Floating around like a big FAT softball??

[phentop]

It seems everytime I get up in an advantage position I always loose it. Every plane I fly seems to get out turned. Even the same
type of plane. I will be at same speed on someones tail only to
find them turning with me turning and one of 2 things happens
I end up spinning out of controll or then end up turning sharper
and end up on my tail........How and the ell are they doing this
and how can I stop from loosing controll when it's obvious
they arnt and they are turning harder???

[Am0n]

You are stalling out from turning to hard, loosen up and "lag turn" behind them.

wider turns conserver energy and speed.

tight turns bleed energy and leave you clumsy.

If you feal like everyone is "out turning" you it is because they are.  In saying that i dont mean they can turn tighter than you or more efficant, they are turning smarter than you. If someone is in a sustained flat turn for example with you co-energy behind them you want to make a slightly wider turn then they are to persue, its called lag-turning. My genernal rule to lag persuit is to keep the enemy a good distance above your aim point. Dont try to constantly keep them in your sights, you are lead turning them if you do and loosing speed(energy) drasticly

This is effective becuase in a lag turn you are pulling less G's than the enemy making your plane of flight a wider turn. If he stays in a sustained turn he is "meat on the table" becuase in the end you will have a SERIOUS energy(speed) and angle advantage over him, thus more manueverbility.

Best way to understand this is to draw it on a peice of paper. draw two points of refernce following the same line, make one (lead)curve in sharp and the persuit curve at the same point much looser  both in sustained manners pay attention to where and how (angle) the planes of flight intersect and remeber at the point the lead "plane" will be much more sluggish.

im sure you get the point


good luck!

[Gunthr]

Phentop, some other things to remember:

Your opponant may not actually be in the same aircraft if its a spit, Me 109, FW, P51, Corsair, P47 , et al

You may have different fuel loads which will effect weight

You may have different armament/ordnance loads which will effect weight

Your opponant may be using flaps to tighten the turn while you are not

Your opponant may be using "up" trim to tighten his turn while you are not...

I recommend that you try doing a "search" under Help and Training for every subject you are concerned about. There is a lot here...  

Cheers