Looks like no. Didn’t think it would be that hard to find but apparently the earliest ARB matches I can pull on the server replays is Feb. 7th and I know it was earlier than that. Went through them just to be sure. It would be nice if I could filter the client side replays especially by jet cause starting up sifting through replays from that list is pulling teeth.
I was about to reply to another topic about the same thing but it was locked…
Anyway,
A-5C will do fine at 10.7, but could be 10.3 without much of an issue tbh. It does get overshadowed a lot because of constant uptiers, but that’s not a A-5C exclusive problem.
The A-5C in the right hands is a menace. It’s essentially slightly heavier mig19 with flares and 2 magics. It will outrate most of everything it faces, and has a very strong acceleration.
The most common skill issues with it are bringing too much fuel, and dropping the throttle too much.
This jet sips fuel, and there’s not much point in going full afterburner near transonic speeds since it wont get you much faster. 15 to 18min of fuel will be plenty.
The engines take a LOOOONG time to spool up, if you cut your throttle to 0% it will take a long time to build the full thrust again. I don’t recommend cutting the throttle below 80%. If you need to control your speed just cut afterburner and deploy airbrakes.
Since it is essentially a mig19, you will compress a lot near mach, and if you have too much fuel on you, the jet will be very stiff at high speeds with low nose authority.
You should be around 10min of fuel or less before committing to the harder dogfights, and when you do, you should be patient and lag pursuit for a bit before committing to the kill. High deflection shoots at high speeds is not its strong suit, unlike the F-5s for example, but you have the best energy retention around, except when fighting J-7Es in a uptier or actual mig-19s in a downtier.