Originally posted by Ghastly
That's probably a big part of my problem, then - I fly the F4U almost exclusively and it doesn't out-accelerate or out-turn too much of anything in the game, so I tend to rely heavily on staying fast, having alt over my opponents to begin with, and in retaining energy as much as I can - transitioning to lag , breaking high for a vertical turn, or using high yoyo or barrel roll attack if I need to turn more than about 90 degrees to follow my target. I'll try being a lot more aggressive in the engagement when I fly the LA's and see how that goes.
Well Ghastly, it's time I got you into the TA to explore what the F4U can do. In a stall fight, any F4U will out-turn the La-7. I know, you've probably never seen an La-7 that slow..
A good La-7 stick will try to avoid getting slow with flaps out, and try to keep the fight in the vertical. Despite that, he'll need to be a good stick if he meets one of the better F4U drivers who know how to exploit the Corsair's strengths.
Urchin and I flew a few duels with the La-7 and F4U-4, down on the deck. We agreed that these aircraft are a very even match, until speed bleeds down. The slower the fight got, the more the -4 hog began to gain the edge. Thus, the La-7 needs to get a quick kill, before too much E is bled down.
One of the great strengths of the F4Us is their ability to transition from a fast fight to a slow fight absolutely seamlessly. They are comfortable at virtually any speed from 90 mph to 550 mph.
I haven't spent much time in the MA this month (a few hours), but I did see an La-7 that made me chuckle. I spotted a single dot on dar slowly heading to a field. I was in a P-47D-25, so I started climbing. Passing 15k I see a distant, high dot. I kept climbing. At about 18k I see the icon. It's an La-7 6k higher than me. He pushes his nose over and dives towards me. I spiral out of the way and the La-7 blows by. I follow him down, but eased out at 5k while the La-7 went straight into the ground... Guess this fellow didn't know that the La-7 gets a wee bit stiff at speed. He knows now.
As to the La-7 in general....
One of the better La-7 sticks is 2bighorn. We've flown countless duels, but almost never with me in an La-7. I usually fly something else. A while ago, we had an epic brawl that lasted at least 10 minutes. I was flying a 109G-2. My conclusion was that the 109G-2 was at least the equal of the La-7 1v1. It simply handles better at low speeds, but only if you keep maneuvering to the left. Roll or turn right and torque becomes a limiting factor. Go right too often and you hand the advantage to the La-7. Most players will not encounter this as they don't fly for 10 minutes at the absolute limits of the airplanes. However, when the difference is razor thin, you notice where one is better than the other. You notice and remember it for future reference.
Likewise, 2bighorn and I dueled La-7 vs Spit14. Again, this was a very even match, with neither pilot being able to gain enough for a shot. That is, until the Spitfire ran out of WEP. Then, the La-7 held a slight advantage. Enough that 2bighorn eventually was able to get guns on.
Flying duels to measure aircraft performance is usually more entertaining than dueling to measure winkie size. Neither of us ever cared who won, we were more interested in defining the aircraft capabilities. We probably dueled every fighter match-up possible. We've even dueled Ju 88 vs Boston (Boston is far superior). That's one reason why 2bighorn is so good. He knows the absolute limits of every plane in the game. Every duel with him is a white-knuckle experience, no matter how good you are or wished you were.
Now, 2 bighorn is in and out of the game frequently. He changes handles more often than socks. His style is a dead giveaway though.. When he next returns, look him up in the TA or DA (where he spends much of his time) and ask him to show you the finer points of the La-7. He is probably the best La-7 driver that I've seen and a very able teacher to boot.
My regards,
Widewing
