Author Topic: P38 Question (Read 2072 times)

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #15 on:** December 21, 2004, 07:59:35 PM »

LOL!

ack-ack

streetstang · « **Reply #16 on:** December 22, 2004, 07:06:19 AM »

Fighting in the P38 isn't fun unless your full flaps and hanging on the props with everthing you got.

mechanic · « **Reply #17 on:** December 22, 2004, 07:36:53 AM »

dropping flaps, gear and dive flaps is only a no brainer against a decent stick.

more often than not in the Ma people fly at FFT(full F-in throttle) and if they are coming in fast, or even sitting D200 off your 6 you stand more chance of losing a higher performing plane by doing this than most other tricks.

although the gear is a dead give away.

oh, but dont try this in a jug against shane. he isnt quite that dumb.

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #18 on:** December 22, 2004, 07:47:59 PM »

When I'm on the six of a P-38 and they have full flaps deployed and I see the gears come down, I know it's only matter of a few seconds before I blow his tail off. *hint* don't drop gears in a P-38, it's not needed.

ack-ack

Murdr · « **Reply #19 on:** December 23, 2004, 11:39:49 PM »

With the extra drag that can be produced by the fowler flaps and the redundant rudder, there's no need for gear dropping. The only rare case Ive dropped gear in combat is when Ive stalled over the top on some bonehead intent on a HO shot who mistakenly thinks Ill come screaming back down at them.

mechanic · « **Reply #20 on:** December 23, 2004, 11:55:16 PM »

thanks for the tips, i have recently discovered in the jug40 that lowering the gear hardly reduces the airspeed at all. and obviously its a dead give away.

Soda · « **Reply #21 on:** December 24, 2004, 09:21:45 AM »

In most cases dropping the gear is a really bad idea but it depends on the situation. Most aircraft once you drop the gear you telegraph your maneuver which is bad because the enemy will know exactly what to do. You also have to remember that getting the gear out is an sub-200mph thing on most aircraft, speeds which offer little maneuver potential so are pretty desperate. Good cross-control of rudder/ailerons can get a P-38 to almost stop in the air.

-Soda

IronDog · « **Reply #22 on:** December 29, 2004, 10:57:48 PM »

I have to disagree about the ammo load not making a difference in flight performance.I have always taken the light load,I read this thread,and knowing ack ack is good P38 pilot,I thought i'd try full load a few times.I managed to spin out more times in a couple of sorties than I care to think about.Back to light load for me.
IronDog

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #23 on:** December 30, 2004, 01:45:21 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by IronDog
I have to disagree about the ammo load not making a difference in flight performance.I have always taken the light load,I read this thread,and knowing ack ack is good P38 pilot,I thought i'd try full load a few times.I managed to spin out more times in a couple of sorties than I care to think about.Back to light load for me.
IronDog

It's not the ammo load that is making you spin.

ack-ack

Schutt · « **Reply #24 on:** December 30, 2004, 02:53:43 AM »

I checked in TA.

Light ammo load gives 100fpm more climb and 2-3 mph lower stall speed.
So yes it makes a diffrence... about as much as a quarter tank of fuel or so.

But, if akak says it makes no diffrence when fighting with it, then i beleave that. Say it makes a diffrence to the flight characteristic but that diffrence is not significant for fighting?

I did not measure if there is a change in nimbleness, acceleration or rollrate... i have no idea how to measure that.

ciao schutt

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #25 on:** December 30, 2004, 04:45:13 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Schutt
I checked in TA.

Light ammo load gives 100fpm more climb and 2-3 mph lower stall speed.
So yes it makes a diffrence... about as much as a quarter tank of fuel or so.

But, if akak says it makes no diffrence when fighting with it, then i beleave that. Say it makes a diffrence to the flight characteristic but that diffrence is not significant for fighting?

I did not measure if there is a change in nimbleness, acceleration or rollrate... i have no idea how to measure that.

ciao schutt

I flew a tour with nothing but the light ammo load to see what gains can be had. During that time the only thing that I noticed was that I would sometimes run out of ammo before my tanks were half dry. It didn't give me any advantage in maneuverability and no appreciable difference between taking the full or half ammo load. Taking half ammo load is not going to give you the edge in a dogfight but as with all things, YMMV.

ack-ack

IronDog · « **Reply #26 on:** December 31, 2004, 09:17:31 AM »

tried 500 rds per gun again,flew lil more carefully,5 kill hop, 2 kills with fiftys only,I was wrong.there I said it.
IronDog

MaddogJoe · « **Reply #27 on:** December 31, 2004, 09:32:17 AM »

AKAK, got a question for you, and Murdr and any other 38 pilot that may want to chime in...

On flap useage. I think I may be running them out at the "wrong" times. On the boards you have said that if you roll out the flaps at the wrong times you can get stuck in the air instead of the nose rolling down nice and clean and quick. Can you guys give some timing markers about when to hit each flap? I know it goes a lot by "feel" but if you can get us rookies in the ballpark, maybe we can find the bases

I use your stick config AKAK, and at first thought it was way too soft, but now that I'm getting use to it I find I'm better at holding my "E". So I have the maneuvers down, working on getting the flaps down, still got alot of work to do in the "aim" department (glad AH2 has all those farms, now I got barns I can finally hit!), and have gotten over 1000 kills in the 38. I figure in another year or so I might be good ! LOL!! Thanks for all the help guys, keep it coming!

killnu · « **Reply #28 on:** December 31, 2004, 07:48:45 PM »

i fly with small ammo load for fighter sorties and large for attack sorties. if you run out of ammo with small load, usually means time to go home anyways, otherwise your left trying to get kill with those 50 cals. not saying not possible, but...ive had those last 1000 50cal rounds give me 2 kills, or a lot more, but its not worth it. ive stuck around with just 50cals to get my arse handed to me, because a shot that wouldve kilt the nme (if i had 20mm) didnt kill the nme, and they ended up gettting me.

but. like mentioned before, its all in what you like and your preference.

Soda · « **Reply #29 on:** January 01, 2005, 10:07:40 AM »

I tend to fly with the heavy loadout if doing attack or where I think I'll be encountering bombers or such that take more hits to bring down. I go light if I'm just doing some quick fighter stuff as even the light load is enough for 4-5 kills as long as you take decent shots and not spray around a lot. The difference in performance is marginal, my tests only showed a couple 100ft/min in climb though to some that may be important. I think the main problem with the heavy ammo load is due to people thinking they have to hang around until it's all gone though, new players seem to have that problem. They get used to being in a plane where they run out of ammo sooner, typically at a point where they should leave anyway, where in the P38 they try and hang around until they run out of ammo and usually run out of E/position long before that and don't make it back to base.

Just my opinion though. Four .50's is lots for fighter kills, especially with that tight nose package... I can still make those D600 shots with theh P-38 with the new gunnery model, something I can't do with other aircraft with wing mounted guns.