Verm, agreeds. The 190D9 is the LW fighter for fighting the allies on even terms.
It has speed, acceleration, climb and roll rate over the F4U. In a 1v1 where the 190 pilot takes his time, unless he dies in a HO, he should win. Patience will result in the 47 driver losing e and alt, and in the end, his plane and maybe his life.
Having said that, there is one very important aspect that most forget when comparing fighters.
I call it 'over the top' performance - it's about how fast a plane can get over the top, and a what speeds.
All the allied fighters outdo the D9 in over the top performance. The G2 and G10 are middle range at this at best, but in general, LW fighters are really poor at this.
This is an important characteristic: it tells ya who'll win a loopfight. I've used the over-the-top capability of the P-38 and P-51B to quite easily reverse the situation on 190D9s - one flown by weapon and one flown by Naudet, both good 190 pilots.
Over the top really is vertical performance at slow speeds. This is also shown in rope a dope's - the one with the better performance can manage to keep his nose up for longer, at the same airspeed. The lesser plane in this regard thus needs to have an energy advantage to pull it off succesfully.
Another aspect is that of flaps. In most fights, LW fighters never get a chance to deploy the flaps. The LW bird will stall out just above the speed at which flaps can be deployed - assuming average g load, i.e enough load so that you aren't just a sitting duck for the enemy. I can count on one hand the times I've used flaps in a turn fight in the LW fighters. On the other hand, when I fly allied planes, like I've done for evaluation purposes lately, I deploy them almost every time. It's very effective and useful.
The 51 should win over all LW fighters in a 1v1 quite easily, except the D9 and the G10. These two are a match for the pony - the G10 only if the LW pilots have plenty of time and can point is nose upwards for a climb for a few minutes, and pretty much the same for the D9. Both can use their acceleration to dictate the fight - something that in a 1v1 is very valuable. If you can dictate the fight, you've won half the battle. And your chances of surviving are even higher than your chances of killing your enemy - simply disengage at will.
Or, the 109/190 could get the fight slow, into scissors, and then pull up into the vertical. The pony, if at a low enough speed, will be unable to follow and either stall out, or continue go ahead. It's still a dangerous maneuver, because the pony can pop some flaps and get the nose up for a quick snapshot.
Lastly, I now fully appreciate the difference between LW guns and RAF/USAAF ones. it is not as great as the most ardent LW supporters suggest, but it *is* far greater than RAF/USAAF pilots want to admit. D1.4 hits on a level running target is possible (done it on a consistent basis, ask Animal) with the .50s, although they'll have dissipated most of their energy at this range. This is an extreme example.
More realistic is the snapshot ability, and the 'death zone'. The ability to fire off a deadly salvo in a snapshot at d600-d700 (done it many a time) is *extremely* useful and in itself is a lethality multiplier. The enemy has a choice of either risking being hit at this range, or breaking so early that you'll be able to quickly counter his move and saddle up if needed. If you do not wish to saddle up, him turning at that distance still means you don't have to go to such an extreme angle for a snapshot.
Of course, deflection shooting is also much easier due to the higher velocity of the rounds. Due to the greater range and velocity, where LW birds pull the target under the nose, RAF/USAAF can see the intended target. Not always, but a good time more than the LW pilots do. The Hispanos pack a bigger punch than the Mausers.
On the other hand, the LW guns are extremely lethal *if they hit*. 4*20mm is not an unusal loadout for FW-A's, and 109s can potentially take either 1 BFG 30mm, or gondolas to get some killing power. The G10 doesn't need it though: hi speed and 13mm's mean (to my delight) that usually one snapshot is enough, due to the very focused hit area of nose guns.
Another aspect that can be commented is the big disparity in terms of JABO. The loadout is one obvious thing to comment. The P-47 can take in an overloaded condition about 2800 - 3000 lb (2*1000, 1*500, 10*HVAR rockets) as well as a toejameload of rounds. The top LW JABO, which is a JABO first and foremost, the 190F8, takes a rather mediocre (in comparison) 1450lb. Half that of the P-47. Climb rate (as it should be) is the same on the two at max loadout. Hopefully HTC will find time to add R4M rockets to the F8.
And the allied rockets are sooo easy to hit with. I'd used them once in a flight, slavoed at 10. Tried deacking a field with a P-38 using rockets only. The film won't show the ack firing at me, but it was.
http://home1.stofanet.dk/stsanta/films/p38jabo.zip for the film.
Even though I am a complete newbie with allied rockets, I manage to hit ack 7/10 times - firing at 3 at the first pass and hitting with all. This isn't a testimony to my skill, but rather an illustration of the very nice capabilities of the allied hardware.
In conclusion, I'll say something that will probably mean I'll be labelled a LW. I feel that there is a bias in favour of the allied fighters. It is not so much the difference makes flying LW a constant 'underdog' - the D9 and G10 are too good for that, but the difference is decidedly there.
Your mileage may vary.
