Myth: SpitXVI is "slow"

[Kazaa]

Hey again guys, this is how the unperked XVI will look in the next patch. Fingers cross HTC see fit to give it 25lbs boost.

[Guppy35]

And the story behind that silver Spit 16 skin is such a good one too

[Kazaa]

And the story behind that silver Spit 16 skin is such a good one too

(Image removed from quote.)

Do tell.

[Guppy35]

Do tell.

Well it's a long story but it goes something like the following.  A Dutch Squadron, 322, had it first, and after about two days of Ops, one of the pilots had to force land at an American Airfield.  A former Spitfire XII squadron commander who'd moved up the line, was a liason with said Americans and spotted the Spit on the field.  No one knew what to do with it.  He decided to make it his own, without official approval.  He flew it for some time, and to help disguise 'his' Spitfire he had it stripped of the camo paint.  This worked while he was on the Continent but he was sent back to England, and when he arrived with a Spit that really wasn't his, he had to find a way to 'lose' it.  He had a girlfriend who was a WAAF still on the continent and she was stationed where the Poles where operating and she suggested giving it to them.  He then flew it over and handed off the Spit where it was used by one of the higher ranking Polish pilots as his 'personal' Spitfire. It turns out the initials were not his like a Wing Commander would use on their Spit, but those of his wife.  When the war ended he continued to use it, but then he too had to get rid of it, and he 'sold' it to an American Colonel for 300 cigarettes.  The American pilot promptly broke it, and no one knows quite what became of it after that.

A buddy of mine in Airwarrior had a photo of the Silver Spit, that his Dad, who was from Poland had when he spent time with the Polish Wing.  Some detective work with the help of a Polish author and Spitfire expert helped nail down the story.  Kev367th was looking for a silver Spit 16 to do, and this fit the profile

Based on the photos and the detective work, I did up this profile and Kev made a great skin.  And it's really a Spitfire LFIXe, but since the LFIXe and LFXVIe are identical except for the maker of their Merlin engine, it was ok'd to skin it on the 16 in AH.

[Kazaa]

lol cheeky bugger, I would have done the same.

[Kev367th]

Unbalancing - Based on what happened with the CHog I think we have a good idea what HT may consider as unbalancing.

Still say the main reason it hasn't (F4U-C) been unperked is the more than likely major impact it would have in aircraft types flying off CV's. Why take anything else?
Seafire - CHog has quad cannons.
F4UD/A - CHog carries ord.
Talking from the inexperienced newbies point of view, all other types become pretty much redundant.

You would see very little of anything but Chogs coming off CV's, we all know it.

[Anaxogoras]

You would see very little of anything but Chogs coming off CV's, we all know it.

Reminds me of how you see little of anything but Spit XVIs defending against a CV attack.

Perhaps enabling the F4U-1C unperked at airfields but not off of CV's would be reasonable?

[Lusche]

Reminds me of how you see little of anything but Spit XVIs defending against a CV attack.

I see a lot of other planes too...

mmmm... any way to get exact numbers?



Not really. But....


I think we can say that the F4U-D is a plane that is comparatively rarely used from land bases. Unfortunately impossible to get exact information about that... But in my subjective opinion, it's at least 10-1. The majority of F4U's I spot outside CV battles are -4, , -C and -1a.
It's also the most killed CV capable plane in the arena by a huge margin.
With that premise I just looked up which fighters had been responsible for the F4U-D's deaths in tour 111:


(Note: Percentage given is based on total kills of the F4U-D by fighters. BTW, had I included GV's, the PT boat would have a nice #13 spot in that chart)

Yes I know, probably not a very strong analysis

[Anaxogoras]

You even excluded the ground-to-air kills from the %'s!  Nice work.

From what I can see, all of the more or less dedicated CV planes suffer most of their air-to-air deaths by the XVI, e.g. F6F, Seafire, etc.

Edit: Just looked, the XVI is also the biggest killer of the F4U-1A and F4U-1C.

[Lusche]

Edit: Just looked, the XVI is also the biggest killer of the F4U-1A.

Yup, also the A6M's

But of course that not surprising. Actually I would have thought the 16's share being much higher, maybe near 20%.
It's defenitely one of the best planes for that task, getting in the air quickly and being able to fight from the moments the wheels leave the ground. Also The fight is mostly low&slow, so most enemy planes lack the ernergy/speed to negate the Spit's acceleration.

BTW, this reminds me why players perception about nthe frequency of the Spit XVI can differ so much: If you are fighting mainly offensive battles and attack enemy airbases all the time, you will see much more 16's (and La-7s) than someone like me who is primarily defending.

[Guppy35]

You even excluded the ground-to-air kills from the %'s!  Nice work.

From what I can see, all of the more or less dedicated CV planes suffer most of their air-to-air deaths by the XVI, e.g. F6F, Seafire, etc.

Edit: Just looked, the XVI is also the biggest killer of the F4U-1A and F4U-1C.

So it shines as an interceptor when one of those CV raids starts on a coastal airfield?  Doing it's job I'd imagine.  As one who takes off in a 38G into those mobs, it's not always the easiest thing to do.  The 16 would get up and into the fight in a hurry under the circumstances.

[Anaxogoras]

BTW, this reminds me why players perception about nthe frequency of the Spit XVI can differ so much: If you are fighting mainly offensive battles and attack enemy airbases all the time, you will see much more 16's (and La-7s) than someone like me who is primarily defending.

Oh, nice backhand there.  I'll give you a 9 for subtlety.

You're missing out on some fun fights if you don't participate in CV action.

So it shines as an interceptor when one of those CV raids starts on a coastal airfield?  Doing it's job I'd imagine.  As one who takes off in a 38G into those mobs, it's not always the easiest thing to do.  The 16 would get up and into the fight in a hurry under the circumstances.

No doubt... but remember, I'm not the one asking for the XVI to be perked, not anymore at least.  All I care about is consistency, and so I'm in favor of unperking the XIV and F4U-1C instead of perking the XVI.

[BnZs]

F4UD/A - CHog carries ord.
Talking from the inexperienced newbies point of view, all other types become pretty much redundant.

The F4UD carries 8 rockets and 2 bombs. The C-Hog can only take 4 rockets and 2 bombs.

The idea of perking the C-Hog to encourage players to take something off a carrier is not much different from the idea of perking it to encourage players to take up another, more common variant of Hog.

[Lusche]

Oh, nice backhand there.  I'll give you a 9 for subtlety.

I must have been very subtle... I didn't even notice any backhand 

You're missing out on some fun fights if you don't participate in CV action.

Oh I do. But if it's a friendly CV, you will find me mostly at 15k flying anti-buff patrols

[Anaxogoras]

The F4UD carries 8 rockets and 2 bombs. The C-Hog can only take 4 rockets and 2 bombs.

The idea of perking the C-Hog to encourage players to take something off a carrier is not much different from the idea of perking it to encourage players to take up another, more common variant of Hog.

But so long as we have the 3 cannon La-7, we're arguing for a double standard if we say the C-Hog should be perked just so that people fly its more common cousins.