The Camp of the La7

[GScholz]

At 200 yards the Hispano V shell would use 24 hundreds of a second to reach the target. The B-20 shell would use 25.3 hundreds of a second.

[TBolt A-10]

Originally posted by simshell
the LA7 is a monster

but i think what keeps it from being perked is its very short range with no drop tanks   and no jabo abilty

Actually, I think that HTC just doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that they screwed up by not perking the La-7 in the first place.  The plane is Uber & should cost money (AT LEAST 25 perks).

[Shane]

why don't all of you la-7 whiners fly one exclusively for a camp. I expect you to at a minimum, double these fighter stats: k/s, k/h. i will laugh when your hit % drops. before you whine about k/h, rmember it's such a short legged rocket your rtb time will be minimal. not even gonna bother with k/d as k/s will be the indicator of the la-7's "uberness," no?

this will accomplish 1 of 2 things.

1. get it perked.
2. show you it's not as "uber" as you think. no one questions it's a very good plane, but it's not all that.

one other thing will also be evidenced - that fact that many of you are not gonna be able to handle the la-7 in the way you think.

[TBolt A-10]

Originally posted by Shane
why don't all of you la-7 whiners fly one exclusively for a camp. I expect you to at a minimum, double these fighter stats: k/s, k/h. i will laugh when your hit % drops. before you whine about k/h, rmember it's such a short legged rocket your rtb time will be minimal. not even gonna bother with k/d as k/s will be the indicator of the la-7's "uberness," no?

this will accomplish 1 of 2 things.

1. get it perked.
2. show you it's not as "uber" as you think. no one questions it's a very good plane, but it's not all that.

one other thing will also be evidenced - that fact that many of you are not gonna be able to handle the la-7 in the way you think.

I'm willing to take the challenge throughout September, if everyone else here is.  I, alone, will not prove anything.

(I'd better get used to my new joystick pretty quickly here, but I will not use new joystick as an excuse.  either the La7 is Uber or it's not)

Are we doing this or not?!?

[Sable]

If you perk the La-7 though, can you really justify not perking the P-51D?  Because I honestly don't think the La is THAT much better as a pure fighter.  And when you consider the pony's much better fuel endurance, jabo capability, and performance above 10k, which is really the better MA ride? If you perk the La, there will probably be a lot of new P-51 drivers, not to mention the tons of use it gets already.  So do you perk it next?

And then what about the Dora, G10, Typhoon, P-51B etc?  Is it time to look at Kweassa's NPA again?

[GScholz]

The only problem I have in the La-7 is that it is too fast for its own good. I have to force myself to throttle back in fights lest that big engine will just rocket me out of the furball.

Also watch out for the blackouts ... they come really easy in the Lala. And I have a real problem of being overconfident in this plane.

Got a Tempest today ... he later got me though, so I'm 1:1 vs Temps in the La-7. Turnfought an F6F at treetop altitude also ... completely owned him even if he dropped flaps on me.

[GScholz]

I'd take an MA filled with Ponies rather than one filled with Lalas. The Ponies are rather easy kills.

[Dead Man Flying]

I'd take an MA full of La-7s over one filled with P-51s any day of the week.  I find La-7s much, much easier to kill.

It's an overconfidence thing typically.  I find that La-7s take the bait on sucker moves more frequently than P-51s.  The plane often gives the false impression that you can escape from any kind of screwup, so players fly it more aggressively.

-- Todd/Leviathn

[Karnak]

Originally posted by Sable
and performance above 10k,

Why is so much importance placed on performance at altitude in AH?  In WWII a lot of fighting happened at high altitudes, but in AH it is the rare exception.  I'll take performance at low and mid altitudes over high altitudes any day in AH.

And the La-7 is better than the P-51D up to at least 15k and maybe 20k.

[tce2506]

Slapshot,
    Barrel length will affect both speed(muzzel velocity) and accuracy. Take the .44 Magnum for example:

210Gr bullet:
           4 inch barrel: 1180 Fps*
           20 Inch barrel: 1760 Fps*
                    (*from Remington ballistic tables)

The longer barrel allows more powder to burn and also allows more stabilization of the bullet improving accuracy. So you were right on both accounts!!

As for the 20mm, I know the 20mm Hispano is a 20x110mm round, but I'm not sure what the other 20mm is, the difference in bullet weight and barrel length could make for much different bullet trajectories.

[Bubbaj6]

The LA-7 is not the uber plane to end all planes and has many, many weaknesses.  It is not a very good stall fighter, it does not roll faster than its propeller turns, it does does turn a complete circle on a dime, and there are a LOT of planes that can simply dive away from it.   Also, the common sentiment seen here is that "newbs" fly it all the time.  So if a newb is in a plane with many weaknesses why is it that is feared so much?

The one thing the LA-7 is quite good at is neuturing BNZ and cherry picking.  After a few passes (assuming the other plane does not "extend" for a sector or two) the fight can be on a more or less even footing.

Is that why people hate this plane so much?  Is it because the LA-7 is the plane that most often ruins a long streak of someone's "superior tactics" of BNZ'ing with no risk to themselves or a "hard-fought and won" batch of cherry-picks?

[GScholz]

The La-7 does 410 mph at 20k. That's not stellar performance, but definitivly not bad.

[Karnak]

Bubbaj6,
OK, what do you think is a better fighter than the La-7?

The P-51D?
The Fw190D-9?
The Typhoon Mk Ib?
The Bf109G-10?
The Yak-9U?
The N1K2-J?
The Spitfire Mk IX?
The A6M5b?

Every one of those has more weaknesses than the La-7.  Frankly the things you listed were not weaknesses, they just weren't strengths.  That is how distorting the La-7 is.  The La-7 has one actual weakness so far as I can tell and that is fuel endurance.  Many things on it are superlative and others such as the ballistics and visibility are merely normal.

La-7:
Speed: Excellent
Acceleration/Climb: Excellent
Roll Rate: Above Average
Turning: Good
Zoom Climb: Very Good
Altitude Performance: Above Average
Fuel Range: Poor
Firepower: Good
Gun Ballistics: Average
Pilot View: Average
Ordanace: Poor

[Sable]

Originally posted by Karnak
Why is so much importance placed on performance at altitude in AH?  In WWII a lot of fighting happened at high altitudes, but in AH it is the rare exception.  I'll take performance at low and mid altitudes over high altitudes any day in AH.

And the La-7 is better than the P-51D up to at least 15k and maybe 20k.

Well according to the performance links on netaces the P-51 is faster above about 8000 feet, and rate of climb is about equal at that altitude.

Obviously performance at higher altitudes isn't as important in the MA, but there are still plenty of times when you fight someone at 15-20k.   Especially on maps with high altitude fields.  And if you choose to, you can always start your fights from that altitude.

Like I was saying above, when only considering it's abilities as a pure fighter in the MA, the La-7 is the best of the non-perked planes.  But it's not THAT much better then many of the others, and it falls down in some other areas compared to the other late war rides (jabo, fuel, altitude performance).

[SlapShot]

Is that why people hate this plane so much? Is it because the LA-7 is the plane that most often ruins a long streak of someone's "superior tactics" of BNZ'ing with no risk to themselves or a "hard-fought and won" batch of cherry-picks?

BINGO !!! ... give the man a cigar !!!