So, after presenting the idea of popularity + k/d ENY and seeing it roundly rejected, I investigated ways to rank aircraft by performance. The idea is to come up with some kind of objective way to assign each aircraft a number that reflects a wide cross section of various performance statistics. 442w30 encouraged my efforts and allowed me to borrow his scheme and tinker with it as I saw fit (thank you).
To assign a rank for a peformance stat, e.g. speed, you take the individual aircraft's performance stat, subtract that average for all aircraft, and then divide by the standard deviation. This is called the Zscore:
Zscore = (
x-avg)/stdv
The result is generally a number between -2 and +2, and anything higher or lower is extreme. For example, for top speed at sea level the La-7's zscore is 1.58, while the A6M2's is -2.05.
These are the performance categories:
Top speed at sea level
Best speed at <10k ft (altitude varies by aircraft)
Best speed at >10k ft (altitude varies by aircraft)
Climbrate at sea level
Climbrate at 10k ft
Climbrate at 15k ft
Maximum sustained turn rate (flap use depends on aircraft)
Minimum turn radius without flaps
Minimum turn radius with full flaps
Primary weapon lethality
Secondary weapon lethality
Primary weapon firing time
Secondary weapon firing time
Primary weapon ballistics (meters/sec)
Secondary weapon ballistics
Combat flight time (no drop tanks)
Ordinance capacity
Roll rate at 200mph
Roll rate at 300mph
Roll rate at 400mph
Cockpit visibility (from
http://www.jcsautomation.com/AH_View_Planes.asp)
Dive acceleration (from 150mph to 400mph using auto-speed)
Energy retention (cutting the engine at 400mph level flight, measuring time to 150mph)
Level acceleration 200-300mph
To emphasize or minimize the impact of certain categories, they are all assigned a modifier, like .25 or 2.5, depending on their degree of importance (these numbers are debatable). With 24 categories, all modifiers added together equal 24, and then the average of the modified Zscores is that aircraft's rank. After lots of tinkering and adjusting, these are the modifiers I have assigned and below you will see the results:
2.5 Top speed at sea level
1.5 Best speed at <10k ft (altitude varies by aircraft)
.25 Best speed at >10k ft (altitude varies by aircraft)
1.5 Climbrate at sea level
1.0 Climbrate at 10k ft
.25 Climbrate at 15k ft
1.5 Maximum sustained turn rate (flap use depends on aircraft)
.75 Minimum turn radius without flaps
.75 Minimum turn radius with full flaps
1.75 Primary weapon lethality
1.75 Secondary weapon lethality
.25 Primary weapon firing time
.25 Secondary weapon firing time
1.25 Primary weapon ballistics (meters/sec)
1.25 Secondary weapon ballistics
1.0 Combat flight time (no drop tanks)
.25 Ordinance capacity
.25 Roll rate at 200mph
.75 Roll rate at 300mph
1.25 Roll rate at 400mph
.5 Cockpit visibility (from
http://www.jcsautomation.com/AH_View_Planes.asp)
1.0 Dive acceleration (from 150mph to 400mph using auto-speed)
1.0 Energy retention (cutting the engine at 400mph level flight, measuring time to 150mph)
1.5 Level acceleration 200-300mph
Some of the results are surprising, like the low score of the N1K. If I were to emphasize its positive traits and minimize its negative traits with the modifiers, aircraft like the P-51D and 190D-9 would be very low on the list and the Spitfire XVI would be at the top. This is to say that these numbers simply reflect performance on paper and do not reflect how aircraft are used in the arena. The Hurricane IIC is more effective than its score reflects because people love to furball, and it scavenges on the aircraft the fast ones force to turn. Likewise, the P-47N is very high on the list even though it is rarely used as a fighter in the arena: its roll rate at 400mph is tied for #1 with the P-38L, it has good firepower with high ballistics, it's fast and has a long loiter-time over a combat area; yet few people find the fighting style that makes use of its strong points worth pursuing.
The one statistic I wish I had, but which is difficult to measure, is durability. If someone knows of a good way to test aircraft durability, please let me know. Taking account of it would bump the Spitfires down a bit, but the XVI, XIV and VIII would still rank among the top aircraft.
