Your thoughts

[Kev367th]

Why does the 16 climb so much better?

XVI is such a good climber because it uses a Merlin designed for low altitudes (i.e. MA alts) rather the Merlins for the F IX or Griffon fitted to the F XIV.
Get a XVI up to the alts an F IX or F XIV was designed for then you'll see a difference.

There were 3 series of Merlins -
Ones designed for low alts eg Merlin 66 fitted to LF's
Ones designed for regular use eg Merlin 61 fitted to F's
Ones designed for high alts eg Merlin 70 fitted to HF's

[shreck]

Spit VIII is better.

By a large margin !

[shreck]

As Anaxogoras pointed out to Eagle, the spit 16 leaves the F4U, 190D9, and jug in the dust in a CO-e CO-alt engagement.

--------------->  <------------         Corsair will easily punk spit16 with equal skill pilots!!

[uptown]

All Spitfire are just...just silly. And should be blown out of the sky first and foremost. If a pilot chooses to fly one his skill is perked already. No need to perk the plane.

[Anaxogoras]

Yeah, I didn't say the Spit16 will always win co e vs the F4u.  I said that if they are co e with the Spitfire behind the F4u, and the F4u executes a zoom climb (as bald says the F4u zooms so much better than the 16), the F4u pilot will find himself in the tower fast.

Btw, Spit16 vs F4u is hardly a clear result with equal pilots.  The F4U-1 pilot is going to get his flaps out and fly at ridiculously low speeds, going vertical at 100mph to shoot at the overshooting Spit, who will repeatedly make firing passes and climb up for another.

[Rich46yo]

Maybe its time to consider perking the 5 eny fighters to balance the arenas.

[uberslet]

I just can't help but feel that a plane that really has no real disadvantage shouldn't be perked and that it isn't unbalancing in some way.  However, I do feel that it's a good idea to have aircraft for beginners like this one.  Either way, I really don't think just looking at kill/death ratios or usage percentages is going to give us an answer.

Sector, i  agree with that hole post, however this last paragraph got me thinking. you mentioned how its good to have a plane like this for beginners, and i strongly agree, however there is no "good fix" for this because if you try to implement a perk value on a spit 16 for someone with a rank lower than say, 1000, people, no matter how good, would try to have a crappy rank just to fly it for free, unless of course they have like 3000 perks and can somehow out dive 262's in it.  sir.

[uberslet]

Maybe its time to consider perking the 5 eny fighters to balance the arenas.

then youd be perking  the nikki, which uness flown well, is pretty much average with other fighters. an F4U will out turn it, it can dive with an F4U, and is just about as fast as an F4U. about the only difference that makes it lethal to an F4U is its 4 cannons, opposed to (except for the C-Hog) 6 .50 caliber MG's. Also, you start perking ALL ENY 5 fighters, and you would sure as hell see the pony as the new ENY 5 cuz itd be just about the easiest to fly if flown well (though many non-5 eny fighters are like that), also, youd have to most likely drop the ENY of other fighters so that people can have their 5 eny planes and still be happy. 

[E25280]

may i ask you a question. the spit 14 is perked for a reason, however, it gets very little fly time each tour. Perk the 16, for just 1 tour, and see how much the percentage use drops, itd still be like 4 or 5 % of sorties is my wager. why is it the spit 14 is never used for the most part, but the spit 16 is so good? tell me that, seem to be in the know on the Spitfire models.

Someone already said that the 14 isn't worth the perk price.  Same would be true of the 16 IMO.

I don't think I said that the 14 should be perked.  I think what I said was that to argue the 16 should be perked and the 14 should not seems strange to me.  The 14 has some advantages over the XVI that I believe make it the better overall aircraft -- but that isn't saying it should be perked.  I'm assuming the "bright line" HTC is using is the 14's speed, and climb ability, which is quite substantial with WEP.

[redman555]

spits a weeny plane, fly P-47D-40


-BigBOBCH

[BaldEagl]

Climbing from cruise speed is not a zoom climb.  Climbing out of full dive speed is a zoom climb.  The planes I mentioned do that much better than a Spit.

Who the h*ll ever heard of the "Cruise and Zoom" manouver?

[ink]

My only real issue with the 16 is really that it is pretty good at... well... everything...

It's one of those aircraft that when it gets behind you, you really have no idea what to do.  Should I dive?  No, not unless we are way up in the sky, it can dive pretty well for a period of time, but then I'll be low on E and he'll just climb back up... waiting for me...  Should I climb?  No, it can out-climb me off WEP, and catch me when on it.  Should I turn?  No, it turns tighter and rolls faster.  Should I chop my throttle and force overshoot?  No, it slows down very fast, not to mention accelerates quickly as well.  Plus with those cannons if I give them even a split second of a gun solution, a wing comes of.  I could try to just out run it!  Ah, wait, no... those Hispanos will get me before I even have a chance to get out of his speed range.

Ah screw it, I'm gonna bail.

In all seriousness, it is truly a challenging aircraft to encounter.  It always steams me a bit when I see a "vet" pilot in it since it seems so... challenge-less...  I've even had moments where I'm cruising 3k-5k above a Spit 16 at 300mph watching him to see what his next move is, just to stare at amazement as he pulls straight up, comes co-alt with me, and accelerates to 300mph all in enough time to gain a gun solution on me with those vicious hispanos.

I just can't help but feel that a plane that really has no real disadvantage shouldn't be perked and that it isn't unbalancing in some way.  However, I do feel that it's a good idea to have aircraft for beginners like this one.  Either way, I really don't think just looking at kill/death ratios or usage percentages is going to give us an answer.

My $0.02.

made me laugh out loud 

[Anaxogoras]

Baldeagl, neither did we say it had to be from cruise speed.

Even at 400mph ias, trying to out zoomclimb a Spit16 is a losing proposition in a F4U, P-47 or P-38.

[Guppy35]

Baldeagl, neither did we say it had to be from cruise speed.

Even at 400mph ias, trying to out zoomclimb a Spit16 is a losing proposition in a F4U, P-47 or P-38.

So turn into him, get on his six and shoot him

[SgtPappy]

Well this is why some of us fly P-38's so much. I personally love the Spitfire.. being a Canuck and all but hey.

With a 38, there's no torque and being able to out-maneuver planes under 80 mph is damn fun and no other plane can really do that.