Despite my sarcasm detectors itching i will reply anyway
Started this campaign In ftr mode (substitute Dora mode) with 50 kills zero deaths in F6F and 1st death was to a wing blowing off a Ju88 flipping up and hitting me he never even knew about it.
Anyway i figure i know how it works as I have been flying it virtually exclusively for tour after tour.
So on to v Yaks basically its your worst enemy, LA7's in comparison are easy.
Yak 9U is the worst it damn near does sustained turns with spits and climbs way better plus you cant run away from it. In an open space fight unless you blow into the attack with plenty of E and get a fast kill then you are gonna be defensive very soon, however if you have kept your wep in reserve and reasonably light on fuel you can make a real fight of it, use the flaps 2 positions is ok more with care because it limits your ability to regain speed, given a few seconds to unload i will pull em back in and grab some speed.
The only thing the F6F has as an advantage of any sort really is it will usually soak up a few hits and keep flying
I prefer to fight the Yak on the deck and try to use it as a weapon.
F6F has pretty good zoom ability even when slow as long as you DONT yank on that stick, so its gotta be counterpunch fighting. Down to timing and luck really at some point if a decent stick they will be instigating the attacks never give them a dead 6 or 12 opportunity I like to keep about 30 degrees offset for them to come in at which gives a decent chance to pull a hard Yoyo into them just as you "guess" they about to fire, as soon as you see there tracers whipping behind you (timing call) unload hit the rudder, roll and hope to catch them blowing past.
Do not try and follow them in verticals same as LA7 really because they are far better at them than the F6F.
Very few people will actually go truely vertical anyway (and those that do i will break away so i am not positioned directly below them when they start coming back down) usually they go up at an angle as in they are gonna do a Hi angle Yoyo and expect to nail you on the way down, as in rope a dope.
Too many people fall for this when there is no need to, and this is how so many LA7's die, they go up and yes i will follow but making sure I keep about 15 degrees in lag pursuit I have no intention of trying to achieve the same apex as them or indeed anywhere near, I know they are coming back down all you have to do is thwart there attack then nail them.
If airspeed is at least 150 by adjusting climb to suit then they are not gonna get you, as they think ahh roped him they start reversing but by keeping that offset 15 degrees they actually gotta come back on themselves and they do not have the airspeed at this point to pull it, back to timing now as in when to unload hit that rudder roll inverted , 2 notches of flaps pick a vector to intercept him in about 5 seconds time and pull, (note dont follow his path anticipate where he WILL be) if done right you will already have a guns solution and just be waiting for him to arrive, hit the trigger flamer.
The above works by using his speed against him he goes up higher hes coming down faster and therefore on the way back up he takes a wider corner to do it you nail him.
Miss the first pass rinse, repeat.
If he sees it coming and dives away you got him anyway unload them flaps wep and go for it he may be faster but you will accelerate faster than Yak or LA7 in a dive and initially catch him.
Thats how you kill LA7's especially, nothing magical about the F6F-5's FM its how you use it.
Not as easy doing this against the yak tho as it will probably get a solution on you coming down with its better low speed handling, you just gotta be more careful doing it and roll away to spoil his shot at the right time.
I will actively hunt LA7's but will avoid Yak9U's given the option.
