One thing I'll say about the Yak3 is that it's generated more "buzz" than any other plane added to the set since I can remember.
Too bad there's no solid data available for the single seater Me 410. That'd be P-38/MossVI-ish flight performance with 2xMK103 and 2xMG151/20
I fly other fighters a lot, but fly the 38 the most. I think that gives me a good perspective.
I don't think the 38 is the hardest plane to learn, but I think you're understating the time you need to be proficient in it. It does many things well but nothing really outstanding. That leads a noob to get 'stuck' during a fight. Ask me how I know. Also, the sheer size of the 38 usually means when you do get stuck and make a mistake, the other guy isn't likely to miss. You don't realize how much this matters until you go back to a smaller fighter, make a similar mistake, and the guy misses. I can usually get by with more mistakes in smaller fighters.
*Edit - I think that's one of the reasons I've had such fun in the Yak3. It's like going from driving a 1 ton dually pickup to a two seater sports car.
Ok, and I'm saying this as someone who's consistently (8+years) flown one of those ridiculously handicapped BnZ planes in TnB fights: the 38 is a piece of cake (
no torque, very good roll authority at high speed, outstanding zoom, fowlers, nose guns, "laser" ballistics, plenty of ammo, airbrakes (yes, fractions of a second difference in who slows down faster is life/death in knife fight)) once you get used to the weak rudder, very thin departure margin and (compared to most other planes) how peculiarly responsive the nose is (almost undoubtedly THE plane to demonstrate joystick/rudder potentiometers' "not good enough" granularity).
You only get paid back for efforts once you reach a relatively high floor of piloting skill, but once you do the pay back is huge. Again I'm saying this as someone who sweated stall fights in the Ta 152 and spent ridiculous amount of hours in front of a video game trying to connect 400-600y MK108 deflections. "Finding" your aim with the 38's nose 50s means utterly ridiculous frenzy of hit sprites on targets within 600, regardless how extreme the deflections. Nevermind relatively static targets out to 800.
The 38 does a lot of things well enough to kill in lots of different ways, but it doesn't have very many (if any) 'crutch' attributes that the pilot can count on to pull him out of a jam.
No torque + fowlers, centerline 4x50, great acceleration from standstill. If that doesn't make a difference then you don't know how to fly/fight.
a healthy dose of mistake forgiveness. The 38 just doesn't have that. If you make the wrong move or don't execute fast enough, you're a large floating target that can barely dive away from a Hurricane.
From a Hurricane?