it's time we discuss the Yak3

[DmonSlyr]

If you don't care about dying, the Yak3 is a much better plane to use in the MA than the P51 from a fighter perspective.

90% of fights are down low
 Yak has better exceleration to escape planes coming for it.
Yak is smaller, lighter, hard to see, and shoot at
Yak is very hard to rope
Yak turns almost as well or the same as a 109K
Yak can dive better than a 109K and a spit.
P51s are much easier to pick. Are slower off the gun, and are really only successful if you can stay fast and out of the hoard.
The yak really accels in low fights where most of the action is. This means it's great for furballing if you don't care about dying because you can hop in quickly for shots and then outrun most planes that are coming to pick you.

[Vraciu]

not at 30k

Ffft.  Not for long.  Pigs in outer space.   The fight goes one direction--downhill.

[Shuffler]

"Why are you putting on your tennis shoes?  You can't outrun that bear."

"I don't have to outrun the bear--I just have to outrun YOU."

Hehehe

Another one is you only need one bullit. To shoot your fishing partner in the leg.

[Vraciu]

Hehehe

Another one is you only need one bullit. To shoot your fishing partner in the leg.

HA HA HA!  Nice.

[Oldman731]

the yak3 needs to be perked

Is the Spit 16 (or 9) (or 8) perked?  Is the Ki84 perked?  Are the A6M5 or the Brewster perked?  No?

There should always be good, non-perked planes available to even the skill match.  If you think the Yak 3 is too easy (and I agree with you, it's the Russian version of the Spit 16), then don't fly it.  Leave it to others.  You'll retain your self-respect, and give a useful handicap to people who haven't been here as long as you have.

- oldman

[captain1ma]

and you wont need a shower after flying it!! LOL

[Lusche]

Equal pilots in 51 vs yak3.. yak3 wins every time.

With two equally good pilots in a dueling like setup I'd mostly agree.
With bad to average pilots in a MA setup, things are often a bit different.

For example, for a good pilot able to shoot precisely,  the relatively light nose mounted armament of the Yak is just fine. An average (or worse) shooter is likely to waste the very short clip. The same pilot would have less trouble to achieve a certain number of hits with the wing mounted guns of the P-51 putting out a much higher volume of fire and ammo to waste.

This, and other differences between those two planes end up in much less of a dominance in A2A combat of the Yak-3 than one might think, as shown in my charts above.
In direct comparison, the Yak had 1247 kills of the P-51D while the Pony had 1197 kills of the Yak-3 (first seven tours of 2018), for ratio of merely 1.05-1.

Is the Spit 16 (or 9) (or 8) perked?  Is the Ki84 perked?  Are the A6M5 or the Brewster perked?  No?

I always wonder how the Brewster ends up in that list. No other non bomb truck hands out so many kills to other fighters in the MA as the B-239 does 

[TWCAxew]

.
I always wonder how the Brewster ends up in that list. No other non bomb truck hands out so many kills to other fighters in the MA as the B-239 does 

Brewster's will be upped from capped field's. It's a defenders best friemd, in ah 2 you could fly it perfectly fine with 2 half wings. Also it's miss understood by many players. It can be one of the hardest planes to actual kill if the pilot has good sa.

DutchVII

[Lusche]

Brewster's will be upped from capped field's

So are other planes, which also are much better suited to that role. The Brewster would be not a very good choice, because of it's rather bad acceleration/climb rate.

But my point was about the realities of the MA combat, which is the main guide for perking planes. Perking is about balancing the MA, and the Brewster dies a lot more than it kills. Therefore I#m irritated when it's put onto the same page with La's, Spitfires and N1ks

[TWCAxew]

The no wing plane is still a falid point though which makes it pretty uber
 

[Shuffler]

Is the Spit 16 (or 9) (or 8) perked?  Is the Ki84 perked?  Are the A6M5 or the Brewster perked?  No?

