Well.. I think I have a fairly unique perspective. My background is actually from both AW and WB's. For a very long time I flew both. I started in AW, switched to WB's, but couldn't afford to feed my addiction at $2/hr, so when I hit my budget limit each month, I went back to AW. Plus I was involved alot in the AW Scenarios.
So when I came into AH when the beta started, I would mostly have considered myself a WB's guy, with alot of friends still in AW. So I had/have a pretty good feel for both (all three?) FM's.
To me the hardest things that AW guys would have problems adjusting too are Trim, Energy management and gunnery. In that order.
Trim isn't as much of an issue as it once was, after combat trim (CT) was introduced. Not because it takes the skill out of trimming an aircraft. Far from it, because given equal skill, someone who is manually trimming will usually perform better than someone who is using CT. But at the low end of the skill curve, the new pilots, are not so far out of the trim "Curves" that they are wallowing all over the sky. And at least have some "minimal" level of being able to manuever.
Energy Management. True we don't have the super delicate E management of the pre 1.03 FM here in AH anymore, but compared to AW where you could loop a P38 at 20k continuously and actually gain altitude by playing the flaps like a piano, its a world of difference. And yes I am talking AW in Full Realism. Basically IMO you have to "think" more in AH (or WB's for that matter) before you enter a fight, than in AW. Its not so much a matter of just being a good stick and rudder man, as also playing an aerial game of "chess". You have to think ahead, and pick and choose your fights alot more.
Gunnery. To me when I made the transition to WB's (and I think it would be similar for guys going today from AW to AH, due to the similarities of AH and WBs) gunnery was a real squeak. No matter if AW was using either hit bubbles or hit shells, I always found the gunnery there to be a simple matter compared to AH/WB's. No wonder alot of new pilots here fly Chogs and Niki's. Lots of ammo, to spray and pray with, and if you hit something it stays dead. I honestly think that if new people had to fly something like a single cannon 109 or a Yak when they started, each and every one of them would leave immediately and never come back.
I've babbled enough.
But in the end, the transition from AW over to AH is alot like the transition in AW from RR to FR. Its hard at first, and takes some time to learn the differences. But if your a good stick in one, you will learn to be a good stick in the other. Its just a matter of what your use too.
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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure
