Yes, that’s exactly what I’m referring to. This flight model mechanic where the aircraft loses maneuverability feels a bit unbalanced, because planes hit by 20mm rounds—with spars and control surfaces damaged—seem oddly “resilient” in some cases.
Take, for instance, the Yak-3 and other fighters built using plywood. A well-placed shell into the wing should almost completely compromise its ability to maneuver, or even maintain stable level flight. If the pilot insists on pulling high G-loads, the wing would likely fail structurally, considering the spar and the outer skin would already be weakened.
German shells also seem oddly ineffective when it comes to starting fires, which I’m not sure reflects reality accurately.
In IL-2, for example, structural damage is modeled more severely—if your spars or frame are compromised and you pull hard Gs, the aircraft will simply break apart. That kind of mechanic feels far more grounded in physics.
Fuselage damage is also poorly represented in WT. You can be riddled with holes and still fly like nothing happened. But in reality, flying an aircraft with massive holes across its surfaces would significantly disrupt aerodynamics—just like filling a container with holes and expecting it to hold water. Air is physical and unforgiving in that regard.
Anyway, back to the point: German Minengeschoß shells should be far more devastating than they currently are, especially against fragile aircraft designs with wooden wings and aluminum spars. Their destructive power is vastly underrepresented.
Maybe it’s not that they’re underrepresented, but rather that the consequences the enemy faces after being hit often don’t affect performance as they should. In the very video you shared, this is quite clear—each hit causes visible explosions, ripping off parts of the wing, landing gear, even breaking the elevator… In short, the operational consequences of those hits should be devastating to any chance of performing aggressive maneuvers.