How did the average pilot in RL fly?

[titanic3]

I'm curious, in game, some of the stuff we do would be insane in real life and our gunnery would've been 100x better than those of real life pilots. So then how was the average sortie in WWII?

Watching some gun cams, I would think pilots used probably all their ammo for maybe only 1 or 2 kill if they're lucky. And I assume they retained from getting into turn fights if possible? And the stories of pilots getting into 2min+ dogfights with an opponent would look like an everyday occurrence here in AH wouldn't it? We're the dogfights as extravagance as the ones we see in AH? With extremely heavy rudder and throttle work? Or were they simply trying their best not to stall the plane and flew as timidly as possible?

[Arlo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rQUIWq56iKI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGVQOmo1feg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-eBmnpCO18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfAd7KZoks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPAIXBXxMyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPAIXBXxMyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EEisuZARrU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdJyLx4aqI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EiX4jZs0f4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VWqZSPKUrI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfYf5oeAeoQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agwnwqCdwl8

[EskimoJoe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rQUIWq56iKI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGVQOmo1feg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-eBmnpCO18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfAd7KZoks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPAIXBXxMyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPAIXBXxMyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EEisuZARrU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdJyLx4aqI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EiX4jZs0f4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VWqZSPKUrI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfYf5oeAeoQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agwnwqCdwl8

 

[Arlo]

Hey, I'm being courteous and helpful here! 
It's good to see the flame of curiosity still burning
the way it was when I was his age. It's sad, however,
to not be able to introduce him in person to some of
the vets I was privileged to visit with. I'm damned
glad to see these interviews made widely available
on the internet.

[Brooke]

Many kills happened where the attacker was never seen.

In the cases where the attacker was seen, there were a lot where the defender didn't evade all that hard compared to what we are used to.

A lot of fighter pilots in WWII were not trained that much in ACM before being sent out into combat.

There were occasions of dogfights like we have in the MA, with the pilots pulling lots of maneuvers, using flaps, throttle control, and even (rarely) special accelerated-stall behavior of their aircraft.  But those were not the majority of fights.

AH techniques and knowledge do translate to real airplanes.  I went to Air Combat USA once and could easily see that in my mock fights against another Air Warrior pilot as compared to our fights against a commercial pilot (with much more time in real airplanes, but much less knowledge of ACM).

[moot]

I'm curious how much of a problem for their eardrums was / how they dealt with varying air pressure.   

[Brooke]

I'm curious how much of a problem for their eardrums was / how they dealt with varying air pressure.   

I've heard talks from a lot of WWII fighter pilots, but none has ever talked about having any problem with ears as a result of varying air pressure.

[Ardy123]

were any ww2 fighters equipped with pressurized cabins?

[Lusche]

were any ww2 fighters equipped with pressurized cabins?

We have one in the game, the Ta 152H

[moot]

IIRC it almost never worked.

I've heard talks from a lot of WWII fighter pilots, but none has ever talked about having any problem with ears as a result of varying air pressure.

So.. the pain we have nowadays in airliners, that wasn't multiplied by their relatively larger altitude changes?  E.G. diving from say 15k to NOE in short time?

[Nashorn]

I have never been bothered with pressure change while flying, for me its only when I go below sea level that my ears are effected

[bozon]

From all the books I've read about WWII by veteran pilots I concluded that the most used ACM was a split-S and a power dive into the clouds. When most pilots found themselves in danger or simply panicked, this is what the did. One reason the P47s go so many kills is that the typical 109/190 simply could not get away from a P47 this way - the most common maneuver became one of the worst ones to try as an escape. Unfortunately for many of the green LW pilots who tried it, many did not get to learn from the experience. At the same time the #1 escape move worked well for the P47 green pilots. One day I'll go over Robert Johnson's book again and count how many kills he got of 109/190s that tried to escape this way.

It was not only green pilots. Many aces in their biographies report of doing it and admit it was a panic move. On more rare occasions, two very confident pilots met in the air and tried to pull some fancy ACMs on each other. These few are the ones you get to hear about the most, like "Bud" Anderson's story.

As for shooting away all their ammunition - Allied pilots did not get to meet the enemy in the air that often. When one of them finally got to see a 109/190 and put it somewhere in front of the guns, he would be happy to fire away all the bullets to get just that one kill (and then spilt-S, dive to the clouds and run home alive to celebrate it...).

[Karnak]

Many kills happened where the attacker was never seen.

Be cautious of what this means.  I have seen repeatedly that most sim players interpret it to mean the guy getting shot down was flying straight and level, probably in a cruise setting when <bang> he was shot down.  While that certainly happened the majority of those "attacker was never seen" shoot downs happened in combat and the victim simply never saw the guy who got him.  The second version happens all the time in AH.

From all the books I've read about WWII by veteran pilots I concluded that the most used ACM was a split-S and a power dive into the clouds. When most pilots found themselves in danger or simply panicked, this is what the did. One reason the P47s go so many kills is that the typical 109/190 simply could not get away from a P47 this way - the most common maneuver became one of the worst ones to try as an escape. Unfortunately for many of the green LW pilots who tried it, many did not get to learn from the experience.

Well, it worked against Spitfires and Hurricanes.  Almost certainly against the Russian stuff they'd faced to that point as well.

P-47s played the leading role in breaking the back of the Luftwaffe in the west.

[Bruv119]

I have never been bothered with pressure change while flying, for me its only when I go below sea level that my ears are effected

I've flown in smaller light craft and never had a problem diving,  climbing or turning.  When we went to Malta last year my fiancee and I both had really painful ears descending.   I think a longer drawn out dive might have caused it.   

[Brooke]

So.. the pain we have nowadays in airliners, that wasn't multiplied by their relatively larger altitude changes?  E.G. diving from say 15k to NOE in short time?

I've never heard a pilot complain about it.  My guess is that it was so minor compared to the rest of what you are going through if you are in a dogfight so as not to be that significant.