(LIGHTNING F.53 EXCLUSIVE)
The Lightning F.53 lacks a lot of armament it had in real life which would be of great use in game. the F.53 could carry 1000lb fire bombs (napalm) as well as ordinary dumb bombs both below and above the wings (2x below 1x above on each wing (a total of 6 bombs) as shown). it could also carry a single matra SNEB pod without an attached fuel pod above each wing as opposed to the current single option of 2 WITH fuel pods which significantly increase the weight load, reducing the possible armament presets significantly due to the low in game max weight limit. On the other hand, the document does show flare pods but those were said to be “non decoy flares” by a gaijin moderator 2 or 3 years ago.
overall, napalm bombs on this aircraft would be a brilliant addition and make the F.53 a somewhat viable premium again due to the recent nerf to rockets and their damage to bases. and No this wouldn’t be broken in air realistic battles as the F-104 Starfighter has access to napalm bombs also, and is nearly twice as fast as the lightning.
Source of the annotated image below and what I said: https://web.archive.org/web/20140201172609/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1968/1968%20-%201766.html
(BOTH LIGHTNING VARIANTS) https://news.mcaa.gov.mn/uploads/bookSubject/2022-03/6243f50a5241f.pdf ← Page 150, 151 & 152 show details on the ejection seat system for both lightning variants. these aircraft getting ejection seats is long overdue since this feature has been in the game for well over a year and nearly every aircraft with them in real life has received them in game other than these.
I did point this out on the gaijin.net issues forum but i believe that was the wrong place to do so.
I may not have the F.53, but I do have the F.6 and the lack of options for armament is quite predominant, even the fact it cant carry fuel pods is quite frustrating when you cant carry them for much needed fuel. Its sad to see not many saw your post because it would be quite nice to have an actual more realistic lightning.
Yeah, no wonder you are struggle, you are stock… Stock grinds are meant to suck so you spend GE. That is Gaijin entire business model.
Spaded Lightning F6 or Lightning F53. Decent aircraft, especially when you can go B52 hunting.
Ive gotten 3-4 kills in a match with the Ligtning more than a few times recently, just annoyign the BRs are bit overally compressed.
ADENs are always hard to aim, I think the issue is the speed differential you are usualyl dealing with. Hawk, Harrier, Even Jag, you are way closer to the targets speed.
Stock aircraft, it is. Slower, accelerates worse, and a way harder to use gun.
And even vs 10.0/10.3s its a chore to play. Heck, most 9.7 Mig-21s will easily beat you in every respect, and kinematically defeating a 9G from something like a Harrier is really hard. Even when spaded. Compression even at 9.3 is bad.
Airframe is carried by its flat line speed, and a pair of Red Tops. Which take great care to use.
But OP has neither, because he’s stock. Though equally, shouldnt be complaining about any vehicle until at least 70% of mods are unlocked
Eh… I can think of way worse aircraft to spade than the Lightning F6, I remember the Jag GR1 being really really bad, so you’ve got that to look forward too soon I guess.
But I cant really think of a single vehicle that I would consider “easy” to stock grind, maybe one of the Tonkas thanks to getitng Chaff stock, but still not easy, just easier.
Stock grinds are designed to suck. Period. That is their entire point, once spaded, you never look at mods ever again 99.99% of the time. The point is the grind.
Look for slow things, A-4s or F-86s, keep an eye out for B-52 and Tu-95s and IL-20s. Worse case scenario go for AI aircraft or even ground targets.
I generally sit around 20k ft and dont have much of an issue, then just dive down onto distracted targets. Firestreaks are very short ranged, but work when you respect their limitations, 1-1.5km max and ideally something a bit energy trapped. Gets a lot better when you get Red Tops. (Fire about 2.5km, with a bit of a lead and you’ll kill anything distracted or energy trapped). They are even all-aspect vs B-52s and Tu-95s
French jaguar (10.7 only gets stock fuel tanks) and vautour bombers (the first one with no guns, cannot even take out a base stock even if you somehow manage to get to it) come to mind.
what do you mean miss B-52 🙀😭???