for the P-38 as a dogfighter. I'll be flying it more in the MA as the current tour winds down. I'd also like to coax a few of the better sticks into the DA to provide a genuine challenge as one can only measure one's progress by the level of the opposition. I'd really like to play some tag with the better P-38 jocks. If nothing else, I'll learn faster.
My regards,
Widewing
