Author Topic: working on A-20 (Read 1265 times)

humble · « **on:** October 27, 2004, 11:02:38 AM »

Decided to start working on the A-20 a bit...got into a decent 1 vs 1 with a yak...actually got 400 out on his 6 but couldnt convert...eventully worked down to a vertical endgame on the deck and I snagged a wingtip. Learned I really dont want to fight in the vertical:D ....

Curious what the "book" is on the A-20 as a dogfighter...all help/tips/comments appreciated.

Ghosth · « **Reply #1 on:** October 27, 2004, 11:28:20 AM »

The A20 once empty of ordance is ideal at field suppression, or vulching. It carry's enough mg ammo to continue to be a threat. However it is never going to turn well enough to be a good one on one dogfighter.

While it has good speed for a bomber its slower than most of the late war planeset.

It is dangerous in good hands, but does best with 1 or more advantages.

Its nose mounted mg's are almost as good as the P38's. Not a good plane to get into a HO against.

humble · « **Reply #2 on:** October 27, 2004, 11:51:18 AM »

hehe...

Rod367 tried to HO me in a nikki...we both poofed but it was a moral victory:)...

Seems like the same "formula" for the tony...basically your gonna win by forcing disparity in E and generating overshoots. A-20 simply doesnt have the visability & "nimbleness" to capitalize very easily. Most guys will be viewing you as a sheep when your thinking like a wolf. Guess its a trade off of using the toughness to survive some "grazing fire" vs dangling the tail and the aggresive evasives I need to use elsewhere. Simply need to get em to bleed E enough so I can keep in the "cone of fire" long enough to ding em up....

Soda · « **Reply #3 on:** October 27, 2004, 12:09:57 PM »

It also packs a lot of mass that it can carry in a zoom. I seem to remember someone testing it and found it to be one of the best zoomers. I know I caught a F4U-4 a few weeks back in a vertical zoom with an A20. Those nose mounted guns made the end quick for him.

humble · « **Reply #4 on:** October 27, 2004, 12:32:12 PM »

Thats how I got on the yak originally, I was over him and roped him up and he rolled out early. I followed him down and then in the zoom and caught up with him, he broke it back down and I got to 400 on the dive but didnt hit...I broke it off since he was in ack field of large base by then...probably should of followed himn on in and thru...anyway he broke back to me and we ended up in a looping fight...couldnt pull quite enough lead and switched to lad but then caught a wing trying to reverse and cut angles as I bottomed out....

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #5 on:** October 27, 2004, 03:38:33 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ghosth
The A20 once empty of ordance is ideal at field suppression, or vulching. It carry's enough mg ammo to continue to be a threat. However it is never going to turn well enough to be a good one on one dogfighter.

While it has good speed for a bomber its slower than most of the late war planeset.

It is dangerous in good hands, but does best with 1 or more advantages.

Its nose mounted mg's are almost as good as the P38's. Not a good plane to get into a HO against.

I've flown the A-20 for a tour as nothing but a fighter and I have to disagree that it is not a capable 1v1 fighter. With one notch of flaps it will pretty much out turn any fighter in the game with the exception of the Zero/Zeke. It will out turn both the N1K2 and the Spitfire Mk IX in a flat turn.

It is also rather decent in the vertical and has an amazing dive capability. If you take it in the vertical, the best maneuvers to use are stuff like Yo-Yos. Just stay away from vertical zoom climbs since the A-20 does bleed E rather fast when in a vertical zoom climb. You also need to take some care in a dive too since the A-20 does accelerate nicely and can gain way too much speed if you're not careful. Never pull more than 3Gs in a pull out or risk ripping off some parts of your plane.

Its nose mounted guns are deadly enough to split the enemy plane in two with one burst.

ack-ack

cobia38 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 28, 2004, 05:28:58 PM »

I used to fly nothing but p38 for fist 2 1/2 years of playing AH
then i got bored with it and switched to the A20 have been flying it for more then 6 months now and love it. I usually take of with50% fuel 2 500 pounders (drop them on runway)who needs them,and go on fighter sweeps its great fun.Guys that used to spank me in n1k,s/spits/yaks ect. while flying the 38 i now find myself spanking them in a A20

under 5,000 ft alt parts start to come off if you break 400 mp in a dive.so be carefull

but the higher your alt. above 5,000 the higher the safe speed becomes.

use manual trim to your advantage,stay away from combat trim.

set convergence to 650 on all 6 nose guns

w.e.p. does not last long so use it wisely

but just like everything else the more you fly it the better you will get it is alot of fun and does take a different style to fly
have fun with it,if you ever want to wing up let me know.

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #7 on:** October 28, 2004, 08:43:28 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by cobia38

set convergence to 650 on all 6 nose guns

No need to set convergence on nose mounted guns.

ack-ack

cobia38 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 28, 2004, 11:53:51 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ack-Ack
No need to set convergence on nose mounted guns.

ack-ack

convergence is not just horizontel but allso vertical now with patch 11

humble · « **Reply #9 on:** October 29, 2004, 11:31:50 AM »

I'd love to fly a few hops with you but your always the wrong color:)

.....

Still having a tough time with the site picture, cant seem to hit much yet....gonna fly it in the jabo role next tour and then fighter sweep it once the ord is gone...once I get another 10-20 hops under my belt I'll film a few clips for critique...

MOSQ · « **Reply #10 on:** October 29, 2004, 11:47:40 AM »

Do any of you dogfight the A-20 in F3 mode?

The few times I've tried to dogfight it in F1 mode I hate the views. I lose track of the enemy, and death then comes quickly.

I've played around a bit with F3, mostly in IL2s and JU87s in ground attacks. I find it difficult to not have the instruments to let me know if I have enough speed for a particular manouver.

I think it could be possible to get OK in F3 if you can learn to estimate your speed accurately.

Thanks.

icemaw · « **Reply #11 on:** October 30, 2004, 03:29:49 PM »

A20's are easy to kill in a dogfight just make them climb. Not zoom but climb any fighter in the set will out climb it. Also not like I am an expert or anything but the USAAF training film on zenos says our a20 is not performing correctly. According to the film an a20 is NOT fully aerobatic and any bank past X ammount will take the wings off. And you can forget about loops and such.

Soda · « **Reply #12 on:** October 31, 2004, 08:56:20 AM »

I don't think the thread was about how to kill A20's but certainly you can exploit them in their roll rate. Most people just try and turn with them, which can be trouble, but if you get them into a climbing fight and use your superior roll rate (basically every aircraft is superior) then you can beat them easily.

cobia38 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 31, 2004, 12:40:42 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by icemaw
A20's are easy to kill in a dogfight just make them climb. Not zoom but climb any fighter in the set will out climb it.

a light A20 will outclimb 3/4 of the planeset in here,and will hang
on a prop almost as good as good as niki/a6m

Like all other planes are modeled 100% corectly....yeh right !!

Also not like I am an expert or anything but the USAAF training film on zenos says our a20 is not performing correctly. According to the film an a20 is NOT fully aerobatic and any bank past X ammount will take the wings off. And you can forget about loops and such.