More statistical nonsense

[Dinger]

Well, playing around with what we can see, I'd point out two things:
First, "Kill/Death Ratio" appears in two guises:
A. The one on the individual stat page.  This is calculated according to the formula:
Kills/(deaths+1)
Deaths here are when you die. Bails/Ditches do not count.  Discos do, however.
The one death is added either to prevent a divide by zero or to factor in the fact that, as ultimately mortal beings, the life we are currently leading will inevitably cease.
B. The one in the "Kill Stats" page.  This is not the same as A.  Rather it is the number of times the player has had the kill of her or his ride awarded to someone else. Indeed, it says "Has XXX Kills and has been killed YYY times."  It does not take into account augers, discos, Controlled Flight Into Terrain, tailwheel detonators, and the like.
Thus, if you're looking to see "how hot a stick" someone is, the K/K'd ratio is a more accurate yardstick than K/D, since it counts combat losses versus mortality.
(Thus, a noted FW driver has a K/D of around 20, and a divide by zero K/K'd ratio.  That is, nobody has been awarded a kill on him this TOD.  Again, if you look at one of the notorious killers from the Pre-WB AW days, he has a K/D of around 8:1, but a K/K'd of 48:1)
Secondly, by looking at the number of planes shot down, we can get a rough (very rough) guess of what the arena looks like. For every 1 La5 shot down (3.6% of all fighters), kills are awarded on:
1.5 Macchis (5%)
2 Bf 109s (8%)
4 Georges (13%)
4 Würgers (15%)
7.5 Spits (27%)
8 Stangs  (29%)

So, you've got over half the arena flying (or rather being shot down in) two plane types.  If you factor in the difference in effective range, and the fact that the P51 often speeds away from its assailants, the stang's predominance becomes preoccupying).

Among other AC, you see:
3 B17s
1.5 C47s

I'd argue that these are a different class, since B17s fly such long sorties, and often elude destruction.  The C47, however, may appear at that frequency, since it usually flies short hops; but, given that many of its flights often end in disaster, it may be slightly overrepresented in these numbers.
Since the P51 is also known for its ability to disengage, I'd wager that it's even more heavily represented than these numbers suggest.


Now, if we could get the Death/Sortie we could also calculate the top "Death Trap" among the fighters (I'm thinkin' it's the macchi).

Any comments?

[This message has been edited by Dinger (edited 12-02-1999).]

[gatt]

Yes,

"a Spit-Stang dweebs arena?"

[This message has been edited by gatt (edited 12-02-1999).]

[Jochen]

It's just history repeating...

------------------
jochen
Geschwaderkommodore
Jagdgeschwader 2 'Richthofen' (Warbirds)

If you ever get across the sea to England,
Then maybe at the closing of the day
The bars will all be serving German lager
Which means we won the war - hip hip hooray!

[Fishu]

Comment:
It is either
 a) Propaganda which has made allied planes more popular b) theres something over magical in their flight model which they did not have c) People likes either real turn and burners or total boom and zoomers d) something wrong with other planes e) all options together.

Hmm, I would put my bets on option E.

My view of point why things are like this:

MC.205 Has low fuel (at least eats fuel very visible), quite slow and haven't been such popular as others (ughh, got to admit I never had heard of it until last few months, or then I have but forgot whole plane)

Spitfrie is the most popular ones and also very very super multi-role fighter (read; boom&zoom / turn&burn works both), maybe even something over magical on it, dunno, never flown one. (hmm, how did they ever die in real life, if they are like this compared to others?)
One notable thing is also that it has nice amount of fuel.

P-51 'dweebstang' or 'runstang' has alot of fuel, fame, ammo, speed and laser guns, but lacks accerlation and does not turn quite well as most do.
I guess fuel, guns, fame and speed makes up for this plane. I bet there is something over magical in this plane compared to that what I've read of P-51s.. (4000fpm climb till 20k, or better behavior in slow speeds than those LW planes which should be better in that?)
<fish is sick of seeing most cons being P-51s and wasting 20-30k altitudes>

<LW propaganda mode ON>
Me109G10 seems to have lowest fuel after MC205 and La5, also it has had little speed cut since last version or so, which has, at least temporarily, made down its popularity.
Also it is very much of expertens plane with its low ammo count or little bit cut performance with gondolas. (this plane should be able to boom & zoom, but with fuel modifiers it sure does not do much of that)

Fw190A8 is fairly fast and most powerful gun load in it also, though, it is also very much of expertens plane when considers that it isn't much faster than spitfire (if at all faster) and P-51 usually dogfights it into death, if doesn't know how to fly 190 like expert. Also very easily gets into spin (hmm, there comes my wondering again, shouldn't 190 behave better than P-51 when slow speed at low altitude, instead of spinning all the time when too much of pull, when in P-51 it just doesnt do much anything)
But in right hands Fw190 is fast and very maneuverable (beware P-51s!).
I have also noticed that Fw190 likes to accerlate in dive very nicely, although, it loses aileron controls bit too soon to take full advantage of it  

La-5 seems to have great climb, accerlate, speed, fair guns, very low fuel (about same with MC205) and performs quite good in dogfights against spits etc. if knows a bit to not wave it all around like spitfrie pilots do. What can I say, I were more afraid of 109s in earlier versions when it was far more faster and so on, but now I am more scared of La5s because those are now faster and so on...
Only real drawback I see for La5 is its low fuel.

N1K2 is slow, but it turns well (although, eats E fast), has second most powerful gun pack and packs nice fuels with it (poor at high altitude, like as well 190)
It is fairly well equipped for these who thinks that best plane is made of guns and turning rate. (lacks that important armour  

Ta152 is fast and.. wait, we didn't have that yet.

Someone *still* reading? good, because now you can finally relax and consider yourself brave, because of reading *this* much of corrupted LW pilot thoughts.  

[humble]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also very easily gets into spin (hmm, there comes my wondering again, shouldn't
                         190 behave better than P-51 when slow speed at low altitude, instead of spinning all the time when too much of pull, when in P-51 it just doesnt do much anything).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fishu..I'm no expert for sure but happened to read this earlier today..from Mike Spick's "Luftwaffe Fighter Aces" Page 98...

"Stalling speed in a 6G turnwould be 311 mph true airspeed at sea level"

190 was brutal when it went over the edge of the envelope I guess. I'm cunfused by other comments regarding it dogfighting capabilities, but these are pointed at the A-4 and A-5 which must be much better turning planes.