I can’t get the film to play past 1:56, it keeps closing the film viewer and offering to send a message to Microsoft. So this isn’t going to be so much of a critique of the film as some pointers for success. I’m also not a jug aficionado, but when I do fly it I use it like an F4U for the most part.
Good spit pilot or not, you can dictate the fight with the P47N, and there’s not much a spit can do about it. He can’t leave, because you’ll just run him down and shoot him. He can’t catch you, because you’re faster. He can’t make you turn, because he can’t force you to do anything. He’s at your mercy, at least until you run out of fuel or a faster bad guy shows up. With your guns, it’s just going to take a tickle at convergence to wreck his day.
That’s all good stuff, but not if you don’t use the advantages you have over the spit. From what I saw, you can improve on a few things, starting with the merge. (Of course these are just my opinions, don’t take them as gospel).
The merge doesn’t need to be a textbook dueling type set-up to be what I would call a merge (bear in mind I’m just some long-haired hippy-type fella who lives by a cornfield, a “redneck” expert at best). I’d call that section about 35 seconds in a merge, more or less. Right before that, you flew a level, flat turn (E-bleeding) to set it up. You also seem to be randomly raising/lowering throttle, with no apparent goal, which is bleeding speed with no purpose. The spit dove into it (building speed, trading alt for speed, and options). You’re flying at “average” or “middle” speeds through the merge. IMO, that’s playing into the spit’s hands. Also notice what he does at about 41 seconds into the film? He immels, which is “normal”, predictable, (and exploitable). He’s doing that because it’s a “good” thing for him to do at that point. Had you followed suit, you’d have died. Also, had you tried a rope at that point (you looked tempted), you’d have died. Had you turned back into him, you’d have died.
Notice what he does next? He doesn’t follow you, but rather turns away. He did that to get you to turn back into him, which you did. He’s trying to sucker you into a tighter turning, slower, fight. He’d love to trick you into a rolling scissors, but isn’t happy about the idea of all your guns behind him, so chooses to turn back into you again, hoping you’ll turn too.
All this, IMO, because you set the fight up poorly. How do you fix it? Start with the merge, and being more cautiously aggressive. Not suicidal aggressive, but aggressive enough to make him respond to you, instead of letting him figure out how to get you to play his game. Start with the merge.
Pre-merge, it’s a good idea to get some serious speed. To do that, you’ll need to dive, and trade alt for speed. The alt is no good all by itself. It’s value is in what it can give you. In this case, it can give you speed. If you’re going to fight, get serious! Dive, and get some speed! Don’t dive excessively, but enough to get some speed! As you merge, if both planes pull immelmanns (go up) the one who‘s lower, is kind of “behind” the higher guy. That’s something you can use! Get into a position to be under his belly at the merge! Next, try to merge “uphill” with him still diving. Looking at the face of a clock, try to avoid merging from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock. Flying from the 8 to the 2 is much better, and I really like 7:30- 1:30. Why? One, by being nose-up, you already have a head-start into the immelmann, while with his nose still down, he has further to go… Next, since you’ve both gathered speed for your merge, you’re both probably too fast to really turn at your best! But, with your nose up, you’re already slowing to be closer to your best turn rate, while he’s still accelerating (nose-down). You now have three tidbits in your favor. You started lower, you got a head start on the immelmann, and you’re at a better speed. If all goes well, you’ll come over the top of your immelmann, with him only a bit past ½ way through his (your guns pointed at his cockpit). A possible shot, but more likely an opportunity for you to roll from inverted to level, and pull for a second immelmann, set up right on his six! If you don’t dive initially for speed pre-merge, you won’t have enough speed to do that! You’ll be slow, but behind him at this point. Kill him quick! Use flaps if you need to, but if you miss, DON’T FOLLOW HIM! Put your nose down, pick up enough speed to extend (to maybe 3K), and do it all again. If you succumb to the urge to follow him, things will probably get bad for you pretty quick. As you get more familiar with the plane you’ll be able to be more aggressive at that point, but it’ll take some time to develop the throttle and flap skills.
Other things to look at here- he may try for an HO while you merge. If he does that, and you’re under him, he has to push forward on the stick (red-out!). That’s a tough shot to make. Also, you don’t have to immel after the merge. An option is to just go straight for about 1000yds, and smoothly pull up into a rope. If he immels and follows you up, he dies. If he immels but doesn’t come up on the rope, you simply get to attack him from above. He may do neither, but instead blow through the merge. You can chase him down, and force him to turn back into you, in which case you try the merge again…
This particular spit pilot may not have been willing to merge like that, but most are. A good pilot knows the game, and is more cautious, but also more aggressive. Against a guy who won’t immel as you merge because you have the better, lower, nose-up position, you may be better off to keep your speed, and let him have the bottom spot for the second merge (try to do it right on the first merge). This may convince him that you’re not as experienced/smart as he thought at first, and convince him to pull a hard immelmann as you go over him. Just fly straight for about 1000-1200 yards, and smoothly pull up into a vertical zoom. He bled E on the immelmann, you didn’t, so you’ll out-zoom him for a rope, or gain a high position on him if he won’t follow the rope.
After the merge, lots can happen. But you’ve got to start somewhere. It’s also going to take time to figure out how fast you want to be, how hard and when to pull the immelmann, and how to judge/base your timing and maneuvers on his plane-type and E-state. ‘Course, it’s fun too!
