How do you fly an LA effectively?

[bongaroo]

I find the Japanese Ho-5 fairly inaccurate compaired to the English Hispanos.  I need to get in closer to deliver effective killing blows in the Ki84.  The Ki61 with the same cannons nose mounted seems much more lethal.  Wish the 84 had the same gun setup as the 61, that would be an awesome fighter.

[VonMessa]

Originally posted by RedTop
Ho...Run.....

Or.......


HO, get damaged and bail

or... (drum roll please) my favorite.....

insert rag into fuel tank, ignite

Makes for fabulous campfire sing-alongs.

[Tilt]

Originally posted by Viking
The B-20 20mm cannon used on the 3-gun La-7 is probably the best 20mm of the war. Perhaps not on a gun-by-gun basis, but on a firepower per lbs.
 

Fire power / gun weight it was obviously seen as very efficient................ on paper.

The B20 was plagued with problems of poor service life and unreliability............

The 3 cannon prototype La7  armament was based around the B20 yet it took another year before production line  3 cannon versions were coming out of Tbilisi and even then the cannon had to be stripped and re furbished (or scrapped) after minimal use compared to all other gun/cannon variants in use by the VVS.

[Viking]

That's strange Tilt, because from what I can find the Improved B-20 which entered service in 1945 was considered more reliable than the ShVAK it replaced. It also served as a defensive gun in post-war bombers until the Russians standardized on the 23 mm cartridge for that role. The Berezin B-20 was in production until 1949.

[RedTop]

Originally posted by VonMessa
Or.......


HO, get damaged and bail

or... (drum roll please) my favorite.....

insert rag into fuel tank, ignite

Makes for fabulous campfire sing-alongs.

[angelsandair]

in any LA, be aware of the planes you're up against, if its anything like some, in fact almost any American plane, chances are you can out-maneuver it, dont try to turn into spit-9s and spit-16s i really dont run into much more than that

[Tilt]

Originally posted by Viking
That's strange Tilt, because from what I can find the Improved B-20 which entered service in 1945  

Its really about when in 45 the B20 was finally considered improved.........

The design i think went back to 43 and was designed into the La7 in early 44 yet not even released for production in the La7 until February 45 still incurring problems during the last months of the GPW which were overcome by typically stripping the guns off and replacing/refurbishing every 2nd sortie. (generalisation)

I dont know much about the B20 after May 45.

[Tumor]

Originally posted by Ghastly
How do you fly an LA effectively?

Strap on your favorite panties and take off.  

Tumor

[VonMessa]

Originally posted by Tumor
Strap on your favorite panties and take off.  

Tumor

WORD

[B@tfinkV]

Originally posted by DamnedRen


I don't normally fly em but I did happen to get 181 kills in them last tour. I guess they fly ok.

 

who wants to see a recent film of a 3 on 1 where i was the 1 ?  

Ren is in the 3 and he is flying an La7.  

oh my sides hurt it was too funny.

[LancerVT]

Originally posted by B@tfinkV
who wants to see a recent film of a 3 on 1 where i was the 1 ?  

Ren is in the 3 and he is flying an La7.  

oh my sides hurt it was too funny.

I do, Bat

[humble]

I've got 169 kills in an A-20:)...of course I died in it 91 times to do that.

The reality is that the plane is a small part of the overall equation. The real question is in how the pilot employs the plane in question. The La-7 gives you a greater opportunity to engage and disengage at will...so you can either take greater risks or survive bigger miscalculations.

A pilot who flys late model planes in a "smart" manner can easily compile good numbers regardless of actual ACM skills. The same sort of numbers can be achieved in a "lesser" ride if its flown in more optimal circumstances. It is very difficult to fly "for numbers" under less then optimum conditions in any plane.

I'm quite capable of running up pretty good K/D numbers when I'm in the mood...but the reality is that overall my numbers in a la-7 are little different then my #'s in an A-20 or a P-51 or a Ki-61...

[Krusty]

"A pilot who flys late model planes in a "smart" manner can easily compile good numbers regardless of actual ACM skills."

True, but a select few planes modeled in this game allow the same to be said for pilots that fly stupid. I'm not a great pilot. I'm decent, but far from the best. I'm sloppy, I get myself killed seemingly nonstop, and put myself into REALLY bad situations where I get shot down.

I'm sure you all (71 Sqn) remember the time I decided to take up LAs for one tour, exclusively? I got to 125 kills and 25 deaths, most in the LA7, a handful in the LA5 (including a death or two). In one week. I just got sick of it. After one week I quit my "one full tour in nothing but LAs" plan because it was boring as hell.

I was dogfighting, chasing runners, mixing it up low in the middle of huge furballs, chasing bombers, you name it. Across the board it gave me a 5:1 kill ratio, and I'm NOT the best person to use as an example!

Few planes in this game fly like that, and this is one of them. Regardless of skill, the LA7 truly is an "easy mode" plane, and nobody can deny.

How do you best fly it? Turn the engine on and it goes forward. Other than that, *ANY* style of flying you choose to use with this plane will work. Same as with the Spit16, IMO. Point it, it goes there, shoot, it kills, only the LA is notably faster so it can run away or chase runners.


EDIT: 25 deaths, not 5, stupid keyboard

[B@tfinkV]

Originally posted by LancerVT
I do, Bat

one is enough for me


Gangbang film

at times i thought he was just out of ammo and trying to RTB....but no, he was waiting for the perfect time to cherry pick.....and still missed!

at 4:50 into the film i lost an aileron for no apparent reason. no body was shooting and nobody had guns on me. anyone know what that is all about?

[Tilt]

Originally posted by B@tfinkV
at 4:50 into the film i lost an aileron for no apparent reason. no body was shooting and nobody had guns on me. anyone know what that is all about?

If you consider lag then Zebra's plane would have been further forward and yours further back on his FE......he had guns on you for a shot.

the film does not seem to record his shot but maybe he had tracer off (i'm not going to watch it again)

However if you watch the film from rens perspective you see the hit sprite ...it was only one sprite so i assume that the aeleron was also hit when the two others had made a pass on you earlier.

Nice to watch your throttle work. Thanks