Ta-152 vs Spit 14

[Urchin]

I've been flying both of em this tour, and I think it is pretty safe to say that the Spit 14 is by far a better fighter.  

But one thing does puzzle me- if you go back through the "detailed" scoring page, you can see two things.  One, the Ta-152 sees more use, and two, it has always had a higher K/D.  

I find this puzzling because the Spit 14 IS the better fighter.  Both of em are pretty much el gay 7 bait in the MA, but the Spit 14 should be able to handle itself alright provided the pilot is careful.  

So why's the Ta-152 have a higher K/D?  Is it just flown by much more timid people?

[GScholz]

Spit14: Flown by Spitdweebs who don't know how to fly it right.

Ta152: Flown by altmonkeying Luftwabbles ... who know how to fly it right.


Spit14 is way superior up til 25K. Ta152 is really a very high alt fighter that has no real purpose in the MA.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Having never flown the Spit 14, I can't comment on it other than to confirm that in fighting it I find that many pilots try to fly it as a "Super Spit IX".

I have flown the 152, I sometimes use it to hunt bombers, and if I run out of fuel before I find bombers, I'll usually be pretty successful in getting kills and surviving as I RTB. Wrecking the wings is the actual cause of most of my losses of the 152.

[Innominate]

Whats with all the complaints about the 152?  I find it to be a rather fun plane to fly.  Awesome firepower for vulching, okay climb rate and speed, lots of fuel, and a totally unmatched diving ability.  A question:  If the problem with the 152 a flight model problem, or just that the plane lacked the low altitude performance?

The 152 doesn't seem to attract the same perk-killing hordes that 'big' icons like SPIT14 and F4U4 do.

[B17Skull12]

because it is flown so high.  one time me and Wilbuz flew em together.  We climbed to 25k before turning to engage, and we ran into a flight of like 5 jugs and just slaughtered them.  Course i got all the Sist and he got the kills.  once the %1 gets high it is fast, and that is what did the jugs in was speed.  Lazerus is crazy hehe, flying it at12k "One of a Kind"

(runs for Cover)

[Widewing]

Originally posted by B17Skull12
because it is flown so high.  one time me and Wilbuz flew em together.  We climbed to 25k before turning to engage, and we ran into a flight of like 5 jugs and just slaughtered them.  Course i got all the Sist and he got the kills.  once the %1 gets high it is fast, and that is what did the jugs in was speed.  Lazerus is crazy hehe, flying it at12k "One of a Kind"

(runs for Cover)

Most of the guys you  encounter flying Jugs in a gaggle at 20K+ are your typical field porkers. Long on dorkiness, short on flying skills. Easy kills for just about anything. Especialy if you catch them climbing with a full load of ordnance.

That said, had you run into the old 56th FG (Ammo, Frenchy, Nomde and the rest), your 152s would have been nursing hind tit in short order. Those guys hoped for that kind of opportunity. A clean, fast moving P-47 at altitude is trouble. 6 to 8 of them, flown by guys who know how to use them, are extremely lethal.

Maybe we'll get the P-47M someday, considering that twice as many of these monsters saw combat as did the Ta 152H.

My regards,

Widewing

[Westy]

"Maybe we'll get the P-47M someday..."


Here! Here!

No aircraft addition (to AH) gives me as warm a fuzzy as the thought of this one does

[Widewing]

I agree with Urchin that the Spifire Mk.XIV is superior to the Ta 152 below 25k.

We frequently see guys posting about how poor the Spit14 is... Well, if they were to actually spend enough time in it, they would see that it is probably the best pure fighter in the plane set. It was designed for middle altitudes, between 12k and 25K. At those heights, it is without peer.

Yeah, it has tons of torque, and if you constantly fly it with throttle full forward the torque becomes a factor, albeit a mild factor. It's turning performance is not far behind the Spit9, and it climbs better than anything else, save the 109G-10.

My only issues with the Spit14 are its price and the perk tag.

