I was wondering about the question in the topic... I don't adhere to any particular type of aircraft. Largely, because I select planes based upon what I need for specific circumstances. However, looking over my stats since I've been using my Tredlite handle, I noticed something that was a surprise. My best results are almost always in the F6F-5.
I might not fly this fighter at all during a tour. Sometimes a little, and other times often. However, when I do fly it, my survival rate is extremely high. I hadn't noticed this before. I use it against fighters, bombers and armor. Probably 50% of my kills in it have been vehicles. Still, it's one of those fighters than can fight anything, with a reasonable expectation of winning. It can stall fight with Spitfires and chase down P-47s in a dive. It's rear view is lousy, diminished significantly after the update to the F6F-5's graphics. This is offset by its all-around goodness and durability. The Hellcat requires very good SA to overcome the rear view. But, one on one, it is always a formidable opponent. It's isn't fast like many later war fighters. Its climb rate isn't stellar. Level acceleration is merely average. It rolls a bit slower than many types. It doesn't carry as much ordnance as some. It doesn't have long legs, meaning that for long flights, bombs must be swapped for a fuel tank. What is does offer is one of the best combinations of capability. Only the F4U-4 is significantly better as an overall package, and I feel the F6F-5 shrugs off hits better than the Corsairs. In the game, the F6F is used as a carrier-borne bomb truck. Very few players know what it's actually capable of air to air. Even fewer have the skills to exploit it.
Thus far using the Tredlite user name, over the various tours, I have 406 kills in the F6F-5, against 9 losses. A 45 to 1 K/D. The best tour was 163, where I landed 84 kills vs 1 loss. That loss was to a P-38J, and I don't recall the circumstances. 40 kills air to air, 44 vehicle kills. My second best tour was tour 149, when I somehow managed 72/1, with the one loss being to a manned ack. 37 were air to air kills, 35 were vehicle kills. I suppose that this is why I often grab the Hellcat without much thought. It'll do just about anything I need it to do. Suffice it to say that I usually use the Hellcat to defend a base.
The F6F-5 is obviously a good fighter, and it should be even better. Unfortunately, it's modeled using data that corresponds to MIL power, not WEP. There's test data that shows it to be as fast as 409 mph at 21.6k (TAIC Report 17). I guess that I've been asking HTC to address this for at least 5 years. Several Navy tests show ~ 386 mph at MIL power. That's what we have in WEP. A Sept. 1944 test at PAX River showed 391 mph, in MIL power at overload condition. Surely at normal weight with WEP, it should blow right past 400 mph. Anyway, this is one of my biggest gripes about the game. The data is there (I've sent it), but no change has been forthcoming as of yet. Of course, it took a long time to get the F4U-4 climb rate fixed too... HTC staff are certainly very busy people.
Perhaps they will get to the almost decade long flap modeling anomaly someday. For example, the F4Us stall at a much lower speed than the real aircraft did. In game, the F4U-1A at 25% fuel, stalls at 68 mph, power on, full flaps. Navy test data shows that his should be closer to 73 mph at that weight, and 77 mph at normal weight. Likewise, in game, the F6F-5 stalls at 77 mph with 100% fuel, full flaps, power on. That's about spot-on to test data. So, why does the F4U stall a full 5 mph slower than it should? I'd argue that it's the magic flaps that came to be after the last flight model change. Clean, in game, the F4U-1A stalls at 93 mph, the F6F-5 at 87 mph (both 25% fuel). This corresponds to real world test data, relatively. Drop flaps and the F4U gets a stall speed reduction of 25 mph, while the F6F-5 gets a stall speed reduction of just 15 mph. Why? In the real world, test data showed that both fighters had virtually identical stall speeds in landing configuration. However, in Aces High, the F4U gets a huge benefit from its flaps, not reflected in Navy tests. This is why the Aces High F4Us have ridiculously small turning circles with flaps out. It truly is a modeling bug, and it affects other aircraft as well (Bf 109s, for example got better, while planes like the P-51s and Ki-61 got much worse). I would guess that it's related to the lift and drag equations used for flaps.
A friend of mine, Chris Fahey, flies both the F6F-5 and F4U-1A on a regular basis. Chris is a retired F-16 driver, now flying for an airline. In his spare time, he flies the Planes of Fame aircraft. He has a great deal of time in many of their warbirds. The P-38J, F6F-5, F4U-1A, P-51D and MiG-15 are probably his most common airshow rides. I asked Chris about his experiences with the Hellcat and Corsair. He much prefers the F6F-5 over the Corsair, because "it handles like a trainer at 85 knots. The F4U is a handful at 85 knots." In game, we can fly the F4U-1A around in super-tight left hand circles, as steady as a rock at 65 knots... Go figure.
