109 Drivers only...

[moose]

I only take gondolas on the 109F4 since it cant climb anyway. Doesn't affect turn performance too much.

On a G10 its all about the 30mm in the nose

[Raubvogel]

never...too big of a performance hit

[mrfish]

most of the 109 g6's i have seen in photos are saddled with gondolas. i usually take them on the g6 with a third 20mm since that was more common than the 30mm.

- i figure they didnt have it easy with that loadout but if i wanted it easy id take an la7 like the rest of the herd.

i read somewhere that gondies were rare on the g10 so i usually take the 30mm or 20mm though 1 20mm is assist city. you can blow the wing and tail off a bomber with a single 20mm and if an n1k flies by and so much as glances at the buff he will get the kill....

g2 and f4 i go either way since about 1/2 the pictures show them configured either way though probably the no-gondola route is more common.

f4 behaves nice with gondolas but i think i prefer the g2 without.

whew...

[Saurdaukar]

I never fly the G6 and I rarely fly the G10 - only for buff attack - in that case Ill take the 20mm gondolas in addition to the single 20mm - hate the 30mm.  Regardless - for fighter sorties - the 109F4 and the 109G2, I NEVER take the gondolas - the performance hit is enough for most to notice, especially in the roll rate category.  Yeah its tough to hit stuff, but its just that much more satisfactory when you do.  

Mike "Mazz"
The Flying Circus

[-ammo-]

Originally posted by moose
I only take gondolas on the 109F4 since it cant climb anyway. Doesn't affect turn performance too much.

On a G10 its all about the 30mm in the nose

The 109F can't climb? huh?

[Gunthr]

I usually fly LW iron.
I fly mostly Franz and G2 these days, because for me, its all about the perkies. I target spits and nikis when possible for the nice perkie returns, so I usually leave the gondolas off to try and better my chances at it.  Eventually, I get enough perkies for the jet. I never get more than 10 sorties out of it before get killed doing something really dweebish. Then I start all over again.



PS:  One thing I try to remember when flying with a small clip:

       "Outfly them before you try to shoot them."


.

[Zigrat]

on the planes where 30mm is available i take single cannon. for the 20mm only planes i take gondolas.  

i wish there was a 30mm option for the g2

[Drano]

I voted never but I wish there was an "almost never" button. Gondolas seem to kill off whatever strengths the 109s might have by adding extra weight and drag. They affect speed, climb, turn and roll. Bear in mind I'm usually looking to turn so that's why I don't use em. Now if I DO take the extra guns its gonna be because I KNOW I'm going buff hunting or strafing and won't be turning much if at all. Gondolas would be perfect for that.

                              Drano

Originally posted by eskimo2
Do you take gondolas?
I always do, and assumed that everyone else did as well.
Please respond if you fly 109s 10 or more sorties a tour.

eskimo

[Poony]

I take em!!!  Better in the HO!  I am not in the air long enough to perform ACM to make a difference.  

HO and Snapshot!  So I need the extra lead!

[bigUC]

My recipe:

Green bar > Red bar = Gondolas
Red bar > Green bar = No Gondolas

dumb rules for dumb people :-)

[GRUNHERZ]

Never on G6 or G10

Always on F4

Maybe on G2  (my least favorite 109 in AH)

[Elysian]

I'd say 90% of the time I take the gondies (usually fly g10).  It fits my snapshot dependent flying style .  I never really turn the thing, and usually dive into the fight with such an E advantage that the extra drag is almost a good thing.  

That being said, it is diff plane without them.  One time I timed accel from 150 IAS to 350 IAS at 8000 ft in g10.  If I remember right the g10 without the extra guns does it in 43 seconds, with them it does it in 48 seconds.

Elysian/cmorris

[Urchin]

I take em most of the time, whatever 109 I am in.  

The G10 can't turn for snot anyway, so adding the Gondolas doesn't hurt in that respect.  I almost always take the 30mm and two gondolas, unless I know I'm only going to fight a Pony of another 109, then I'll go 20mm and no gondolas in the G10.  G6 I almost never fly, every time I flew it I took a 30mm and gondolas.

G2 I rarely fly anymore, when I flew it I took gondolas most of the time, because the 7.92s take about 400 rounds to kill someone with.  

F4 I almost always take gondolas, because the plane isnt fast anyway, so slowing it down some isnt going to hurt it .  It still turns plenty well with gondolas, I can hang with Nikis until it gets down to the deck, at that point the Nik outturns the F4 pretty handily.  

As a note, the F4 can't turn with a Spitfire at all, I've heard people say it can outturn them under certain 'circumstances', but I've never seen that to be the case.

[milnko]

First off, the Me 109 is a 'lil girly man's plane, real men, manly men fly the FW 190A5.

Secondly IF[/B][/U] I were to debaise myself and fly a 109G10, it'd be with the 30mm, Gondolas, and 12mm armament (code named "cone of death")

[Nath[BDP]]

I only fly the G10 in the MA, I only tank 1 30mm with it, so I can turn better with spits/nikis and chase brave sir robins more effectively.