It had M2’s as equipped AFAIK, and some may possibly have had M3’s back fitted later in their lives according to some old threads in the previous forum.
So M3-equipped F8F’s should be an entirely different plane if ever included - F8F-1(Late) or something like that.
It is not really a problem at all.
And I hope that wasn’t supposed to be a description of the 190D-9.
I hope so too, since in my experience it is decent.
Yeah I’m feeling upset. F8F-1 should not be moved to 4.7, that’s all.
Every time there are 4 XP-50s in the match, 3 of them will chase bombers and get themselves killed. That seems to be some kind of physic law.
Well, it is.
Still, I have had a lot of fun in German fighters… After all, climb rate doesn’t matter as long as your opponents don’t climb at all.
Whilst i share your general view on things - imho gaijin is not really innocent regarding the low performance of US pilots and US aircraft.
Why?
Because gaijin is unable or unwilling to put efforts in actual useful tutorials attached to the UI of the hangar screen. In total opposition to most USSR aircraft: Playing US aircraft requires some knowhow to make them work.
So whilst USSR planes fight mostly at their sweet spot (= 4 km alt and lower) it needs way more efforts to make an US aircraft work.
As a result we have very capable planes (if used correct) at way too low BRs.
Regarding the F8F:
If you look up the intended role of the plane (=fleet defender optimized to intercept swarms of kamikaze planes even from small escorts carriers) and the resulting design choices, the power drop at higher alt made sense as fights in the Pacific took place at 4 km and lower. That the plane sucks vs European aircraft at higher alt is the logical consequence.
That gaijin argues with worst performing 5.0 plane looks comprehensible - but arguing with “low burst mass” is actually a joke if the plane is fast enough to pick it’s fights at will.
If you look at the burst mass of a 3.7 C 205 (2 x 12.7 mm and 2 x 7.7 mm) and compare it with a I-185 (3 x 20mm with 560 rounds!!!) you might get the point that US/USSR players need this handholding by gaijin and gaijin tries to tell fairy tales and puts BRs as they like it.
because people dont know how to use the f8f-1 and because of that they were led to believe that it is not good where it was
For what date and where is that sourced from?
The M3 was not made standard until April 1945 (see M3 .50 Caliber Machine Gun), and the first contracts for the F8F-1 were October 1944, deliveries in Feb 1945, and first operational May 1945 - so the first ones didn’t have M3’s.
Also, apparently AN 01-85FD-2 Erection and Maintenance Handbook for the F8, dated 1 March 1948, only mentions M2’s on pages 313 - 315 when talking about wing guns. I don’t have a copy of it but it is quoted here - Any proof F8F Bearcat used M3 Brownings? | Aircraft of World War II - WW2Aircraft.net Forums.
What is the logic in putting the same armament as an early Wildcat in a late-war fighter?
AFAIK it was solely due to the small size of the a/c - it was the smallest airframe that could fit the very powerful R2800 engine, and was also intended to be able to be operated from small escort carriers.
Hellcats were too large for escort carriers, so they could only operate Wildcats - which is why Wildcats continued to be developed through the war.
Probably they were more interested in the fighter-bomber ability.
And the change to 20mm Hispanos must have been planned, or otherwise they wouldn’t be simply able to change from .50cals to 20mm cannons.
The .50cals were probably merely a substitution until reliable 20mm cannons were available.
I’ve just flown F8F-1 after the update for a couple of matches. Got some teammates flying F8F-1 with average skills, guess they noticed the BR change as well. I’m so certain that this thing is absolutely broken in any proper hand now. I don’t even feel like complaining about it being broken, because I’m so convinced that gaijin will definitely move this thing uptier. It’s so busted.
I’m now pretty sure that, had USA players been at average in their skills, this beast should be 5.3 rather than 5.0.
Just flown F8F-1 for a couple of matches. A lot of experienced players have come to play this fighter and it’s too devastating now. Especially when attacking La-7s and Wyvern S4s. They don’t stand a chance. I really could not imagine that one day I may call Wyvern S4 a sitting duck. But F8F-1 is just way better in speed now.
On flipside, I took out my ki-43-III for bp clearing and… what do I see, f8fs on the deck sniffing grass even still.
It’s painful to see
Might be interesting:
Honestly the fw190d9 is better than the f8f-1, with that said both should probably stay at 5.0. moving the bearcat down was a mistake.
Average USA team. P-51, P-47D, F8F-1… Whatever the plane is, all they do is crawling on the deck.
Yeah, and when you encounter one that didn’t it’s scary bc you know that they know how to do shit 💀
