Need some help... looking for the best

[calan]

Greetings all...

I'm working on my plane summary spreadsheet (see comparisons post), and need your help.

What would you consider to be the best AH plane in each of the following categories? (I know it is subjective... just looking for a generalized opinion).

I'm assuming a "typical" AH A-A combat load, at low/mid alt since this is where most fights happen it seems. Feel free to provide info for the best at each alt (low/mid/high) if you'd like  .

1. Roll Rate
2. Acceleration
3. Deceleration
4. Climb Rate
5. Low-Speed Turn
6. High-Speed Turn
7. Diving Ability
8. Top Speed
9. Fuel Range
10. Weapon Power
11. Weapon Ballistics
12. Survivability
13. Energy Retention
14. Cockpit Visibility

I would like to get a consensus, and then use these planes as the baseline for comparing other planes to them in each category. Just a little pet project   .

Thanks in advance for any help!

Calan

[SAS_KID]

dude just fly them all:D  or try netaces.net or something like that.

[Hoarach]

A lot of those go the the 262, 163, and temp.

[Angus]

1. 190A, no doubt.
2. ?...109 maybe?
3. Hurricane
4. in AH, 109...probably the G14 or K on WEP, apart from jets.
5. A6M2, followed by A6M5, then Hurry I, not counting D3A or Kate
6. Dunno
7. What do you mean?
8. 262, - or 163 if you count it.
9. P51
10. 190, 109 w. gondies, Tempest, 110, ....errr.
11. Tempest, well put it as late Hispano or .50 cal.
12. Should be P47
13. Maybe Tempest?
14. P51D


just my coins....

[Bombardy]

You won't find a single plane that excels in all the the areas you mentioned, but here are some good choices:


1. Roll Rate - FW190A8
2. Acceleration - LA7
3. Deceleration - LA7
4. Climb Rate - Bf 109 K4
5. Low-Speed Turn - A6M or Ki-61
6. High-Speed Turn - Spit9
7. Diving Ability - F4U variants or Typhoon
8. Top Speed - LA7 down low or P51 or P47N up high
9. Fuel Range - P51 or F4U-1
10. Weapon Power - LA7 or Typhoon or FW190A8
11. Weapon Ballistics - Typhoon for cannons - P47 for MG
12. Survivability  - F4U variants are good, as is P47
13. Energy Retention - F4U is excelent as is FW190A8 and D9
14. Cockpit Visibility - P51 & Typhoon

The items you listed aren't really all that helpful though:
for instance, #12 (survivability) while a big fighter like the P47 can take more hits and fly home, a small fighter like the BF 109F is much harder to hit and I would say has a betterchance of getting out of a fight alive

if you are new to AH, start off flying the typhoon or the LA7 until you get a feel for air combat then move to spit16, then whenyou want to improve your accuracy move to the 109 that have limited vis and limited armament and try those to hone your skills

[68slayr]

I think u should get out there and play.  Figure it out on ur own.  I don't agree on some of those answers.  Find out witch plane works out for u.  U won't find a plane that has fits in all those rolls.  Pick a plane for each task.

[calan]

Bombardy,Angus... thanks.. exactly what I'm looking for.

Let me mention that I definitely am flying (and mostly dying  ) with all the planes in AH as often as possible, and I'm also studying all the excellent info at netaces and other sites.

I'm not relying on these numbers for anything other than a little experiment I'm running with a couple of friends of mine. The idea is to gather as much simplified input as possible from experienced AH pilots, and see how it averages out.

Depending on how much input we get (and how the data pans out), we maybuild a very simple plane recommendation page for absolute beginners, based on the collected data and targeted at helping the newb jump into a plane that basically has the attributes they want to focus on first.

Again...  please don't read too much into this or think that I'm trying to invent a magic button for picking a plane  .  It's just a fun experiment!

Thanks again for any and all help!

Calan

[calan]

Originally posted by Bombardy
...

The items you listed aren't really all that helpful though:
for instance, #12 (survivability) while a big fighter like the P47 can take more hits and fly home, a small fighter like the BF 109F is much harder to hit and I would say has a betterchance of getting out of a fight alive

I understand Bombardy. I'm thinking of Survivability simply as the ability of the plane to take lead and keep on flying.

