How to fly the P-38?

[bahlooo]

Alright,

I'm new at this whole game. I already finished my 2 week trial, but this is a great game, and I intend to subscribe. The thing is, I usually found myself clueless as to what to do in a fight.

I like the P38, and flew it pretty much all the time, but without much success. I could rarely win a turn fight, and didn't have much like in BnZ either. When I tried to run, there was no shortage of planes that could catch me, and when I stayed, most buggers could outturn me.

Now I know it's not the best plane in the arena by a longshot, but what are the advantages and disadvantages of the P-38? I found that it's a good accelerator, and handles nicely at 300+ MPH, but is a sitting duck at low speeds. For BnZ, it seems a little on the slow side, but I imagine can be put to that use well if choosing the right targets? It isn't much of a runner either I don't think, and loves to compress, but that seems avoidable if I'm careful enough.

And the spins are more difficult to recover from than other planes I think.

Any P-38 pilots out there that could give me a few pointers? It'd seem that this would be a rather good plane since AH doesn't really have the problems with engine failures, freezing cockpits, and difficult ejection that plagued the real plane...

[flakbait]

As a note, bailing out of a P-38 was easier than trying the same thing in a conventional fighter. Why? No tailplane to break body parts on.

The only thing I know about flying the P-38 are the spins. Watch your G meter carefully along with your airspeed indicator. If you hear the stall horn just growling you're fine. But pull it hard so it screams and you'll end up spinning. Known bugs that have yet to be fixed. Also keep an eye out for the snap-spin that's been reported. Several guys have suddenly lost control even when in gentile turns and whipped into a spin. Just use normal spin recovery and make sure you fight above 10,000 feet. Down low the P-38 isn't exactly a hot rod, so keep a little air under you.

Dive and Zoom seems to work the best, along with wing-overs and yo-yo's. Don't try turning unless you've got no choice, and don't forget to pop a notch or two of flaps when you do. Run a P-38 the same way most guys run a Bf-109 and you'll be fine. But the experts will have to answer on what they use to get kills. If you're low on speed and have a slight cushoin under your butt, punch WEP and nose her over. She accelerates like a bat outa hell, which means not many can out-run you in a dive. The problem is that a P-38 operates best above 8,000 feet which is where a load of the better aircraft are. Between 8 and 13k you'll see nearly every plane available. Keep an eye out for La-5 and La-7's, along with Fw-190s and Yaks. If they can't out-turn you, they can out-run you. And they've all got cannons.


-----------------------
Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta 6's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High
"For yay did the sky darken, and split open and spew forth fire, and
through the smoke rode the Four Wurgers of the Apocalypse.
And on their canopies was tattooed the number of the Beast, and the
number was 190." Jedi, Verse Five, Capter Two, The Book of Dweeb
   

[This message has been edited by flakbait (edited 03-16-2001).]

[bahlooo]

Oh, I was under the impression that the problem was, well, best shown in the bottom left here:
 http://www.planestuff.com/guarar.html

[Tac]

1) Stay fast (above 220 mph if possible)
2)Dont turn fight
3)Dont engage N1ks unless to HO and run
4)P-38 excels in vertical, use the vertical luke
5)Use 1 or 2 notchs of flaps when slow (below 220mph) and turning. A p-38 will full flaps, wep and low speed and turning will turn with almost anything the krauts have out there (note: Japanese and italian planes will eat you turning though).
6)No Tracers helps a LOT, as it gives no indication that you are firing at a con (most stay level trying to run thinking you aint firing.. ping ping kill!)
7)Depending on what you're doing, make sure you enter combat with 50% fuel. Most P-38 pilots get 50% fuel and 1 drop tank, when entering combat drop the tank and your plane will much sweeter to handle
8)As flakbait said, there are many bugs in the 38 that needs to be fixed *cough*. Remember that deploying flaps when turning or pulling stick will almost always make you spin + you may feel Torque effects after the spin (and after you retract flaps). In such cases dive for home.
9) Always remember your plane is made from paper. Avoid field AAA and buffs. You will be 1 ping killed.

Look out for Ts, Bug322, Darkstar, Animal, Wobble, Moss, Mass, Gr8White, Zigrat, CavemanJ in the MA and fly on their wing, they good P-38 pilots.And myself too (though I suck and i'll be cursing most of the time   )

Good luck.!


[This message has been edited by Tac (edited 03-16-2001).]

[bahlooo]

Thanks for the pointers  

If it isn't too much trouble, do you think you could provide me with a film with some P38 combat? So I can see if I have the right idea going about things?

[TheWobble]

As long as there are no other fighters are around you CAN turnfight the P-51, the P-47 with the 3d, just enguage yer dive flaps.

[funked]

The best P-38 pilot I have seen is Bessy aka Jigster.  If you see him, wing him.  Drex is also a badazz in the 38 when he chooses to fly such an uber plane.

[This message has been edited by funked (edited 03-18-2001).]

[elstevie]

Ummm   ya forgot about central,hes and ubber devil pilot to.

[ispar]

First of all, stay fast. I like to stay above 230-50 mph (I often don't, and when I don't I die). Dive and zoom. The P-38 has an excellent vert performance, so don't hesitate to use the vertical.

If you're forced into a turn fight, you can still come out of it. You just have to be very good.

First, always have at least one notch of flaps down. Second, don't flat turn. Yo-yos are your friends. If you don't have the energy for a high yo-yo, do a low yo-yo. If you have no choice but the flat turn, you're in trouble.

Instead of simply holding a sustained turn, it might be wiser to use the cloverleaf maneuver instead. This consists of several quick turns in a row; take advantage of your excellent instantaneous turn to pull a quick, hard turn, then let up on the stick to recover speed. Then quickly pull into a hard turn again. The idea is that you cut a tighter circle without relying on the poor sustained turn of the Lightning. I don't know how well this really works, but it's worth a try.