Originally posted by mrfish
yak? a dweeb plane? no way.
I agree. Unless you are one hell of a marksman, you really need to bore in close to get more than one or two kills per sortie with the 9U.
Tonight, I tried my hand with the Yak-9T. I suppose that I could say I was successful, going 7/1 (K/D), and the one loss was due to a gangbang by a six or seven Knits. Nonetheless, that monster 37mm gun is a one-shot pinger. Using just 27 cannon rounds and a pocket full of MG ammo, I brought down two B-26s and a Spitfire Mk.IX. A flying artillery piece is what this thing is. A single cannon round blew off the Spit's wing. However, with only 32 cannon rounds, accurate shooting is a must.
I also gave the Hurricane IIC a try tonight as well. Armed with 4 Hiszookas (tm Leviathn) , it's a deadly, if bog-slow fighter. I operated the Hurri from a field being heavily vulched. So, I lost two of them just trying to get off the runway. However, the two times actually I got airborne were fun sorties. Two Spits, a Mustang, an La-7, one Mossy and a Yak-9U all fell victim to those nasty cannons.
Initially, I loaded two 1,000 lbs bombs, but switched fields before taking off. I forgot that they had been selected, and took off from the vulched field with them under the wings. However, I had forgotten that they were there. So, with that extra load and drag, I killed a SpitV and an La-7 in a tight little furball, all the while wondering why the Hurri was so sluggish and prone to mushing. Immediately afterwards, another Rook says, "hey Widewing, do you always dogfight with big bombs under the wings?" "Yeah", I replied, "it's only fair that I fly with a handicap."
Anyway, impressed with my own stupidity and good luck, I flew away from the field and jettisoned the bombs.
Later, I was successful in getting off the runway again, and still did well, albeit against a bigger crowd of Knits. Finally, I accepted a head-on with a Mossy. We killed each other.
Anyway, it's a hoot to fly the decidedly non-dweeb fighters.
My regards,
Widewing
