I recently tried out the Etendard, and it turned out to be a hidden gem, and became one of my favourite French jets and 9.0s. It has plenty of energy generation, and if you jack off the flaps it becomes quite potent in turning engagements.
When above 800 KMH IAS, deploy combat flaps but keep it from fully deploying by retracting them. Below 800 KMH IAS, you can keep combat flaps fully extended, and can choose to go further to takeoff flaps, carefully going back to combats to not rip them. Below 400 KMH IAS you can keep takeoff flaps fully deployed.
Gun placement makes it a bit tricky to aim, though.
I haven’t gotten my hands on the Super Mystere yet, so I can’t comment on whether it is better or worse. I would guess that the Super Mystere would provide a similar experience but with less of a headache managing the flaps.
Edit: tried the Sambad in test flight, and the Etendard performs better at low speeds (<400 KMH IAS) due to the takeoff flaps. I would prefer to be in the Super Mystere for high speed work.
I prefer the ouragan over the mystere 2a, idk about the 2c though I gotta spade it on of these days
The F-84 is also nice to play, a boat but overall nice
Yeah it has Nords and a higher top speed than Etendard, but Etendard accelerates much better, loses a bit less energy in turns, has to carry less fuel and doesn’t compress much at its top speed unlike Super Mystere.
They both have their up and downsides, i personally also prefer the Super Mystere because i get to play with Nords, even if it technically is a worse FM for ARB.
Mystere IIC and IIA are just left to rot in the same hell all non-meta (Sabres, Migs etc.) planes in that br range are. They are playable but can’t measure up to what they face at all.
Alpha E really doesn’t suffer from lack of flares, you don’t need them at this br. You are a quick to accelerate dogfighter with the potential for a LOT of firepower from up to 3 DEFA cannons, it’s a great little plane to fly.
The combat flaps actually are unrippable (1300kph limit), but they will make you compress HARD if deployed above like 900kph IAS or so. The limit for takeoff and landing flaps is 389 kph.
Flares at 8.7 sadly don’t do much of anything.
Especially now that Ayit is 9.7, and even then AlphaJet out-dogfighting Ayit was standard in random battles.
F-100’s still a napalm bomber without AIM-9Es, and still a gun fighter without AIM-9Es.
I know I primarily used Germany’s 9.3 Hunter without missiles and just bombs, and did more than well.
Sometimes missiles are needed, sometimes they don’t even need to be equipped.
Well, that’s true
Ehh… just the presence or absence of flares itself and AIM-9E only in the United States are a bit of lacking… Thank you for your reply friend :)
Yeah, tbh it’s a tradeoff, the ouragan lacks a lot of engine power but has decent retention, high top speed and turns super well at high speeds, while the mysteres have better engine power and top speed but are less responsive and bleed way too fast
The AIM-9E, like the AIM-9B, has a 10G limit, but it is faster and has a longer range. Additionally, the greater energy of the missile allows it to maximize maneuverability, meaning that despite both having the same 10G limit, the AIM-9E generally achieves higher accuracy than the AIM-9B in typical scenarios.
i don’t see the AIM-9B as a difficult missile to use, mostly because my experience of 9.3/9.0 in F-86F40 JASDF proves it to me, but also because the T-2(k) one (where i prefered to use the AIM-9B over the AIM-9E - i used it at times when AIM-9P wasn’t an option)
the reasonning behind it, is that you can more easily launch an AIM-9E thanks to uncaged seeker, but it’s also a trap, as it might makes you firing it at undesired angle (5 to 10° off target), which makes the AIM-9E to fight for going back at the target.
as such, i think it explains why:
US F-100D < French F-100D < Taïwanese F-100A
(alongside playerbase skill)
Honestly, I hate to say this, but it feels like a skill issue… It’s clear that the AIM-9B is inferior to the AIM-9E, isn’t it?
also, surprisingly, the F-100A has better flight performance than the D model because it is lighter.
