In the F8F-1B. They have much better high altitude performance, so climbing isn’t an option. They go slightly slower on the deck but that’s often not enough when my energy retention is much worse, and they climb nearly as well.
to put it simply, you cant.
Even the LF mkIX spitfire which went up to 6.0 cant really deal with it outside of a low alt turnfight.
yak3u really should have gone to 6.3
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The only thing I can think of is to keep an eye on those planes, stay more than 4 km away while gaining altitude, and—if you see they are clearly coming after you—try to maintain that distance by diving, at least to force them to lose altitude. If they get too close, go into a steep dive toward your base or beneath a teammate flying at a higher altitude, and take advantage of the Bearcat’s superior structural integrity.
I used to do something similar with the Fw 190 A-8 and usually managed to escape, regaining altitude as soon as the enemy broke off the pursuit.
The soviet planes im 99% sure have worse high altitude performance than the F8F. American planes usually excel in this regard though im not sure about the bearcat
You don’t if they have a brain, these props are just undertiered
They don’t.
It doesn’t
It is true that both soviet prop high alt performance is often UNDERestimated, the vk107 yaks and the yak3u have literally no issues at 6km and fight just fine and it’s also true the american “high altitude advantage” is often OVERstated. They are much closer in performance than what ppl like to say. The F8F is also just one of the least performing american props at high altitude.
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Keep in mind that the F8F is a Navy aircraft and isn’t as optimized for high altitudes. The American planes that perform well at high altitude are the P-47, P-39, and the P-51D and H; Navy aircraft, on the other hand, generally aren’t designed for such high altitudes.
Aren’t the regular planes advantages mostly academic? Like, p47 flies faster than the yak 3u (I think) and have better high altitude performance, but I don’t think anyone dogfights in the space, and the minimal requires very careful maneuvering because the yak 3u out accelerates you anyway.
The Yak-3U is not slower than you IIRC, if it is, its not by much (only in a dive because it rips sooner), it also has a higher climb rate. Like you have no chance whatsoever to be honest. The plane is just blatantly undertiered.
It will outrun you, outclimb you, and outturn about everything that isn’t a Zero or an A7M. Its only downsides are lower ammo count that the average fighter at that BR, somewhat compresses at high speed (especially less roll), and rips the wings at 700kph IAS.
It also has exceptionally low drag, so if you are distracted, you can still rip the wings in a shallow dive with no throttle.
It essentially dominates everything it faces, including uptiers.
The VK-107 is just an upgunned Yak-3 (slightly heavier). Still good, but not nearly as dominating.
VK-107 has a different, more powerful engine I thought? Also I was checking statshark, so unsure about the accuracy, but apparently the Yak-3U has lower drag than the XIVe Spitfire? By about half. Seems pretty ridiculous.
Vk107 performs better at Medium-high altitude as it does have a 2nd supercharger gear.
However, it maneuvers worse than 3U at all altitudes and overheats without MEC. Not the mention 3U performs better at the sea level than the Vk107 as well.
Yak3U is a more dangerous opponent overall unless you plan to fight strictly above 15.000 feet.
Differences between Yak-3U and Yak-3-107 are similar to the Spitfire LF IX and F Mk XIVe.
Yeah you are right. I was thinking about the Yak-3P by mistake.
It’s a tiny plane compared to the spitfires… but still seems to have too little drag from its behaviour in a shallow dive.
Btw if you like the F8F I would just play the 50cal one instead. The 6.3 one has a very subpar FM while the 4.7 one is very strong at that BR since the FM is even slightly better than the B version at 6.3. And 50cals are very good/OP, even with just 4 of them you can rack kills no problem.