Thought that this might be worth throwing up here for those interested. I spent a bit of time flying the A-20 in the LWA last night. Normally from 108 to 110 on the map in question. While some attention was being paid to a VB en route most enemy activity was headed to a contested base away from my approach. This allowed me to normally arrive at a flight level of 12k or so with some measure of altitude superiority. Given the weight of the A-20 the problem here is actually scrubbing momentum not keeping E. Obviously each fight the A-20 E state does wear down over time but a few players complained in some form about it. So.....
E state is not a function of speed alone. A lot of variables come into play but E=MC2 will give U a basic idea of the true energy each plane has at a given speed. As an example a 400 mph TAS 20,000 lb A-20 has an "E state" as measured in Joules of roughly 648MM. A 9,000 lb Nikki at the same speed has a total of 291.6MM Joules. Now if we drop the A-20's speed to 350 TAS we find that it still has over 490MM Joules....
Now a lot of factors come into play and Murder/WW or some of the other trainers might want to elaborate or correct this but the reality is that your not going to climb up into a heavier plane with a lot of success vs a situationally aware pilot. Further if you have engaged and "dove out" thinking that you can just go up once you get some separation is not always true. Using the reference above a 400 mph nikki the pulls to the vertical will get run down by a 350 mph A-20....especially if the A-20 driver unloads the airframe and the nikki driver pulls even low G's in the zoom.
Now the flip side is in the low speed on the deck fight.
At 130 TAS a 20,000 lb A-20 has 68.4MM joules, a 9000 fighter has 30.8MM. At 170 the 9,000 fighter has 52.7MM Joules ....less then the 130 mph A-20 which has 117MM at 170 (for reference). So a 150 mph fighter "chasing" a 130 mph A-20 in a flat turn in energy deficient as it relates to zoom even though he is faster. Now if the A-20 is using the verticals (high/low yoyo) to drop down and then back up and gets to 170 he can easily pop up into a zoom climb that gives only a fleeting (if any) guns solution to the fighter.
Drag, sustained power and a lot more come into play but its important to understand the difference between speed and E state when engaged with a dissimilar plane.
