YAK-9U vs. LA-7

[Kruger]

Howdy people!

Would be interested in hearing some comments about a fight. I'm in a YAK-9U, and I get nailed by an LA-7. The question is, what should I have done differently in order to survive?

I was using combat trim - would manual trimming have saved me if done properly (e.g. in the end of the fight where it turns to a low speed looping turn fight)? There's probably loads of mistakes from my side - I know i'm just a beginner but trying to improve... Thanks for any pointers!

See film here: http://members.tiscali.fi/kruger/owned.ahf

Kruger

PS. Here's the terrain: http://members.tiscali.fi/kruger/Osaka3a.res

[Manedew]

more flaps, just pull them in fast when you need more speed ...

hit your shots .... work on your aim.... work on setting up shots....

don't follow the enemy, be where he will be when you intend to shoot ... don't follow ... guess where he will be when you want to shoot and be there.......

When mergeing don't go stright in unless you intend to shoot ... setup to slide in behind enemy as he tries to shoot you........  this means manuvering into his flight path ..... which i fyou head stright for him on a merge would be 180 deg's the other way .....setup to be slideing into his flight path in a HO merge, unless you intend to shoot.

don't just rely on rolling sicciors .. the idea is to overhsoot a plane by mataining E with a manuver and takeing time up ... so you come back to the same flight path .... but later than you would be if you didn't manuver .....  The idea being con will be there for you to shoot because you manuvered and arrived back in the flight path behind the con.....

rolling sicciors/barrel rolling is only one way to do this ....

teaching ACM is hard .... if you want to get good ... go out look for high cons to dive on you and kill them...... you'll proably die alot at frist.....

get out of the way of shot then get back into flight path to fight ........ don't just avoid getting shot ... manuver back in for a kill

you had shots and didn't kill.... you had chances at many shots but idn't push the plane .... learn to push your plane harder ... is stall limter on?  use more flaps as needed ... but pull them in fast.....and work on your aim

don't know how much this helps ..... but good luck

[SuperDud]

I noticed at the beginning of the engagement(1:14 to be exact) the lala went up and instead of following you pulled off and dove away? You had plenty of speed to follow him up. I bet he woulda flopped at the top leaving you a very nice oppurtunity. When you dove away, you just gave him A LOT of position on you.

Another thing I noticed is for the 1st 5 mins of that fight, it was yours. You just couldnt seem to get the kill shot, which happens. Only in the last minute or so did you lose the edge. I think you 2 fight again and 7/10 times you come through on your shots and win.

Also, like Mane said, you did get some hits, but the yaks guns a wimpy. Fighting and La7 with he 3 cannons puts you at a disadvantage in the guns department.

Overall, nothing that stood out as an error on your part. IMO some very nice flying. Only thing that stopped ya from winning was not getting that kill shot.

[Murdr]

They covered it pretty good.  Ill add that I saw twice where you should have followed him up, and dove out instead.  When you are that close to them, and your E states are pretty even, stick with it.  Stay out of the zone where there nose will drop to, and no worries.

That, and it appeared you were soft sticking your roll in places.  Work on your stick corridination, where you maintain your elevator angle while performing a hard roll.  You seemed late for a couple reversals because you spent so much time rolling into it.

[wetrat]

I didn't watch the film, but if you were more or less co-E with an la7 in a yak and dove instead of following him vertical, you made a big mistake. Yak's can follow my G10 up far enough to avoid getting shot to hell, and can occasionally ping me up a little. The G10 outzooms the LA7, so presumably you could get some hits on him. Just trim your elevators to neutral (I have downward trim on Z) to reduce drag and dump flaps when you approach stall speed, then hang on as long as you can. If you can keep going up long enough that he has to flip over first, you should be in good position. I haven't done much E fighting in the Yak so I don't know how bad the stall is from 50mph at the top of a zoom, but if it's even close to being as easy to recover from as the G10's, you should be fine.

[TexMurphy]

Ive not been in my Yak for quite some time now and I didnt view your film.. so I might not be that much of reference...

But against LaLas I like to play it agressively for a few reasons.

1. Alot of LaLa pilots are sub avg. If you put presure on them they tend to make mistakes.

2. Lalas are more dangerous when they can extend out and re-engage.

3. The Yak CAN go agressive on a Lala.

The only time I disengage lalas is when they dive away. Though if I have E or co-E on them I do tend to get em quite easily in the Yak.

One of the biggest mistakes LaLas tend to do is, as mentioned above, go up with Yaks on their six. I have no idea why they do it but they do. Very nice and easy shot.

Next thing when comming in on a lala from above I do tend to like to take a lag turn on them. They dont like going into turn fights and you are in a slight speed and accel disadvantage against them. Let them burn their E on the break turn. As they see you move out of six view they ease off. This sets up a great shot as you pass in back behind them. But most importantly it conserves your E.

When a LaLa engages you its not really a big deal. Give him your six and do a break turn. If you can pull it off do a reversal back on him.

I know its dangerous to count most LaLa pilots as sub avg but while LaLa guns hurt like butter its one of the planes that has the worse aimers. So a barrel roll is quite a good move to pull as well.

If the LaLa dives away from you, climb over him. Dont reverse back into the furball till you have a good alt advantage on the LaLA. Then if he keeps going like some do, reverse back, if not engage him from up high again. When lalas run you can count on them staying at the deck, good time for you to grab alt.

Tex