38 Pilot Asks,how Do U Get Spit Off Tail?

[Guppy35]

38G driver here and I'm 27 kills vs 14 deaths to the 16 and I suck.  Good pilot in the 16 will eat you up, but the average AH Joe isn't flying the 16 to it's strengths and dies just as easy as anything else.

I tend to be down and dirty in the pack too, and I tend to look for the 16s first, then the LAs, then the N1Ks.

Just don't get too slow too long.  If you do that you die in a 38 now that it's been neutered a bit with the flap bug and the changes last patch.

[Kweassa]

once again, you must be joking? i see no where in that statement about the pilot, just the plane.

later in another post you talk about the pilot.

 That's because most people are similar in skill. 90% of the MA is average guys like me. An average P-38 pilot goes out and meets an average Spitfire pilot who lands smack behind him for some reason. What do you think the odds are for the P-38 in 'shaking' the Spit?

 Answer: zilch.

sorry, but i have shaken better pilots than me, ive also died to them. but to say "you cant shake a spit. thats the simple truth" is BS. one can do, do it frequently.

then its the "inferior pilot" crap. whatever. ive read enough crap on this board talking about "38 is such a big plane", "it doesnt turn", "3000 lb aircraft out manuvered by a smaller lighter bird"....yada yada yada.

 Every dog has his day.

 But given the odds I am pretty confident to say that your 'frequently' shaking off better grade of pilots behind your P-38, is a vastly rare incident than the frequency of those better pilots simply smacking outta the sky whatever you attempt in your P-38. It's just that people don't exactly want to remember these things the way they're supposed to. Not to mention the fact that you yourself is porbably better than most of the pilots in the MA.

 I mean, if the guy behind you is as good as you are, and he is in a better twisty turny plane than yours, and he knows most of your moves you're trying, and he can match them with his own, then under that circumstances how are you supposed to 'shake' him off? By magic?

 I'll tell you how to shake him off - LUCK



ps) Lazer, buzz off. I've got my own version of the story about those three encounters, and they don't exactly agree with yours.

[Lazerr]

mmm righttt

[Murdr]

Ok, I read the first couple posts, and skipped the rest.
Even E 38 vs spit is not the preferable situation, you got to uneven the E one way or the other.  That said, not every spit you run into will have a competent pilot at the stick.  I often at least take a crack at turning with a spit for a few turns to slow us both down, and seek an advantage.  If I dont find one, I strategically disengage and accelerate away.  (last tour 38:5 vs spit16, 8:1 spit9, 8:2 spit8)

Here are 3 from the film library with spits in tow within firing range, 2 I take the low E approach, 1 I use the 38s superior acceleration, and climb while extending to a more favorable alt.
2spits.ahf
film062_000.ahf
woohoo.ahf

[Saxman]

My way of ditching off a Spit latched on my 6  and I can't shake is to either point my nose straight down if I got alt to work with, or pray to god I can evade his shots long enough to either extend or for a friendly to shake him off FOR me.

Try this, Led: One thing I've found useful to an extent against pretty much any Spit while in an F4U-1 (Seafires especially, but I've done it with moderate success against Vs and XVIs, too) is when he tries a flat break out of your guns, (which it seems to me is about the first thing most Spits try) forcing you to either try and turn with him or let him circle in behind you, pull up as soon as he's at the point where you can't stay with him (dunno how it is for a 38, but a Hog has just enough instantaneous turn to hang in for a second or two). Don't commit to an Immelman, but as your nose goes up roll until you pick up his position and then keep rolling with back-stick until you've dropped back down behind him again. I don't know that it's really so much of a true barrel roll, maybe more somewhere in between that and a high-yo. I've not done this much in 1vs1 fights but I've nailed it a couple times in larger furballs, and probably surprised the HELL outta that Spit when I drop back in on his 6. With a P-38, which has a little bit of an edge in the vertical over the early-model Corsairs, I should think that would be even more effective. Roll might give you a bit of trouble in a 38, IIRC, but rudder could help with that.

[bozon]

Originally posted by Kweassa
That's because most people are similar in skill. 90% of the MA is average guys like me. An average P-38 pilot goes out and meets an average Spitfire pilot who lands smack behind him for some reason.
 

That is not true. There's a distribution so nobody is the "average" pilot.

If you put Urchin on my 6 he'll kill me no matter what I fly or what he flies. Urchins are rare. Even a decent but not great player like me can and does manage to reverse spits in a P47 quite often. A good measure of luck is involved too, I agree on that.

If it was only the plane and every outcome set from the word-go, there's wouldn't be much point in playing.

Bozon

[B@tfinkV]

Originally posted by bozon

If it was only the plane and every outcome set from the word-go, there's wouldn't be much point in playing.

so very true.


the answer lies in thought, reaction to a situation, and being just a few steps ahead of the enemy. of course luck is never far from being a deciding factor.


http://www.freeroleentertainment.com/film27.ahf

2 minute film and not what you would expect.

[LEDPIG]

That is one good move Saxman it sounds almost crazy enough that it might work, i'm gonna have to try that. Wish you had some film of that.
Wouldn't mind meeting you in the Ta and tryin that in a safe environment we might be able to increase some of those spit pilots pucker factor out there and make him go oh sh%# for a change.

[Traveler]

Try flying with a wingman.  WWII produced ACES, but not fighter pilots.  The standard order of the day was to avoid one on one engagements.  To stay with the flight elements and work in pairs.  A tatic that is still employed by the USAF today.  I think it's Blessings "No Guts No Glory" that he wrote following WWII and during Korea, that became the training manual for the USAF on fighter tactics.

[LEDPIG]

Ya travelar i'm getting used to the teamwork in the game and learning how to use the radio. It's saved my behind and other guys behinds alot lately, its almost as important as how well you fly. Oh by the way i'm interested in your squadron and will drop by one of the squad nights to see whats goin on Thanks:aok

[mars01]

I usually slash through a fight pick out unsuspecting planes and blow their brains on the dash it's gratifying.

Well just cherrypicking all your time in AH isn't going to get you any better.  You want to learn how to shake a spit, fly one on the deck and see how people beat you in it.

[killnu]

Answer: zilch.

wrong again.  I am average at best and I can shake them in a 38G.  once again, not all the time, but it can be done.  considering my record vs spits(16 mostly), I shake my fair share successfully.

[Urchin]

Then you aren't average at best, huh?  

If you can shake "most" spit 16 pilots, then "most" Spit 16 pilots are significantly worse  than you are.  

One could assume that the distribution of skill in the MA follows a normal distribution, so "most" pilots would be around the mean.  I.E. "most" pilots are "average".  

If you are killing "most" Spit 16 pilots with an inferior plane, you aren't average.

This false modesty **** gets irritating after a while.

[Lazerr]

Quiet, p38 with the right flaps rules, period.

[LePaul]

The only way I shake a Spit16 requires hitting ENTER 3 times then "O".  



Sometimes they come back to shoot my chute tho.  Bastids! KAAAAHHN!