Yea.. today i tried the F4U-1A and the F6F like Zazen mentioned i should..
I likeed the F6F a little more.. a lot more to tell the truth.. like he said.. has a lot of fire power. my first time up with it.. sucked.. but i took a lot of hits, which suprised me cuz i would never been able to take so many hits with the spitfire 16. and the second time up.. got 2kills and 1 asssists. and i landed (doesnt happen to often ) and i still had a LOT of firepower left.. so i liked it and went at it again.. didnt do to bad.. i took it out 6times and got 4kills and 2 assissts.. not bad for a starter. not bad at all i thought..
doesnt turn like the spitfire16. it feels a lot heavier.. and it is. but man can i take some hits, and live to tell the story.
so my next question is.. since i felt it harder to turn.. and heavy. whats the best way to get out of a bad situation.. like someone on my 6.. is it going up.. down. or turn fight?
and thanks zazen.. im pretty happy and having fun with the F6F
No probelm sir, glad to be of some help.
Unlike the Spit, the F6F has tremendously useful maneuvering flaps. If you're in deep poo with a bandit closing on your six, turn sharply one direction, not a flat turn, but oblique (some horizontal and some vertical component), drop a notch or two of flaps then swing back the other way hard and look for Mr. Bandit, he's probably not on your six any more. Raise the flaps back up and either try to escape or glue to his arse and hammer away. This is called forcing an overshoot, if you're going slowly you may even be able to drop a notch of flaps before the first break-turn. The faster the enemy is closing on you the better, the greater the speed differential when you do this the more likely he is not going to be able to dump enough E to stay there and will fly right by you.
To quote "Top Gun"..."Hang-on Goose, I'm going to slam on the breaks and watch him fly right by!..."-Maverick (Tom Cruise)
Since you like the F6F, there's a few things you should know other than what I've already told you.
1) It holds its E really well which is a double edged sword. It's harder to "dump it" (slow down) but after a dive it takes a long time to slow back down to cruising speed often allowing you to chase down or escape from other, normally faster planes.
2) It's a really heavy bird so can get sluggish in turns especially if you don't use the flaps, get in the habit of throwing a notch of flaps out if you're doing a lot of sustained turning, just remember to pull it back in when you stop turning. The other part of being heavy is inertia. All heavy planes tend to zoom climb well due to their mass increasing inertia. So, after a dive on someone lower you can gradually pull your nose back up above the horizon toward the vertical then zoom back up before your energy dissipates. The F6F zoom climbs better than lighter planes.
3) To make use of the great visibility adjust your views with page-up, especially the normal front view, this way you're able to practice a lot of different varieties of deflection shots you wouldn't even be able to see otherwise. Just pick one of the complex looking crosshairs so you can have another reference point for aiming since you won't be able to see the boresight.
4) As mentioned the F6F is already pretty heavy, so you don't want to exacerbate that with a larger than necessary fuel load. Try to get a feel for how much fuel you need for flights and only pack what you think you'll need. I would recommend packing 50% gas but bring Drop tanks that you will drop at the first sign of trouble as your default load.
If you need any help Im sure one of our trainers would love to show you some things online. I am glad you are enjoying AH and the F6F.