I definately notice a change Grits, because I rarely fly A-5s. I'm a mediocre pilot with sucky aim, so I'm one of those dweebs take up the 30mm package on the A-8 and spray snapshots to get any kind of kills.
I was doing a test run in the MA, and took up a Fw190A-8 from a field with high enemy activity nearby. What I didn't realize, was that the field was being vulched by a single La-7.
I just took off, gears up, dropped DTs, fuel still 100%.. and a La-7 passes right in front of me at high speed. I looked around to see if field defenses were up. Nope, no acks, no AA GVs.
I was forced to fight this La-7 immediately after take off. Ofcourse, since the La-7 was already so faster than me, it wasn't too difficult to move out of the way and force an overshoot once.
But the thing is, I'm no ace pilot, and that one overshoot is usually all I can manage in a situation like this. I'd wait for the right moment, and roll 180 degrees sharply and pull out of the way hard. After I do that, with such low speed and low alt, there is no alt trade off into speed.. and that's where usually these La-7s or P-51s would slow down and latch behind me. They are still a bit faster than me, but the 190 I am in would struggle so hard to even attempt to turn, and would usually be blasted out of the sky.
Well, as it turns out, this with this new Fw190A-8 I was able to coax it into a stall fight which I could not do before. Attempt a barrel roll or a wing-over at speeds near 200mph, and soon it would usually start that 'wobbling' which is very difficult to control with a twisty stick like mine. But not this time, in the new Fw190A-8.
It almost felt as if I was in a low-speed P-47 - it'd feel heavy, but it's still stable and easy to control.. only, it didn't turn as good as the P-47. But nevertheless, I could still maneuver without worrying about those damned destabilization.
I was very impressed.