But now that you mention it, I should add another attribute called "Target Size" or something like that.

Excellent feedback... please keep it coming!

Once I get the benchmarks, I'll figure out how to bribe you veterans into ranking one or two of your favorite planes against the these  

Calan

[calan]

A couple more points...

"Diving Ability" refers to the plane's resistance to control compression in a high-speed dive. I just couldn't think of a better way of labeling it.

Also, please use the actual plane designators if you can, to help with our limited knowledge of common names.

Tks again!

[Bombardy]

Keep in mind :  An experianced can up just about any plane and come back with kills, and inexperianced pilot can up any plane and get shot out of the sky while some planes do have advantages in the areas you mentioned, it's the pilots ability to use the plane to it's advantages and maximise the disadvantages of the enemy plane that will decide who wins -

If you are new, the #1 skill to work on is gunnery -  a good pilot is still a dead one if they can't make the shots they get work

Arial gunnery is a difficult skill to learn - and it takes time. The 4 cannons on the typhoon have a nice veliocity and the typhoon has nice characteristics and makes a good fighter - get good flying this and shooting in this plane and you can move on to others -

again - I would concetrate on gunnery first, once you get decent at that start selecting planes based on the kind of flying you want to do

[38ruk]

i think for gunnery a p38 is prolly the easiest to hit with , mossie , 110 . stuff with centerline guns. Taking convergence out of the equation helps alot.

[Debonair]

Originally posted by calan
I understand Bombardy. I'm thinking of Survivability simply as the ability of the plane to take lead and keep on flying.

But now that you mention it, I should add another attribute called "Target Size" or something like that.

Excellent feedback... please keep it coming!

Once I get the benchmarks, I'll figure out how to bribe you veterans into ranking one or two of your favorite planes against the these  

Calan

look out, they're giving you bad info to feed their never ending & unscrupulous quest for pwnage

[SMIDSY]

for cockpit visability and acceleration you have to go with the Yak. climb rate goes without a shadow of a doubt to the Me163. but im sure thats not what you need so i would say late-model 109s.

[Widewing]

Originally posted by Bombardy
You won't find a single plane that excels in all the the areas you mentioned, but here are some good choices:


1. Roll Rate - FW190A8
2. Acceleration - LA7
3. Deceleration - LA7
4. Climb Rate - Bf 109 K4
5. Low-Speed Turn - A6M or Ki-61
6. High-Speed Turn - Spit9
7. Diving Ability - F4U variants or Typhoon
8. Top Speed - LA7 down low or P51 or P47N up high
9. Fuel Range - P51 or F4U-1
10. Weapon Power - LA7 or Typhoon or FW190A8
11. Weapon Ballistics - Typhoon for cannons - P47 for MG
12. Survivability  - F4U variants are good, as is P47
13. Energy Retention - F4U is excelent as is FW190A8 and D9
14. Cockpit Visibility - P51 & Typhoon
 

I suspect this is based upon experiences, not actual testing. Here's the facts from actual testing done and some subjective opinions as well.

1. Roll rateL: 190A-5 rolls a bit faster than the A-8.
2. Acceleration: Tempest by a significant margin
3. Deceleration: Any F4U... just dump the gear below 400 mph.
4. Climb rate; Spitfire Mk.XVI climbs to 10k faster than the 109K-4.
5. Low speed turn: A6M2, with the Hurri Mk.I next. Ki-61 isn't even close.
6. High speed turn: The F4U-4 is amazing...
7. Diving ability: Fw 190s, F4Us, P-47s... it's a toss-up.
8. Top Speed: Tempest on deck (about 385 mph) P-47N up high (476 mph).
9. Fuel range: P-47N 30% greater range than 2nd place P-51.
10. Weapon power: Fw 190A-8, Bf 110G-2, or any fighter with 4 hispanos.
11. Weapons Ballistics: .50 cal BMGs and Hispanos. P-38 for long range shots.
12. Survivability: P-47, F6F-5, FM-2 and the 190As and F. All flying tanks.
13 Energy retention: Somewhat subjective. 190s, P-51, Spits and F4U-4
14. Cockpit visibility: Subjective, but P-51 is my choice with late Jugs next.

My regards,

Widewing

[SMIDSY]

but widewing, you forget about that metal plate behind you that limits pilot visability in those fighters.