A question and a suggestion

[aircat]

one thing (actualy 2) are being overlooked with the question at hand....

whats the alt that this fight is going to happen?

they going to turn completely in the vertical or go partialy with a banked climb?

hmm make it 3. what planes exactly are you talking about?

if you know how your plane AND the enemies plane better then he does you pretty much have the battle licked. btw its not always who has angles first... I've won a few buy letting them "peek" at my tail and watch them stretch for the turn and bleeding what E they had left.

when I fought my CO for example I bleed him of his E and then it was a matter od time... it got to the deck (wondering who was going to dip thier wing in the water first) 25 minutes letting him pull hard for bad snap shots and I was able to pull around when he was forced to go strait or take a dive.

[-kier-]

jmccaul-

I like the La5NF because it is fast, has good climb, rolls well... and it is different! Just something odd about me, but I like to master the odd plane, the one few others like. It won't outturn a co-E Spit or N1K2, it can't outrun a P51 or ME109, but it fits well in between all of them. You have to think to live, and I like that!

As an example, I had a sortie last night where I went deep into the badlands. I bagged a Spit, but blew too much fuel and ammo in the process. I decided it was a good thing to live through a sortie, so I broke for home.

I was low, and without fuel for an extended climb,I decided the best option was to run the canyon floor. Maybe, just maybe nothing would see me.

It almost worked. I was about halfway through when the Spit's icon appeared. I tried to duck behind a wall, but it was too late. He began to set up his inevitable run on me. I had no choice but to keep going and wait.

1.8, 1.6, 1.3... he's coming fast! I hugged the canyon wall tighter, trying to turn corners just quick enough to spoil his aim. I turned a final corner, saw a drop he couldn't yet see, and went for it. I dropped flaps and gear, and pushed down. He overshot. He didn't have room to flat turn, so he had to go up... if he went level I had him. He worked up and around for another pass, and by this time he was joined by a P51. He came again, we repeated the scene again, and I managed to pump some of my few precious remaining rounds his way. I looked in time to see the 51 barrelling down-  scissors and his run is spoiled.

We break free of the canyon, and it's a long way to the field. I decide to fight to the death, so I turn into the Spit. He breaks upward for alt, I get another snapshot. I reverse quickly, knowing the 51 is right there, and sure enough, here he comes. A little scissor, and he tries to roll for a split-S... no alt! He disappears... I don't know if he discoed or what, but there was no kill message. It's now just me and the Spit, and finally I see dots coming from the friendly field. The Spit has had enough, he breaks for home.

....sputtering engine, engine dies from fuel starvation! I ditch (seems like I always do!), and hail my opponent, thanking him for a great fight. It was a blast!

With a great field of vision, speed, and handling characteristics, I feel the La5NF is a great a/c. I do wish it had a couple mg's, but...  

[fats]

Val:

Banking the plane is waste of lift vector. You will not get as much force into the positive direction of world Y vector. When you go pure vert you have 2 places where you 'turn' when you are perfectly nose up ( to get out of plane - making the possible shot for the other person harder ) and the second time when you're perfectly nose down ( to get back in on enemy's six-to-twelve line ) - by rolling. When you decide to go pure vertical, it's not about how _fast_ you can get around. It's about how high can you zoom and how _late_ you can get around. If your low gain on angles gives the other person reason to start yanking even harder the better.

Now eagl will argue that chandelle is a more energy saving maneuver. I haven't been able to fit one into a merge w/o making it into a d20 'extension' or something. Only time pure vert is wasting lift is when you're upside down, and that is as I recall why eagl thought chandelle was better... well we had this discussion briefly online at around 1.05 or something so I can't recall it too good.


//fats

[val]

FATS:

Pure vert puts your lift vector horizontal to the ground. Only velocity and kinetic E carry you up. Thus you are not generating lift, and burning E at the same time. An oblique vertical climb adds a vertical element to the lift vector as well as a rotational one (even a couple of degrees is better than nothing). Combined with a lead turn you will come around and crawl up the vertical zoomers six.

Ever wonder how some of those Spits in brand W can reverse and climb up a 109s six at the merge? :-P

The original premise was a Co-E state at the merge. In that situation an oblique vertical move is very lethal. Even if you are not in guns range you are deep in the rear hemisphere of the con, and gain massive angles. Remember most fights are won and lost on the first merge.

val

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Scott (val) Valline
Dweebs of Death