P38L and J Choosing the right fight at the right time?

[Randy1]

It really isn't.  Quite the opposite really.

ack-ack

Could you expand on this a bit? 

[Traveler]

I would like to keep this thread centered on the P38 albeit any advice will be well received.

This tour I am back on the P38 J and L.  My ACM skills continue to improve but I am flat atrocious at picking the right fight and right time to match the P38 strong points.  My crummy K/D shows that. 

My SA awareness is improving but I keep getting caught in fights that are riddled with pickers reminding one of a fat cat in the middle of a pack of wild dogs.

What should I look for on the clipboard map that would keep me out of the wrong fight for a P38?  Something like look for a balance of red and green?  Stay in zones with radar up?

Do I avoid all furballs or do I go up the 51s 109s and 190s, and try pick them from the top?

Do I avoid fights with high concentrations of Las, Yaks, Spits and the like?

Perhaps you might enjoy winging up for a flight or a night with the 113th Lucky Strikes, a P38 squad.  We start operations around 7:PM each Saturday evening EST.  We fly P38L's in attack mode and P38J or G for fighter protection. We fly as Knights and you can find us on Vox 113.  We fly tactical formations for strikes and winged pairs for fighter protection. We found over the years that one of our P38L's = 1.5 hangers. It only takes a hand full of us to shut down a small airfield.

[Randy1]

Perhaps you might enjoy winging up for a flight or a night with the 113th Lucky Strikes, a P38 squad.  We start operations around 7:PM each Saturday evening EST.  We fly P38L's in attack mode and P38J or G for fighter protection. We fly as Knights and you can find us on Vox 113.  We fly tactical formations for strikes and winged pairs for fighter protection. We found over the years that one of our P38L's = 1.5 hangers. It only takes a hand full of us to shut down a small airfield.

Traveler, I appreciate the offer and would jump in with y'all in a heart beat but our squad is mostly family so I have my ties there.  It would be neat to fly in one of y'alls all P38 missions. 

[Traveler]

Traveler, I appreciate the offer and would jump in with y'all in a heart beat but our squad is mostly family so I have my ties there.  It would be neat to fly in one of y'alls all P38 missions. 

are you by chance Knights?  You could all come join in a mission.  We never turn anyone away and are willing to fly bomber escort or any type of Jabo mission.  We also do pure fighter sweeps.

[Randy1]

are you by chance Knights?  You could all come join in a mission.  We never turn anyone away and are willing to fly bomber escort or any type of Jabo mission.  We also do pure fighter sweeps.

Rooks, but if the chance come up, I will switch sides and fly with y'all.

[Ack-Ack]

Could you expand on this a bit? 

You had seemed to imply that between 9,000 - 12,000ft, the P-38 is particularly vulnerable at that altitude range.  It isn't, the P-38 (all of them) performs well at those altitudes, quite well actually.  It also removes the danger of getting into a compressibility state since you're too low to get into one, allowing the P-38 to dive at high speeds if necessary.  P-38's speed is also very good at those altitude ranges, as well as climb rate and acceleration.  The only hindrance would be on the part of the pilot, not the plane.

ack-ack

[BnZs]

To elaborate on what Ack is saying here...

...Turbocharging means never having to say "Oh sorry, my performance is weak in that altitude band". 

[Randy1]

Ack-ack, Bnz,  to me it is not the planes performance in question.  It is that at 9k-12k, you are very likely to run into several 109s, 51sand 190s at 15k-20k.  Lower than 9k the high alt people usually either want come down or the long approach is easy to avoid.  At 15k and up you are at least nose level some of the time.

I always go to where the action is so the red concentration can be thick.

[Sunka]

I feel like the AH2 gunnery should be harder, but that's just my opinion. 

I agree ,getting hit regularly at 800 out kind of jerks my chain.

And on topic,i agree with Del. 

[The Fugitive]

Ack-ack, Bnz,  to me it is not the planes performance in question.  It is that at 9k-12k, you are very likely to run into several 109s, 51sand 190s at 15k-20k.  Lower than 9k the high alt people usually either want come down or the long approach is easy to avoid.  At 15k and up you are at least nose level some of the time.

I always go to where the action is so the red concentration can be thick.

Thats more of how you fight the fight than anything else. Me, I like to come in at 10-12k. Higher guys are just something to keep in mind while I concentrate on the targets I'm looking at. During my attacks I keep an eye on the pickers on their perch. If they dive in I avoid their run and continue my attacks. If the pickers pushes the issue HE becomes my target.

In the few times I've flow in the same area with you you seem to lose SA, or lets say become target fixated to the point you end up with 2 or 3 on you. In a furbal ducking and dodging are what you are doing most of the time with quick shots at bad guys intermixed.

I prefer the J model for both fighting and bombing. The trick is to be able to give up the bombs on a moments notice. If your more worried about getting the bombs to target your going to get shot down a LOT, and most likely NOT get them there anyway. Screw the mission profile! You can help your team by shooting down pickers so the rest of your team CAN get in. Getting hammered with bombs isn't helping all that much anyway right?

SA, switching gears (divebomber vs fighter) mid flight, and not getting fixated on a target are all things that make flying any plane but the 38 a bit more, a fun plane to fly.   

[Mongoose]

The trick is to be able to give up the bombs on a moments notice. If your more worried about getting the bombs to target your going to get shot down a LOT, and most likely NOT get them there anyway.

  That's one of my problems.  I tend get target fixated, whether on a plane, or on getting bombs to target, and get shot down.  But I am getting better.

  Randy, thanks for starting such an interesting thread.

[BluBerry]

 

[Randy1]

In the few times I've flow in the same area with you you seem to lose SA, or lets say become target fixated to the point you end up with 2 or 3 on you. In a furbal ducking and dodging are what you are doing most of the time with quick shots at bad guys intermixed.

I get too aggressive no doubt about that.  If I see a fellow green in trouble, I am going in to knock the chiggers off if I can to give them a chance to escape.  Add to that, I like Latrobe's style of fighting.  One is fun, two is more fun. I am just no where near as good as Latrobe but I study his technique.

A p38 is like a being a piece of corn in brood of 109 chickens especially if they pop up when your speed is down and they have the E advantage.

[Tank-Ace]

I admit I target P- 38's first, if doing so doesn't excessively endanger me.

If they're well flown, they tend to be very well flown, and I find their survival... disagreeable.

[BnZs]

The higher you go in the AHII skies the thinner the crowd gets, until at a certain point there is no one it's not worth climbing up there. That point is no higher than 20K most of the time. Couple that with the fact that basically the relative performance of the P-38 against 90% of the plane set gets better the higher you go, and I can't really see what you're talking about here.

Diving into the thick of the furball isn't a good way to learn anything except that in furballs you shoot at everything red crossing your nose every chance you get and they do the same until one side or the other is all dead. And in a large target, that is not so fun. In furballs it is best to be either in one of the best turners or one of the fastest. The P-38 is neither. What the P-38 does have is unique attributes that give it a potential answer for 1v1 ACM against just about every plane in the set. Figure out how to use those attributes against one bandit at a time first. One bandit represents the minimum number of variables you can deal with, a furball represents incalculable variables, no need trying to win the Boston Marathon before you can crawl, to paraphrase an old saw.