The hogs are one of the tuffer planes to learn in. It has a great punch with the 6- 50's and is a great ground attack plane with the load out on the D model, but it can be a bit tricky to fly as a fighter in the MA. Its not as fast, as the BnZers, and doesn't turn as well as the "turners' so it a middle of the road fighter. Don't get me wrong, its a great plane, and I spend most of my time in the D model
Tho I hate to say it the spit 9, the Nik, and the La7 are better planes to learn in. All have cannons , the nik with the biggest load out. Learning the basic moves and some of the tricks you can do will not only get your kill numbers up, but when you switch over to the real planes...hogs,P38, p47, 109's, 190's You'll have a better idea of what the enemy niks, spits, and La's are going to do. Unfortunately, those are the plane you will most likely run into in the MA.
Getting with a trainer can only help.... even if you get one that just love to shot ya down all the time... film all flights and watch to see what you did wrong, then try to remember it. Its hard for us "old guys" in the heat of battle to remember those things, that why I don't think I'll ever be near the top of the score boards !
Ahhhhh and those score boards. For myself, I watch my kill to death ratio, and me kill to sortie ratio. As long as I can kill more than I die/sorties I'm happy. There are far to many ways to "pad" your score to use the rank system to see how your doing. Some guys spawn and sit at an enemies spawn point and kill anyone who spawns, some buff pilots hit the nearest depot over and over just to pad there bomber score, some fighter pilots will fly along side a mission and circle until the ack is down, then join in for the vulch-fest. As you learn more, and improve you'll see your personal numbers go down. Set yourself a goal, and work toward it..... oh ya, don't forget to have fun, it is just a game after all !;)
