If you have to fight a yak 1 3 9 they can be almost impossible to reverse if your in a plane that is heavier am i missing something?
You dont engage yaks below 3km which translates to sideclimb for 20 minutes and hope you get jump at one.
Is it fun? No.
But its just how things are currently.
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Unless its a yak 3u which will just dart at you
Step 1. Point your nose at a Yak
Step 2. From a significant distance (atleast 4 or 5 miles) perform an immelman manuever
… and run away :)
No you are not missing anything - they are more manoeuvrable than you so do your best to not dogfight them at all!
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So use planes like bf110 to make them vanish in head ons
You missed that my response was in reply to doing an Immelman…
And any competent Yak player won’t let you head on - but by all means farm the others :)
You might want to check this thread:
Regarding (almost) impossible to reverse:
If we talk about a “real” reversal (meaning you are in a disadvantageous position) their usually superior energy retention combined with the superior agility vs most aircraft prevents you from getting successful snap shots - going upwards is a death sentence - running away is often impossible.
Therefore your survival chances vs experienced pilots depend imho on the actual energy states and the combat altitude where the fight occurs.
So your main concern is primarily to keep situational awareness and avoid getting jumped by a Yak-3, Yak-9U or a Yak-3 U in the first place; at any time and what ever it takes - or to fly a plane either capable of beating them in a turnfight or able to run away.
As i meet all of the 3 mentioned types daily i can recommend the B7A2 as countermeasure regarding turnfighting and the P-47 D-28/30 regarding outrunning them - ofc just with proper MEC settings and smart WEP time management.
The 4.0 / 4.3 (Air RB) Yaks lose a hell of engine power above 6 km. So even if they fly very fast in a straight line even at higher alt, their good energy retention is severely affected by the lack of engine power.
If you are able to determine when and where a fight will happen the F6F-5 is also able to beat a 4.0/4.3 Yak-3 - all you have to do is to minimize vertical maneuvers. The Hellcat is a beast, u need MEC to avoid overheating.
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From an SB perspective,
In my yak-3 and yak-9k, I really, really hate fighting american planes if there’s diving room. They dive away and become more jittery the faster they get, while I lose almost all my roll rate once I’m at like 590-600 kph IAS and rip my wing if I try to follow them to 700 kph (while p51c mustangs and f4u-4 corsairs happily dance at 800 kph).
Rudder works a little better than ailerons in my experience, but it’s still a marked increase in difficulty trying to get guns on target if the enemy is abusing the roll rate difference to jink. Usually what happens is that I find myself forced to break off the pursuit to avoid ripping and climb back up to altitude (thus they escape).
On flipside, yak+flap is a ufo that remains frighteningly controllable even at 150-200 kph IAS.
Theoretically, F6F-5/F4U-4 should be able to use descending spiral to win based on IdahoBookworm’s videos.
For twin engine heavies other than P38s and p47s, I don’t have much experience either in the yak-3/-9 or in the heaviest to make any remarks. P-47s tend to be fairly easy targets.
For bf109s and spits, avoid going into one circle fights and you should be fine-ish in both my experience and videos I see. Even a wounded yak is likely to win such.
Main caveat I see for RB is that I imagine the control stiffening doesn’t impact aiming nearly as much so jinking may be less effective.
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