F4U-4 is an amazing dogfighter. Even at 5.3 in sim, it performs incredibly. In RB it’s 4.3. You have no excuses for struggling with it in dogfights. At 5.3 it’s just about balanced.
F4U-4B is cracked at 5.7 in both SB and RB.
Yak-9K can and will dogfight 5.0 aircraft just fine. I have managed to reverse Bf 109s with it WITH a chewed off elevator using rolling scissors. Yak-9UT is a cracked Yak-9K.
F6F-5 is an amazing dogfighter. That thing will out-turn anything not japanese as long as you have altitude to burn. You do need ~1.5-2.0km of space to dive with but it’s used to incredible success by IdahoBookworm. My only issue with F6F-5 is that it has zero rear visibility and it’s very easy to have someone sneak up on you if you’re flying alone and don’t have VR to clip thru the canopy with.
Let’s compare the F6F-5 to the most balanced german fighter, the bf109F4:
The F4 wins in a long and sustained two circle flat on deck or in a climbing spiral.
The F6F-5 wins the one-circle and the descending spiral.
Additional bonus for F6F: It handles better at high speeds and has insanely low stall speed.
Additional bonus 2: Bf109 F4 has super short WEP capacity. Comparing WEPing F6F-5 vs non-WEPing F4 gets us:
I concede the instructor does cripple aircraft that rely on their corner speed to win, but you can turn instructor off and keep autotrim going and you’ll do fine.
Ki-61-I Hei is a “baby-plane” or “metamobile” for dogfighting and still gets 2 250 kg bombs you can drop separately.
The G.55 Sotto 0 is not as busted at CAS as the american naval planes. It is however incredible at dogfighting.
The 109s are also kinda weaker at CAS but it’s one of the most versatile aircraft with an answer to anything if you know enough and don’t rely on the instructor to fly. With sufficient skill, you still get enough armament for a decent number of ground kills.
