Some combat trim questions.
5)Can anyone provide hints or tips on using or not using combat trim when flying?
Yes, the best thing to do is to leave combat trim on all the time, with just a couple of exceptions. I'll mention the exceptions in a moment but I want to justify my advice for leaving combat trim on. Firstly trimming manually while turning does not confer a rate or radius advantage, but it does have the big drawback that it takes up valuable thinking time. In combat the fewer distractions the better, the less time your brain needs to spend processing busy work, the more time you can focus on maneuvering and situational awareness (SA). So if it doesn't help, and distracts you, why do it? Couple of good reasons, firstly at very high speed if you have lost control authority with the stick, trim may be the only way to maneuver, but that is mostly only going to happen in a high speed dive. You mentioned the P-38, and I always use manual trim in the P-38 once the flaps come out. Mainly because when you are at full flaps in the P-38 there is a strong nose up pitch tendency that can be very detrimental. At full flaps it can be helpful to trim nose down so that when the stick is in the neutral position, there is no uncommanded pitch caused by the flaps. This will make the P-38 much easier to fly at ultra low speeds. That situation is not confined to the P-38, but in every case the secret to making it work for you is to be able to employ your flaps and manual trim without having to think about it. To do that you need to figure it out offline, and then practice it, so you can drop flaps and trim by the right amounts automatically, when you can do that smoothly while under pressure you will be getting close to the zone... But it is a skill that takes time to acquire.
6) I've seen P-38s and Spits merge then turn really fast to get on your six. Are these by the use of macros, combat trim off or dual throttles?
Firstly, that can be an illusion caused by the geomtry involved, if there is an element of lead turning involved due to initial separation, or if you simply misjudged the bandit's angle off or energy, it can appear as though they are pulling that magical bat turn, but there is no such thing.
However, there are things good pilots do that may surprise you, for example, they can come in fast but then deliberately lose speed rapidly to tighten their turn radius in the initial stages of the turn by using high G and throttling back, if you don't spot that and keep your speed high they can get in position for a shot very quickly. If they combine that with the use of flaps as the speed drops they can generate very high turn rates while you are still too fast to keep them from cutting across the circle and getting enough lead for a shot. The players who prefer that type of tactic are almost always good shots, they are counting on getting the first shot opportunity and converting it to a quick kill. The risk is that they dump too much energy for that shot, if they miss the energy they lost will haunt them for the rest of the fight.
7) Does combat trim not allow a "fast" turn or loop as described in #6?
No, but if you are doing what I described above in the P-38, when you drop flaps it can be advantageous to use manual trim, but that's because it improves aircraft handling, which in turn may allow you to optimize your turn more easily, but the trim itself will not make any difference to the aircrafts ability to turn.
8) How can I turn or loop faster after a merge with combat trim on?
If you merge with a bandit and you both pull into an immelmann, or high slice, and you want that first high aspect shot the trick is to tighten the turn more quickly than your opponent, and many players do that by entering the merge fast, in the hope your opponent will think you intend to hold your E, then pulling all the way into blackout while cutting throttle just enough to pull your nose onto the bandit before he gets his nose onto you. If you have a shot and he doesn't, the fight ends right there. If you enter the fight fast, the trick is to drop to corner velocity as quickly as possible, mostly with G and a little aft throttle, but then once you get your flaps out, get back to full throttle and wep.
If you are merging over 300mph, and corner velocity for most aircraft is somewhere below 200mph and flaps drop very soon after that, at high G it will all happen very quickly, there simply isn't enough time to think about it. The secret to getting it right is practice and more practice. You can learn to do everything, and line up for a perfect snap shot at the same time, with surprising little practice but it has to be the right sort of practice. Ideally you need to find someone who can do it much better than you can and fight them every chance you get. The other way is to join a squad that has some hot sticks, and get some time in with them.
The thing about learning this stuff is that the skills will be slow coming, all good things take time. You need to fight players who are better than you, film every fight and try to figure out what they are doing. But most importantly spend as much time as possible fighting against guys who are better than you. If you have the right attitude, most of the good sticks in the game will be willing to share tips and advice.
Good luck
Badboy