There should always be good, non-perked planes available to even the skill match.  If you think the Yak 3 is too easy (and I agree with you, it's the Russian version of the Spit 16), then don't fly it.  Leave it to others.  You'll retain your self-respect, and give a useful handicap to people who haven't been here as long as you have.

- oldman

I don't fly it. My skill level is so high that I can't even find it.

[Vraciu]

With two equally good pilots in a dueling like setup I'd mostly agree.
With bad to average pilots in a MA setup, things are often a bit different.

For example, for a good pilot able to shoot precisely,  the relatively light nose mounted armament of the Yak is just fine. An average (or worse) shooter is likely to waste the very short clip.

Magazine.   

The same pilot would have less trouble to achieve a certain number of hits with the wing mounted guns of the P-51 putting out a much higher volume of fire and ammo to waste.

This, and other differences between those two planes end up in much less of a dominance in A2A combat of the Yak-3 than one might think, as shown in my charts above.
In direct comparison, the Yak had 1247 kills of the P-51D while the Pony had 1197 kills of the Yak-3 (first seven tours of 2018), for ratio of merely 1.05-1.



I always wonder how the Brewster ends up in that list. No other non bomb truck hands out so many kills to other fighters in the MA as the B-239 does 

Lazer’s premise holds in my view.  The Yak is far more nimble.   The only way out are gonna beat him is if he makes a mistake, all other things being equal. 

[Lusche]

Magazine.   

<- bows head in shame

Lazer’s premise holds in my view.  The Yak is far more nimble.   The only way out are gonna beat him is if he makes a mistake, all other things being equal.

Of course it is. But the last sentence only works guaranteed if both pilots are on the same 'good' skill level. With two equally average or bad players the armament quickly becomes more important. And, also as said before, the MA is no DA, which results in a fairly equal K/D between the Yak-3. (Keep in mind what constitutes 'average' is being mostly overestimated here on the boards)
Would I fight against my clone in a 'honorable' duel setting , most probably Yak-3 guy would win easily. Acceleration, nimbleness would all work for him and he's good enough of a shooter to fully utilise the beauty of that center line armament. He'd be all over my Pony clone. 
But as a dirty killing machine in a populated MA environment, I'd take the D pony all day as long as it's about killing and not a dancing contest 

That doesn't mean it's a bad plane. It's a wicked fighter made for top fighter jocks. You just have to put the strength's and weaknesses in context of the combat environment.

[Vraciu]

<- bows head in shame

 

Of course it is. But the last sentence only works guaranteed if both pilots are on the same 'good' skill level. With two equally average or bad players the armament quickly becomes more important. And, also as said before, the MA is no DA, which results in a fairly equal K/D between the Yak-3. (Keep in mind what constitutes 'average' is being mostly overestimated here on the boards)
Would I fight against my clone in a 'honorable' duel setting , most probably Yak-3 guy would win easily. Acceleration, nimbleness would all work for him and he's good enough of a shooter to fully utilise the beauty of that center line armament. He'd be all over my Pony clone. 
But as a dirty killing machine in a populated MA environment, I'd take the D pony all day as long as it's about killing and not a dancing contest 

That doesn't mean it's a bad plane. It's a wicked fighter made for top fighter jocks. You just have to put the strength's and weaknesses in context of the combat environment.

I dunno, man, if you can't hit with a cannon that will do massive damage and can't really hit with MGs that do minimal damage...   Sounds like luck will play a big part.

One thing about the Yak is it definitely runs out of ammo fast.  So if you can make the guy miss a lot then you can fight without fear, but getting a shot on that thing is tough in a 51.

[Shuffler]

I dunno, man, if you can't hit with a cannon that will do massive damage and can't really hit with MGs that do minimal damage...   Sounds like luck will play a big part.

One thing about the Yak is it definitely runs out of ammo fast.  So if you can make the guy miss a lot then you can fight without fear, but getting a shot on that thing is tough in a 51.

Not to mention they always try to fly through the tails on a 38.