Fw190 A-5 still useless in air-RB while the A-1 is better at 3.0

[catDude]

As the title says. It overheats very fast, it enters a flatspin easily and if you have miniscule damage on the wings you are very likely flatspinning after just trying to turn the airplane. It is fighting aircraft that actually have working flight models and don’t overheat in seconds thus damaging the engine.

I want to stress this fact: the 3.0 Fw190 A-1 has better flight performance and just 2 less cannons (worth it). I would happily play the Fw190 A-1 at 4.3 or even 4.7, compared to playing the A-5 at 3.0!! The A-5 would be terrible at 3.0 because it is a terrible airplane in this game. It is simply bad. It is not fun to play.

I don’t think this plane was ever meta to begin with, who decided to nerf it into oblivion in the first place? It used to be pretty decent.

[Bellator138]

if you would happily play the A-1 at 4.3 4.7 why not just uptier it? Then you have the better plane that can fly in the appropriate br without having to wait for them to change stuff.

[ProgramTheta]

In terms of pure performance vs BR in Air RB, the only 190s worth flying are the A-1 and the D-9.

ALL of the others are overshadowed by one of those two.

If you fly any of the A-5s, which I sadly can’t recommend, the only one it makes sense to use is the A-5/U2, since it is the lightest, fastest, best climbing and most maneuverable, and it’s at 4.0. The A-5/U2 is quite a bit faster than the A-1 on paper at WEP, but the overheating cancels this out, and the A-1 still outclimbs and outturns it. The A-5 and A-5/U12 are outright worse than the A-5/U2 at a higher BR.

[Creastroy]

Best 190 so far: Buffed J7W1

Saw the shadow of the old 190a5 on it

[Bellator138]

You did caps to, I assume, emphasize your point. I am just pointing out a solution for you because they most likely will completely ignore this post no matter how many caps you use.

[catDude]

My apologies, I had some liquor in me when typing that last reply.
Much easier to simply play something more competitive at the same BR though

[Bellator138]

No worries, and I agree. But I doubt they will do anything just because it isn’t “important” even though it is kinda weird to have planes at the wrong BR placement.

[Real_K_Soze]

@catDude

It is fighting aircraft that actually have working flight models and don’t overheat in seconds thus damaging the engine.

Imho you touched 2 important topics:

1. The stealth nerf by artificially accelerated overheating
2. Non-existent or non-realistic flight models of 190 As

So your question:

@catDude

who decided to nerf it into oblivion in the first place? It used to be pretty decent.

can be answered quite easIly: Gaijin

Regarding overheating of 190s:

The oil temperature of 83° Celsius (=white = uncritical) turns over time into a flashing red (= engine will die) - before 2021 (1 hour matches) you could fly the whole match with WEP (WEP runs out after 40-55 minutes).

From another thread:

@Real K Soze@live

The game is unable to simulate the cooling effect of water-methanol or just water injection - in all aircraft. Try to fly a 190 F-8 with WEP & MW 50 - the temperatures for overheating decrease after a few minutes with with WEP - after 10-15 minutes you get a flashing red at 83° degree Celsius of the engine oil. And - historically correct - you have no manual rads for oil in 190 A/F models. And iirc: in 190 manuals WEP was limited to 3 minutes…

And:

@Real K Soze@live

Only for BP tasks i use aircraft like the Fw 190 F-8 (for bomb and rocket kills in Air RB) which is like many others severely affected by “time wear” and “heat wear”- even as this seems to be somehow historically accurate. But i also read that the 80% PP and 100% coolers as infinite WEP setup for P-51 Cs was physically impossible as this would have required a constant activity by the pilot regarding the coolers…

So loitering with a Fw 190 at 8 km with a SC 1000 above the enemy airfields (late and very late game) in order to get some bomb kills becomes even more risky as soon as you face the combination of “heat wear” and “time wear” at the same time - simply because you have a flashing red oil temperature at 83°C (previously white) if you try to escape the usually very angry rest of their team after such a dive bombing attack. Therefore your advice to reset the heat wear by shutting off the engine for some time looks great. Thx for that!!

Regarding FM:

190 A vs Spit V:

@Real K Soze@live

If you dig enough you find a lot of evidence that at least the earlier Fw 190s had zero problems to clap Spitfires, some mock-up dogfights between 109s and 190s were decided by pilot experience, power needed to fly the plane - and altitude/speed - the lower the alt and the higher the speed, the chances of the 190s got better.

30 seconds google - Spit Mk V vs 190 A:

And:

@Real K Soze@live

In that same month, a Mk IX with a 61-series Merlin was flown against the captured Fw 190A. The test found that at varying altitudes, the speed difference was not more than 10 mph and the Spitfire was usually superior, but only by a small margin. In a climb, the Fw 190A was slightly better due to its superior acceleration, but not remarkably so, while in a dive the Fw 190A was better, especially in the early stages. The roll of the Fw 190A was far superior to that of the Mk IX, and the overall manoeuvrability was superior, except in the case of turning circles, where the Mk IX could get inside the Fw 190A for the all-important killing shot. However, the ability of the Spitfire to turn was one of its most well-known traits, and experienced Luftwaffe pilots would likely have avoided this at all costs in any case. One noticeable advantage of the Fw 190A was its ability to get away from a Spitfire by doing a flick-roll in the opposite direction to the angle of attack and then diving away, so Allied pilots were warned to expect this move.

From here:

How a captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190A led to the development of the Spitfire Mk IX, the best close-in fighter of WWII - The Aviation Geek Club

Have a good one!