Sure to be a hot topic ...... (hint: F4u-1C)

[mx22]

Say what you want guys,

But I fly Typhoon on almost all of my bombing missions and given everything organized correctly it's a very good aircraft for what it's job. The only real weakness of Typhoon that I see is how long it takes for it to get to cruising speed. But once it accelerates to cruising speed,it's a beautiful plane to fly in.
As for the aerial fighting, I can disengage from fight at will as almost no plane will catch up with me(done this trick before, so I know it's possible, even when you have planes diving on you) and if I have to merge, I try to make it all simple - HO and disengage.

Now gimme me my SpitXIV and Tempest and I'll be the happiest guy alive

mx22

[Duckwing6]

Leonid: i'm flying the F4U-1D ONLY this tour .. and found myselfe firing on almost ANY merge or pass that has at least a minimum hit possibility .. this is due to the fact that you are NEVER really CO -E and without a little advantage the HOG better turns and runs .. so i'll take any shot that is presented to me, even more so in the D as the C as it's cal 050's need more time on target to bring somebody down (never wast a pass..)

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Phillip "Duckwing6" Artweger
Flight Officer "E" Flight
Skeleton Crew

[bloom25]

Except for in extreme circumstances I will avoid the direct HO.  On the other hand when I fly planes like the 205, 109, p51, and I have an E advantage I will often fire a few shots at the merge.  My intention isn't to hit the other plane, but to make him begin to jink, dive, barrel roll etc.  The reason is that 80% of those that fly here will try a split s or some other E burning manuver the second they see or hear bullets.  This just makes the rest of the fight much easier.  (Note: I'm talking about situations where the other guy can't actually get his nose up to hit you, but on the other hand you can't turn into his 6 without burning up your E advantage.)  I find the p51 and c205 to be especially good at doing this.  In rare cases I've even dewinged the other plane with a lucky 1/2 second burst.  I really like to do this against spits.  They almost always try for the ho, followed by a flat turn to your 6 as you go by.  If I fire a few shots at them, they almost always dive to the deck, making it easier for me to turn onto their 6.

I've tried this with the hog c as well, but I find that the bullets drop too much to consistantly hit at around the 800 yds that I usually fire at.  (If you do hit though ...   )

Honestly I don't know why I posted this under this thread.  Maybe I just wanted to know how the rest of you handle situations where you have a small alt advantage (i.e. 3k) on a front 1/4 pass.  



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[humble]

Hmmm,

think i had a 3k alt advantage once ...actually given alt & E i'll usually dive down to co-alt...then pull to vertical early..If your right about relative E state you'll get a nice rope as con tries to jump on your "early" move..of course one in awhile a smart pilot will realize he's neg E and split-s on your break...worst case I've maxed out my alt and go hunting again.