First, who is interested in the Ta152 and can read german language: There´s an excellent book about the development of the high altitude fighter 152.
It is
Ta152
Der Weg zum Höhenjäger.
(the way to the high altitude fighter)
ISBN 3-925505-44-X
Vermillion posted some time ago charts for the 152. They´re from this book.
Funked is right, only ~ a dozen 152 were in combat. The heavy bombardement made a regular production impossible at the end of the war.
The 152 were sometimes attacked by other JG´s with their 109ers who didn´t know this new german fighter!
Ta152 never flew cover for the Me262. That´s a tale.
When the Ta152 was tested after the war in America, they were not able to get the same good flight performances than in Rechlin! Maybe, after the war, america wasn´t interested to have a good german fighter (i´m really asking myself why they destroyed hundreds of me262 instead of using them after the war, the situation with russia was not the best..)
And the 152 was NOT a experimental plane, it was a great design (not only a better 190D btw). Wrong decisions in the RLM and the difficult situation at the end were the reasons why the Ta152 saw combat so late in the war and why they were used only in small numbers.
RAM, maybe that surprises you, but the 190A8 bleeds E NOT like a B17, in opposite it is at the moment a plane that has a good E retention! To good imo, like the P38 who is still unbelievable good even without those Fowler Flaps!
And a Ta152 can easily outturn a 190! They were even better in a Turn than a 109 (and real 109er were better turnfighter than here in AH)
Their bigger wingspan reduced rollrate a bit compared to a 190 (max rollrate is ~1/wingspan, except for the P38 of course..) but the bigger wingarea gave them an advantage in a turnfight. In this book that i mentioned there´s written down a little story where a Tempest tried near the ground to escape from a 152 in a Turn. The Tempest pulled harder and harder. While the 152 had no Problems to follow this Turn, the Tempest stalled and crashed (ok, the question is how good is the Tempest as a turnfighter)
They also used their better turnperformance to get behind the P51.
I think it´s not so important whether you get a 190D or a Ta152. It´s more important which engine will be modelled. The LW still has no high altitude fighter. A Jumo213 could change this

niklas
[This message has been edited by niklas (edited 04-12-2000).]