KTD doesn't show the altitude where an aircraft kills or is killed at; HTC performance data doesn't show how an aircraft performs in anything except top speed and climb rate. Neither show anything related to an aircraft being an excellent low-altitude fighter.
Yet again, the quoted data is completely irrelevant to what's being discussed.
The F4U-4, LA-7, Tempest, and K4 completely outperform the D9 on the deck, and the G-14 matches it very closely. That puts the D9 at #5 or #6 on pure performance alone, without factoring in typical MA scenarios that can put it at a further disadvantage. I'm not in any way claiming it's helpless, I'm simply countering - factually - that it is in no way a "top competitor" to the LA-7 in performance whatsoever at the altitudes being discussed.
What's your in-game name, and how long have you been playing?
Performance is typically only used to refer to engine-related performance such as top speed, climb, and acceleration. For all, the D9 is only a hair behind the La-7, the fastest free fighter, and if I recall, the 4th best climbing propeller-driven aircraft in the game.
I take it you are using it to refer to total capacity to perform it's function, including less easily quantified metrics?
And I suppose I should have expressly stated that I was referring to its performance relative to non-perk aircraft.
In any case, I posit that turn radius and rate of turn are less important in the MA. Not to say that they are unimportant, only that pure performance matters most. For this reason the D9 is
a dominant aircraft in the main arena, even though it's turning is abysmal.
Again, this is not to say it is better or equal to the La-7; in fact I personally hate the D9. I am simply saying that it's performance is such that it dominates all but a handful of aircraft, and thus would be competitive with, if not dominant to, those other aircraft.
In game ID previously Kampfer, currently FBkmpfer. I've been playing regularly since 09 or so, with a hiatus here or there.
