Wednesday evening in the TA presented a terrific opportunity to fly with and compete against some of the better pilots in Aces High.
Present were Infensus, Murdr, Nomak, Creton, TC, Ghosth, Soulyss and Qatr.
There were also some less well known, but very capable MA regulars who stopped in to work on getting some time in specific aircraft.
When I logged off for the evening, I think that everyone had been flying Bf 109s, mostly the F-4 model, but Creton and Infensus were dueling in G-2s for a while. All were in agreement that the 109F-4 was one seriously fun ride now.
Let me state at the outset that since the 2.07 update, the Bf 109F-4 has become one of the more remarkable fighters in the plane set. But, I’ll get into that a bit later.
Bingo73 and I met to work on flying the F4Us. After flying around for a short time, the one thing I noticed was that Bingo73 wasn’t aware of how effective the F4U’s rudder is when flying at low speed, just above stall. After about five minutes of demonstration and discussion, Bingo was doing some of the nicest rudder reversals I’ve seen. A full flaps, nose-high rudder reversal is one of the slickest maneuvers you will ever see. Moreover, it’s a devastating maneuver when done well with proper timing.
While Bingo was flying an F4U-1, I grabbed a 109F-4. He pulled up close on my 6 o’clock and we entered a left-hand turn (a lufberry). We both fed out flaps until fully down. Around and around we went. While the F4U-1 is a remarkable turner (easily a match for the Spit16 or Spit8), the 109F-4 was able to pull around on the F4U’s six in just 4 full revolutions. Needless to say, this was quite startling to see. However, it did confirm what I had come to believe; that the 109F-4 is now among the best turning fighters in AH2.
Previous experiences suggested that the 109F could hang with the Spitfire Mk.V in a flat turning contest. Indeed, inasmuch as the 109F has a marked climb advantage over the SpitV, it would gain a clear edge by simply going nose-high and the Spitfire could not match it. Likewise, I found that the 109F could handle the Niki well enough. Only below 100 mph did the Niki have an edge, and that resulted from its ability to keep the nose a tiny bit higher than the 109F. Moreover, it takes an extremely good pilot to recognize that and then be able to capitalize on it
As more and more pilots tried the newly uber 109F, we found ourselves in a giant lufberry consisting of 109F-4s, F4Us, a Hurricane IIC and a Seafire. Well now, I realized that this was a great opportunity to compare turn performance against some very good turn fighters. As we circled around, Ghosth entered the circle in a Seafire, right behind me. Just about four and one half revolutions later, I was behind the Seafire and was able to maintain a tighter circle. Ditto for the Hurricane IIC, which was only a bit better than the Seafire, but still notably inferior to the 109F in steady-state turn rate, but with the turn radius being similar.
Some tips for flying the 109F-4 since the 2.07 update.
Unlike the P-38s, combat trim actually improves the stability of the 109F during low-speed maneuvering. However, be prepared to trim manually when flying at high speed, because the elevators stiffen considerably above 450 mph. For high-speed work, set the elevator trim at least 1/3 up from the bottom of the scale.
The 109F-4 turns better to the left than to the right at low speeds (torque and P factor effect)
Like most aircraft, the 109F has poor aileron authority at low speed, so use the rudder to speed up roll in either direction.
Without a gondola option, the 109F has limited firepower. Therefore, get in as close as possible to maximize what firepower it does possess.
Use of flaps is required to out-turn the Spitfire V and Seafire. Nonetheless, be careful not to overuse the flaps as the 109F-4 offers only average acceleration.
Like the other 109s, the F model tends to lose rudder authority when applying right rudder just above stall, this appears to be the result of modeling prop wash impinging on the rudder. Pull off power a bit and push the nose down to get some authority back, but do not reduce power so much as to induce a snap-stall. This takes some practice to master.
Like any other aircraft, the place to learn its limits and capabilities is the TA, not the MA. So, set aside some time to practice against adversaries who cannot shoot you down before venturing into the MA.
My regards,
Widewing
