High speed turns spit vs hog- Numbers again... I don't know them. Experience in the spit? I don't have enough to matter. I flew them years ago, lost interest in them, and just decided to get good in my all-time favorite. What I do have is experience fighting them, and experience watching them real close while doing that. For one, they look like they "lock up" or "get tight" when they get real fast. IMO, 350 isn't real fast. I can fly faster than that in a climb... How fast is fast? I'm not sure, but I could log in and find out. Numbers again... I don't watch the airspeed indicator all that much (I do in certain maneuvers, though). In a dive with a spit, if I'm behind him, I can more or less always match his turn if he tries to get out of my way. And I can match his roll, or exceed it. That said, I generally won't bother to match his turn if he tries to get out of my way. I'll just zoom up above him and dive in again. I'll let him kill his E on a sharp turn, save mine, and take the quick kill. If he's behind me in dive, he'll reach a point where he can't roll with me, so just doing a subtle scissors left and right gets him out of sync and I can then pull up or to the side and he can't follow. High speed, I'm able to roll and change direction better than he can. I can also crank back on the elevator at speeds where if he tries to do that his wings pop off. That's what I think of as turning better than the spit at high speed. But I'll never try to turn in circles with him... How fast? I'm not creaking yet, but I'm dang fast!
When it comes to "turning" with a spit, I don't look at things from an "equal" perspective. Actually, if things look equal I'll probably break out, extend 1.5K or so, and "reset" the fight. An equal "fair" start is fine, but I quickly want to form some differences that I can work with. The last thing I want is to be in, or stay in an "equal" 300mph vs 300mph, 250mph vs 250mph, etc fight. I'd much rather fight from a "disadvantaged "state than an "equal" state. What I capitalize on is the difference between our speeds. There are pro's and con's to be being either slower than OR faster than your opponent. I try to capitalize on the strengths of my situation, and make him suffer for the weaknesses of his own. If I'm slower than the spit, I have little choice but to try to turn with him. If I'm faster, I can basically do whatever I want. What I like to do is draw him into a chase, and since he knows I can get away, I want him to think he has to chase hard to catch me. Then, while he's fast, I'll turn to the side, give him some closure, and force the overshoot. I'm bleeding speed, coming closer to my "best" turn speed, while he's above his own best turn speed. This will allow me to turn inside him. Not because I turn better than him, but because I'm at a better speed for doing that than he is. Not only that, but as he tries to turn tight, into what he perceives as a strength for his plane, he slows down in front of my guns. If he doesn't want to play that game, fine, I can just extend, build my advantage, and force an attack. Now I'll be at a speed and probable alt advantage. Due to my greater speed, I will not be trying to out turn him... If unable to get a kill on him after a few passes, it's almost always possible to draw him into a fast chase again, and go for the overshoot again. It often works even better at this point, because he's perceiving that I've lost my alt/E advantage and am shifting into "desperate" mode (which I'm not).
The trick is just to not allow him a decent guns solution in this process. Being a little slow behind him isn't bad- as he turns to reverse I can just drop my nose a few degrees and extend, taking away his initial speed advantage. When you drop speed to out-turn the spit one of two things must happen, or you're in trouble. One, kill him quick. Within a turn or two. Or two, have an exit available. You won't really need to escape, but you need to be able to draw the fight fast again. Speed up, slow down. Speed up, slow down. The hog drops speed much quicker/easier than the spit, and that's what gives you the window to out-turn him. It's also what gets you killed until you figure it out... One key factor is to not allow the spit to get and stay faster than you. Another is to not allow yourself to get too slow with him in a position to use his better acceleration. That will lead to the spit staying faster than you...
One thing about numbers here... I don't know how fast he's going, ever. But I'm very good at being able to tell general things, like "faster than me" or "slower than me". Or he's too fast to..." or "He's too slow to..." This "watching him" process relies heavily on me knowing my current state, and current abilities ACM-wise, and weighing that against his "faster than " or "slower than" me state. I also rely a lot on being almost in a bad position, but not quite. A position where he'll pull for a shot he can't make. That waste of his time and energy will kill him. An example is being "too close" to the spit, where he can't possibly turn tight enough to get his nose on you, but too close for him not to try...
Zooms- the "equal" thing comes back. I ain't gonna try to out-zoom someone with an equal E-state or speed. So why would I care who can zoom higher? From what I've seen, apart from maybe the P38, none of the planes have a "huge" advantage here. Two techniques come to play here. One (me behind him), watch the film, as I zoom for the kill. Think "closure". Will I zoom with the spit? Sure, but only if the conditions will grant me success... (Why even try otherwise?) Following the spit, I'm catching him (see the "-" on the icon?). Catching him in the zoom in this case is a foregone conclusion.
The second technique (me in front) is to get him behind me, fly fast enough to initially see a "+D800" so I know I'm faster (pulling away) than him, and then quickly (quick as in "soon" so he doesn't catch on, not "sharply" or suddenly") but subtly swing my nose up a bit to "hide" the fact that I'm faster (make the "+" fall off the icon...) Now he'll think we're equal speed, and that'll give him some (false) hope that he'll catch me in the zoom. Gradually bring the nose up to vertical, making sure he must follow your flightpath (see that in trails-enabled films)- do not allow him to turn inside your flightpath (cut the corner) or his shorter flightpath will allow him to catch you, even if he's slower... Done "right" you'll both be vertical, with him only able to maintain equal spacing (stay at D800) or fall behind (you faster speed will show up as a "+" in the icon again). This is "out-zooming", but without overall zoom performance being a real issue. For that matter, I can out-zoom planes that should out-zoom me, or be caught by planes that "couldn't possibly do that", depending on the exact set of variables in play at that precise moment. I can out-zoom this guy right now, but he'll out-zoom me 2 seconds from now... Or vice versa...
The best information you can have in a fight is exactly what is going on right now. You get that by watching your opponent very intently. With that information in hand, it doesn't matter what your turn radius is at 317.5mph....
SA will allow you to win the fight, or get killed, more than anything else. Especially in the F4U.
I'm good with numbers, and I think very analytically generally. I just don't give a hoot about numbers in the game. Call that a "chink in my armor". I zoom climb against far too many planes for me to know how well they all zoom, and whether they zoom best at a certain speed. Same goes for turn radius, degrees per second, whatever... I fly by "feel" and "view". Can I out-turn this guy? Yes! But wait, is he holding even? Pulling ahead? Drats! Yes! Stop this tactic, switch to plan B! Even having my opponent "hold even" in a turn is enough to trigger my "switch tactic" button.