My regards,

Widewing

[JB73]

in a book on LW fighters i have at home (written by americans i believe) there is an account of a ta152 in a dogfight with a tempest (yeha i know not a spit 14)

the fight was at tree top level, both pilots were scared of clipping a wing on high pines.

the ta152 owned the tempest supposedly in every manuever, flat turn, roll, climb, speed, everything.

IIRC the tempest pilot was a good stick, some veteran with a bunch of kills, but got caught.

just ym thoughts

[Karnak]

When I fly the Spit XIV I do fly it like a super Spit IX, which is correct.  The problem is most people fly the Spit IX like an A6M, which is incorrect.  Both the Spit IX and Spit XIV are E fighters and should be flown in a manner that takes advantage of the climb rate and E retention.

That said, I die in it nearly every time.  My oponents seem to be ver timid once I start to gain angles on them and typically just use their superior speed to dive to the deck and run.  If the Spit XIV follows it is as good as dead because once you are at low alt in a contested sector your icon pretty much ensures you will be mobbed until dead.  Spit XIV is too slow.

[GRUNHERZ]

Spit 14 is the most dynamic fighter in AH.

[Nashwan]

in a book on LW fighters i have at home (written by americans i believe) there is an account of a ta152 in a dogfight with a tempest (yeha i know not a spit 14)

the fight was at tree top level, both pilots were scared of clipping a wing on high pines.

the ta152 owned the tempest supposedly in every manuever, flat turn, roll, climb, speed, everything.

IIRC the tempest pilot was a good stick, some veteran with a bunch of kills, but got caught.

Never heard of that one.

The only account of a Tempest/Ta 152 fight I know is Willi Reschke's.

Reschke and two others were scrambled to intercept a couple of Tempests straffing trains.

Reschke and his two wingmen dived on the Tempests. One of the Tempest pilots, Short, claimed to have fired on one of the Ta 152s, which crashed. The German aaccounts say the crash had nothing to do with the Tempest, but was pilot error/mechanical failure.

The 2 surviving Ta 152s attacked the Tempests. Reschke, (27 kills), got involved in a turning fight with Owen Mitchell in one of the Tempests. I believe Mitchell was an instructor, who had only begun combat flying 2 months earlier.

Reschke's account:

So now it was two against two as the ground level dogfight began. We knew the Tempest to be a very fast fighter, used by the British to chase and shoot down our V-1's/ But here, in a fight which was never to climb above 50 metres, speed would not play a big part. The machines ability to turn would be all important.

Pulling ever-tighter turns I got closer and closer to the Tempest, never once feeling I was even approaching the limit of the Ta's capabilities. And in order to keep out of my sights the Tempest pilot was being forced to take increasingly dangerous evasive action. When he flicked over onto the opposite wing I knew his last attempt to turn inside me had failed.

The first burst of fire from my Ta-152 caught the Tempest in the tail and rear fuselage. The enemy aircraft shuddered noticeably and, probably as an instinctive reaction, the Tempest pilot immediately yoked into a starboard turn, giving me an even greater advantage.

Now there was no escape for the Tempest. I pressed my gun buttons a second time, but after a few rounds my weapons fell silent, and despite all my efforts to clear them, refused to fire another shot. I can no longer remember just who and what I didn't curse. But fortunately the Tempest pilot did not recognise my predicament as he'd already taken hits.

Instead he continued desperately to twist and turn and I positioned myself so that I was always just within his field of vision. Eventually - inevitably he stalled. The Tempest's left wing dropped and he crashed into the woods immediately below us."

[B17Skull12]

Widewing, Wilbuz ist de 152 Masta!

[Urchin]

Yea, the Spit 14 pretty much IS a super Spit 9, its just people tend to fly the Spit 9 more as a angles fighter than an energy fighter.  The Spit 9 is one of the best (if not the best) energy fighters in the game.

[Glasses]

I have the answer Kurt Tank built the 152 and  the spit he didn't.