Why is the Yak-9U so underestimated?

[Noir]

the yak gun package isn't that bad...last night I landed 5 lancaster kills for example. Someone compared the gun package with an early zero but thats not exact, the Yak9u got 2x its firing time with a better 20mm, and has dual 50cals which isn't something to underestimate.

Good speed, and if you know how to play with the throttle a late spit won't shake you. Also the yak wings never come off, its important if you get into an heavy furball. A problem is that the pilot is exposed and a pilot wound/kill is quite frequent.

As gixer said its well adapted to MA because you always have the edge on something against nmy cons, like speed against spits, tun rate at low speed against pony, verticals against F4U...109's and La's are troublesome thougt.

Another great 20 eny plane is the spit9.

[SuBWaYCH]

Yak-9U would be (as someone pointed out earlier in the thread) much more used if it had 2 cannons and more ammunition.

Very deadly aircraft in the right hands. Brilliant high speed control. It is what I would call a "mans" plane. You need skill to fly it right.

That 1 cannon is quite deadly close in. Takes maybe 10 rounds from it to send a plane spiraling to its death, and the UBS machine guns are not to bad either.

One of the sexiest aircraft of the war easily as well.

[Bruv119]

Put another cannon and 400 rounds of ammo and half the spit drivers would be flying yaks.

Very true!  I know I would   

[Ghosth]

The answer to the turn is to not try to turn with them.
Combination of lag pursuit, let them wear themselves out, run out of alt, E and ideas then slip in and kill.

The other is nose low roll moves to roll inside their turn. Yak roll is very good at moderate speeds.
If you do it right and anticipate where they are heading you can end 150 - 250 back with a good snapshot.


Once you knock parts off they don't turn so good. 

As for kills per sortie, get closer, use fewer rounds, don't miss.

[BoilerDown]

The answer to the turn is to not try to turn with them.
Combination of lag pursuit, let them wear themselves out, run out of alt, E and ideas then slip in and kill.

The other is nose low roll moves to roll inside their turn. Yak roll is very good at moderate speeds.
If you do it right and anticipate where they are heading you can end 150 - 250 back with a good snapshot.


Once you knock parts off they don't turn so good. 

As for kills per sortie, get closer, use fewer rounds, don't miss.

That would work great if I weren't sure they'll eventually reverse and kill me lol.  So I start shooting around 400 out and expend half my ammo to get the kill 

The poor firepower of the 9U makes a lot of overshoot tactics that are suicide against other planes a decent risk against this Yak (not the 9T tho).

But most of that has already been discussed, one thing I forgot to mention in my earlier posts in this thread is the absolutely fantastic views in the Yak 9U.  The bubble canopy of the P51 is famous for being great, but its even better in the Yak, with no rear seat even partially in the way.  The only blindspots are in the front windshield and they aren't very bad at all.  The only downside is poor over the nose viewing, which makes turning shots hard.  I love the Yak's views.

[splitatom]

And what would 30 rounds do?

i normaly run out on my 4th kill and cant kill it with the last of the 12.7

[Steve]

i normaly run out on my 4th kill and cant kill it with the last of the 12.7

3+ kills per sortie is pretty darned good.

[dkff49]

3+ kills per sortie is pretty darned good.

I just got 3 kills on b24's in a Yak9U tonight.

Of course I put rounds into each of them and flamed a wing in one. After I left him alone due to engine giving out in, he decided to bail and give me the kills. 

I should not laugh though he did give a salute afterwards. 

I would agree though 3+ kills in a Yak is very good. I think I have only ever done it legit 1 or 2 times (this means no bomb and bail kills).

[BoilerDown]

I just want to say on Saturday I got two P51s in one 19 round cannon burst  .  They were both on the tail of a friendly 800 in front of me, I was on the tail of one of them 300 in front me, and when the second dove in right next to the first, I just fired figuring I had double the odds of hitting one of them, never figured on both lol.  I'm going to turn on that auto-film thing now  .  That was fun... and funny.

[iTunes]

When i see a yak, I normally start thinking in terms of going up, rather than down, I think you take them down then chances are your a dead man really quick, but if keep on dragging them up then inmho, the survival chances are better as they don't like getting up too high. This is when I'm in a 109 for example, overall though, a great little plane, really fun to fly

[Anaxogoras]

When i see a yak, I normally start thinking in terms of going up, rather than down, I think you take them down then chances are your a dead man really quick, but if keep on dragging them up then inmho, the survival chances are better as they don't like getting up too high. This is when I'm in a 109 for example, overall though, a great little plane, really fun to fly

The Yak-9U does just fine up high.  In fact, the Yak-9U does 400mph+ up to 24k ft.  It's the La-5/7 that doesn't do well at altitude.

[iTunes]

The Yak-9U does just fine up high.  In fact, the Yak-9U does 400mph+ up to 24k ft.  It's the La-5/7 that doesn't do well at altitude.

Not questioning the yaks ability up high, rather I'm saying that when in a 109 I'll take the yak high as the 109 does better up high than the yak. (K4 I'm talking about)
just so this doesn't go of topic and end up as a 109 V yak thread....
Once again, I'm not questioning the Yaks ability up high, but rather what I do when I'm in a K4 against a Yak...

[Anaxogoras]

Ah, yes, the 109K.  When I'm in a 109G I treat Yaks with a huge amount of respect.

[druski85]

Many complain about the single 20 mm, but I love it.  If there were more cannons, I feel as though you may get more muzzle flash (see LA 5, 7) which is tough when you are firing in such bursts, or snap shots. (as I prefer)  The weapons package is more than enough to knock anything out of the sky with the quickness.  Combine a 20mm with a couple tightly clustered 12.7's, and you've got an easy 3-6 kills/flight. 

I used to fly the 9u as my main ride, but have lately been switching things up a bit.  Can't seem to get her to turn like I used to.  Anyway, still a great bird well worth using if you are working on gunnery. 

[Jing0]

Ive recently fallen in love with the yak9t....theres something about vaporising f4s with one shot that I really enjoy  I dont think its easy to fly and im not always very succesful in it, but i do like to fly it every now and then as a change from my hurricane.  As far as i can tell its pretty quick and turns and rolls quite well, I usualy play in the DA these days and it seems to stand up quite well to the horde of f4s and spits and zeros u see in there.  And there arent too many planes where u can land 5 kills having only fired 7 shots.....

Sure it has only 32 cannon rounds, but I suspect people more used to american iron with thousands of rounds on hand tend to have developed bad habits with it.  I see a lot of people spraying at d1k (with convergence at 300   )  which u cant afford to do in a yak. It teaches u to shoot straighter, cos u gotta make every round count! Wait till the sucker fills your view, and youll never miss!