Yak 3 Opinons?

[Muzzy]

Has anyone done an opinion article on the Yak 3 yet? I tried searching the board but came up empty. Either way, I'd like to know what people think about the plane and its capabilities. I found the stats on climb rate and speed, but how does the plane stack up on turn radius? If anyone has any good insights, whether positive or negative, I would love to hear what you have to say. I might compile all the information into an article for the AH wiki.

-Muzzy

[sparky1]

All around good fighter other than the ammo in my opinion

[artik]

- Speed good but not outstanding, it is not runner. All Mustang, Dora, 109K, Spit14 and La7 are faster and would outrun it - but yet faster most of other popular turning planes like Spits NiKs Ki-84 etc.
- Climb great - and not require WEP
- Turning - is good - its turns better that all the 5 I mentioned - and comparable to this of Spit14.
- Acceleration - is fine but not outstanding.
- Roll rate - excellent
- Firepower - quite low but enough to bring kills back - what is important it does not have convergence issues and has good ballistics - which allows you to do long range sniper shots on running targets.
- Energy - keeps it very well - and gains it back fast.
- Flight duration - quite short, but you don't have to fly on Military power all the time.
- Visibility - excellent
- Handling - excellent - very easy plane to fly, no spin tendency and easily recoverable - forgiving


What is important is actually the combination of all factors that make this plane so great: it has excellent handling, very good performance - and balance between them.

I LOVE this plane

[Oldman731]

I'd like to know what people think about the plane and its capabilities.

Russian Spitfire.  I was really eager to try it out.  Then I flew one and was able to beat someone I should never be able to beat (hey!  I heard that!).  Haven't flown it since.

- oldman

[SmokinLoon]

The Yak-3 is not as fast as the Yak 9T, but is a bit better in the knife fight.  With that being said it is still a very fast plane and it is not to be underestimated when speeds are a factor.

In terms of the dog fight, it is very dangerous. It does it all very well in terms of maneuvers.  It can turn, roll, climb, and accelerate with the best of everything.  Above all, I think it is a very stable platform, it is very forgiving.  Its biggest downfall is its lack of firepower: the single 20mm and dual .50 cals offer minimal firepower with most of that being contributed to the lack of ammo. In a 1v1 it is fine. When in the goal is to go in and clear the skies of enemy fighter(s), you have better have countrymen along side of you or perfect aim.  It simply does not have the ammo to stand too long and duke it out with enemy fighters.

It is a air to air fighter, nothing else.  It does not have long legs for escort duty, it does not have abundant enough firepower to hunt and destroy bombers, it does not carry the ammo nor the ordnance to hammer ground targets.  There are always exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking keep the Yak-3 as a short term knife fighter (or be able to retreat and rearm/refuel on a regular basis).

[Lusche]

The Yak-3 is not as fast as the Yak 9T, but is a bit better in the knife fight. 

You meant to write Yak-9U, not T, I suppose

[Muzzy]

That was my assessment as well. Other than ammo load, the Yak has strong stats in everything. I'd just come back from a two-year sabbatical from playing and was trying to recover my skills in the K4. After getting only 3 assists in a 3 hour dogfight I was getting pretty frustrated. Then I saw Tull flying the new Yak and I thought I would try it out. It has everything a pure fighter pilot could ask for with the only marginal handicap of a short clip, and you can pretty much fly it any way you like. It's very forgiving and it is durable enough so you can survive a mistake long enough to RTB. I understand the Soviets put 3 cannons on this bird after the war and that gun loadout is actually lighter in weight than the model we currently fly. That would have been absolutely deadly.

[SmokinLoon]

You meant to write Yak-9U, not T, I suppose

gah.  By bad, I did mean the Yak-9U. The Yak-9T is somewhat of a slug comparatively.  Speaking of which, I'm surprised HTC spent the effort on the -7B when they could have just added the rockets to the -9T.

[Fruda]

I understand the Soviets put 3 cannons on this bird after the war and that gun loadout is actually lighter in weight than the model we currently fly. That would have been absolutely deadly.

That would be insta-perk worthy.

[Krusty]

Sounds like it's perk-worthy already. It's the ultimate UFO, basically.

[Tank-Ace]

I find its energy retention a tad suspicious, but aside from that, it's a good little fighter. Not great, but still worth looking at in the hanger. Certainly not perk worthy; it would need to be about 20mph faster, and have about twice the ammo to be perk worthy.

[Krusty]

How is the durability? It should be fairly fragile and easy to shoot down, from the Normandie-Niemen experience. They loved the manueverability upgrade from moving from Yak-1 to Yak-3, but they hated how even the lightest of fire could cripple the plane. They did not want to use them for ground attack, especially.

[Widewing]

How is the durability? It should be fairly fragile and easy to shoot down, from the Normandie-Niemen experience. They loved the manueverability upgrade from moving from Yak-1 to Yak-3, but they hated how even the lightest of fire could cripple the plane. They did not want to use them for ground attack, especially.

Durability is about average from what I've seen. I fly it a little, only about 22 kills since it was released. However, it's such a dominating fighter (IMHO), I've yet to take so much as a ping....

[Tank-Ace]

From what I've seen, it's a bit below average. .30 cal his aren't something you can just casually brush off, pings from .50s are worrisome. And even a quarter decent burst of 20mms seems to be near catastrophic.

[Muzzy]

It's more durable than a Spitfire but not quite as durable as American Iron. Basically, you can survive one or two hits before you drop, at least in my experience.