How much lead to use? Well it depends.
First it depends on what your weapons are. The .50 cal guns have a very straight trajectory and don't drop very much. Some of the cannons with slower muzzle velocities drop much faster. Practice firing level at 1 G and you will see how the bullets drop. Now every G you pull above that is going to increase the amount of lead you need. Once you are pulling a few G's, the bullets will be falling well below your line of vision, making it very difficult to aim. The only way to really figure out how much lead to use, is to practice. Make sure your convergence is pretty close if you are trying these shots, I'd go between 200 and 300 yards at least. Then it's just down to paying attention to how many G's you are pulling and seeing how much lead you require. Fire short bursts and watch for hit sparkles (which you can see through your cockpit unfortunately) to tell you when you've got it right.
The bottom line is that a high-G tracking shot is very difficult to make, and not what I would call a "high percentage" shot for most of us. I'll normally try a different type of shot if I can because they are easier to connect with and give me a better chance at a kill. When you are pulling lead for a shot you are normally burning E, so you want to make that shot count since if you don't, you have given up some of your advantage to the bad guy.
Instead of taking a high-G tracking shot, you can drop into lag or pure pursuit (assuming you are close enough to be at convergence anyway) and wait for the bogey to present you with a better shot. This is a gamble of course, and will depend on the plane match up to some degree. I can't wait for a shot very long in my Jug vs. an F4U in a turning battle, since it's just better than my plane in almost every area so I may not get another one. However, if I am in a Zeke and turning with a Spit IX, I know I can out-turn him in the long run, so I can afford to be patient for a while and take a good shot. It also depends on my E state, as if I have an E advantage, I can use lag pursuit to maintain it and wait for a really good shot opportunity to burn that extra E for lead and a good killshot. This is how folks get "out turned" by a plane that does not turn as well. The plane with the poorer sustained turn performance can often manage an energy advantage and patienty maintain it, then burn it in seconds using instantaneos turn rate for the lead required to make the kill shot.
Now the second option, is I can change what type of shot I take. I can go for a snapshot instead of a tracking shot. Now a snapshot will normally mean a shorter burst of fire on the target, so you need a plane with decent guns to make this work well. What I do is instead of tracking with the bogey, I'll turn early and aim at a point where I think he will be going. I then fly straight at that point at between 0 and 1 G, and when he gets close I open up. The idea is to put bullets in his path, and let him fly through the stream. By doing this I have taken the extra G out of my shot, so I have a good view of the target and I can predict much more accurately where my fire is going to go. As a guy that flies a BnZ plane, the P47, I use this shot quite a bit against better turning planes. It's the only shot I get against a Zeke.
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Lephturn - Chief Trainer
A member of The Flying Pigs
http://www.flyingpigs.com "A pig is a jolly companion, Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt --
A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale, Though mountains may topple and tilt.
When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you, When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig,
Though you may be thrown over by Tabby and Rover, You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
You'll never go wrong with a pig!" -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"
[This message has been edited by Lephturn (edited 01-22-2001).]
