Been flying Axis vs Allied for two days - and I admit it's been the most fun I've had in AH for months. Flying in the MA with a lot of people is fun. But all the hangar busting... chasing around 380mph deck planes.. knocking out buffs 2k above ground... gets just lame sometimes.
The year is still early in the war in the AvA. The Battle of Britain is raging.. and the planes are perfectly matched up. However, I seem to notice a small tendency that usually at equal numbers, the RAF are a bit hard-pressed.
So, for anybody new to the AvA arena, the Battle of Britain, here's a bit of a tip to help you out..
1. Pilot Quality
Without false praise, I dare say the general quality of the pilots is higher in the Luftwaffe this setup. Some excellent dedicated 109 pilots are flying there. There is no shame in acknowledging a great enemy - the Luftwaffe a higher number of skilled pilots.
There is a number of reasons for this. Like mentioned many of the Axis pilots in the current AvA year (1940, is it?), are dedicated Luftwaffe pilots. They are very much used to the plane they are flying. On the other hand, for a bit obvious reason, most of the "light users" seem to prefer the RAF - which usually brings out a problem in pilot quality. Not necessarily the flying skill itself, but rather, a general "discipline" seems to be lacking.
RAF pilots, try to move in a group, and fight as a group... and even more importantly, retreat as a group. The English Channel is very narrow. You don't have enough time to fight alone, shoot down many enemies, and return alone.
Contact each other a lot. Check-6s are a must give.
2. Get out of the "MA-Spit" mindset
While the Spitfire MkIa does outturn the E-4, it does not as handily outturn it as in the latter models. The Bf109E-4, in this timeline, under right hands, can literally hang with a Spitfire easily in the turns. Not to mention that they have cannons. They have the ability to take quick snapshots as kills, but the RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes need a continuous barrage of 30calibre machine guns.
This is where the problem starts. Since the Spitfire is such an excellent plane, it is so often that the enemy 109E is just out of your grasp. You follow him in turns, land a few pings, but don't see the results. This makes you even more determined, as you feel you are inches away from victory.
However, this is when the Luftwaffe strikes hard. They've got cannons. They've got the climb. They've got the dive. Your "Spit mentality"urges you to follow every 109 you meet down to the deck, and duke it out.... but as soon as you are down low, enemy reinforcements will arrive.
Remember, your Spitfires don't have the Hispano cannons yet. You can't get quick kills as you'd desire. If a 109 escapes down low, and you are engaged in a dead-lock combat, the chances are it may take a very long time to land enough shots to finally shoot him down. It is at that moment the higher 109s will come down and strike at you.
Resist the urge. Keep a close eye on radar readings, and prepare yourselves for the next wave, instead of get killed over a single kill every wave. Fly the Spitfires like a 109 - being able to turn better, doesn't mean you have to show that off every time you meet an enemy.
Alt is your friend, target fixation is your enemy.
3. Firing discipline
It seems to me generally the RAF pilots are lacking in firing discipline. In the MA I'm used to flying the 109s with 30mm cannons, so flying upto 100yards distance, and maneuvering/shooting at that distance comes quite natural to me. I don't have a spectacular hit rate, but it works.
But in AvA, I've seen quite a few RAF pilots who just simply fire from way too long a distance. The BoB we are flying in, have perfectly matched planes in everyway, and usually the combat ranges are very small compared to the latter day planes. Shooting and killing is achieved at 200 yards or less. The further the range grows, the less effective your gunnery - and having 30cal guns wing mounted certainly doesn't help.
Set the convergence to 250 yards. Resist the MA-Spit urge. Keep on maneuvering, and when you see that one chance, close range, enemy plane right up at your nose, then you pull the trigger - a powerful, long burst at a distance where your enemy cannot maneuver away.
Anything other than that, will merely cause but a pilot wound, or a punctured radiator on the 109s and 110s... all of which will draw you into a long chase, where you will be ambushed and hunted down.
Maneuver, land your shots, if the enemy doesn't go down as you planned, and is going into an escaping dive, don't follow him.
4. 110s aren't easy
Despite the historical outcome, 110s are not easy planes. The reason the 110s were having bad times in the historical BoB was that they were confined to close-escort duties and deprived of much needed freedom of combat. However, our AvA 110s do not have such restrictions. When a skillful pilot uses the 110s with enough altitude and speed advantage, they are the terrors of the skies, working in close cohesion with the E-4s,
often employed to the task of finishing up a plane which the E-4 set up nicely.
Do not take them as easy kills. Do not go Head-On with them. In many cases the 110s could actually be more dangerous than the E-4s flying around, since quite often a very skilled pilot may be flying it.
5. Fighting the E-4s
The 109E-4 and the SpitI is an almost perfect match. The 109 climbs better, dives better, and has greater firepower. The SpitI is faster, and maneuvers better.
A typical move the 109 pilots will use, when being chased by a Spitfire, is the 0G dive. They push the controls to put the plane into a dive at 0 gravity, a state which a Spitfire or a Hurricane cannot follow due to its carburetor problems. If there is plenty of altitude below both of you, then the Spitfire or the Hurricane may utilize a slight roll to bank the plane, so that you can push positive Gs to go into a dive, instead of negative Gs.
The negative G problem, in some cases, could actually be used as an advantaged when can be controlled wisely. After all, it can be used as an instant air-brake to cause an overshoot.
However, one thing to avoid is being too harsh in controls, and going into bad reversals or stalls - at which state the plane will be put under prolonged state of negative Gs, which will bleed your speed too much.
Overall, contrary to what usually happens in the MA, in the Battle of Britain timeline, here in AvA, it is the Spitfires and Hurricanes that need even more teamwork than the 109s or 110s. The largest problem need to be overcome is the lack of firepower causing a prolonged chase. If your shots alone cannot do it, you always have your friends nearby who can put some more bullets in it.
