Great film analysis Latrobe.
I thought any Jug could out dive any opponent plane, and the 152 was highly susceptible to wing snap at high vertical maneuvers. Could you elaborate on this a bit more?
Jugs CAN out dive MOST opponents, but the 152 is one of the few exceptions. It depends on the model Jug of course. An M or N would most likely be able to dive with a 152, while the D11 is just barley able to keep up. What makes the Jug so amazingly good at diving and high speeds is all that weight it carries with it. It really helps the Jug just drop like a rock and builds up E quickly. Then it has very big wings and control surfaces to maneuvers quite comfortably at high speeds. The Ta-152 is just like the Jug, only BIGGER in all catagories! It is heavier than the Jug meaning it will build up speed more quickly (again, depending on the model of Jug). Plus it has it's excellent WEP to pull it through a dive even quicker. It also has VERY big wings and good control surfaces to maneuver at high speeds. The 152 is also a bit more streamline than the Jug which reduces drag and helps gaining and holding E easier. Take a look at Glzzsqd's airspeed indicator at the start of the video, or even better, grab a 152 and try this out yourself. His airspeed was at around 260mph, but as soon as he nosed down he very quickly got over 300mph and close to 350mph in almost no time at all and that wasn't even a very steep dive. Imagine how much speed he would have built up in a steeper dive and if he kicked in WEP as well! That's one of the biggest advantages of the 152 is the fact that you can build up E without even trying really.
There's been a number of times when I'm in my 152 where someone came in higher than me which negates my speed advantage and I'm forced to TnB fight them. Once I got them to my altitude then I simply used WEP, a few very small diving maneuvers, and then I just rocketed straight up and they simply couldn't catch me. Then I just killed them with the alt advantage.
I'm not sure what you mean about wing snapping at high vertical maneuvers. Do you mean snapping the wings off when pulling a maneuver at high speeds? All planes have that problem. They just all do it at different G loads and speeds. The 152 I find to be one of the better planes to deal with this. It can quite easily reach close to 600mph without any sign of compression or wing stress. of course ANY plane at that speed will lose its wings if you pull any hard maneuver. The 152 is tough though so as long as you're just gentle on the controls then you should never be snapping any wings off in a 152.
I apologize if I made any mistakes in this explanation. I just got out of bed.
