After reading the entire thread and now that it’s 2026, I’d like to share my experiences. I’m a German main with extensive experience flying other nations, so I can only speak from the perspective of someone who has to fight a Yak-3U on the opposing team. Well, what can I say? I wasn’t looking for posts about this aircraft for no reason. I’ve enjoyed flying the Fw 190 D9 on and off lately, but this time I’ve taken a liking to the Bf 109 K4. In matches, there’s no aircraft I dislike more than the Yak-3U (perhaps the Rafale in top tier, but that’s another story). I’d much rather take on a Spitfire or even a P-51-H5 than a Yak 3U. The flight performance is, in my opinion, not normal, and when I see the P-51-H-5 at 6.3, I seriously wonder what the Yak is doing at 5.7. I know this post is probably not very helpful, but fighting against an aircraft with no significant weaknesses is downright frustrating.
You can’t boom and zoom this plane because it can evade almost without losing speed; you can’t out-turn it, you can’t outclimb it, and you can’t let it overshoot because its flight characteristics are otherworldly. To exploit the advantages of the Bf 109 K4 in vertical combat or stall maneuvers? Not a chance!
You simply can’t beat a Yak-3U in a Bf 109 K4 unless your opponent makes some mistakes or simply doesn’t notice you. I always thought game balance was supposed to make everyone more or less equal, but Gaijin proves me wrong every time. This flight model, post-war or not, is completely broken.
My Yak 3U isn’t spaded yet but I’ve noticed that it loses performance above around 14kft fairly drastically. They also lack in regards to straight line energy retention compared to the Sea Fury even on the deck from my experience so Mustangs etc should also be able to walk away from them if you get in trouble I’d imagine.
As for the 109’s all I can say to try is to fight them up high. Fight them on the deck and you’re dead.
so it is?
And lf9 beats both planes easily so?
The LF9 is a different story, but compared to the Yak-3U, the LF9 is more prone to speed bleed, and the higher you climb, the faster its power drops. With the Yak, on the other hand, I had the feeling that it wasn’t affected nearly as much. In turns, it maintains its speed seemingly as if nothing were wrong, and at higher altitudes, while it does lose power, it doesn’t do so as drastically as other aircraft in its battle rating.
I’m currently testing this with a Bf 109 G-10. While it’s generally inferior to a K4, I’m hoping that the G-10’s lighter weight, slightly better roll rate, and somewhat better turning characteristics will give me a better chance once the battles slow down. I don’t yet have any real experience against a Yak-3U in 1v1 combat with this aircraft, but the G-10’s engine power at high altitudes definitely saved my bacon a few times yesterday.
I am not sure if you get happy with that plane.
Based on my preferences (i don’t like Spits due to their FM with stick settings) just 2 planes i flew are able to kill a Yak-9U reliably: The A7M2 and the P-59A.
- Whilst the A7M2 has no issues to out-turn a Yak-3U (Air RB with Hotas and without instructor) you need to set up your fights properly to ensure that they can’t run away.
- The P-59A turns also better but has a severe top (low alt) and rip speed advantage and their massive speed drop after tight turns helps a lot to avoid overshooting. I achieved the best results merging at low alt but with very high speed - avoiding/dodging the head-on and your initial turn plants you at their six (all crews with maxed pilot skill & expert qualification).
I stopped playing both as the A7M2 is way too easy to use and in the P-59 i need a hell of brain power in order to stay alive and to focus on them as main threat - whilst the armament is not really supporting “one pass” kills…
The main issue is always the time you need to kill them - like vs any Yak - so you have to wait (or create) an undisturbed 1 vs 1 in order to avoid getting 3rd partied - but on the other hand you need to kill them whatever it takes as you can’t win as long as they are alive…
LF mk9 has more speed bleed but i do believe it can pull harder due to being a spitfire so its trade depends on your play style which is better
That was well written.
As for the G-10, I’m still not entirely sure whether I’ll be happy with it or not. When you go from a K4 back to a G-10, the difference in performance is immediately noticeable.
However, you also notice small differences that I personally appreciate. For example, in dives, the G-10 doesn’t drop quite as quickly, and speed is easy to manage. The extra power seems to be available continuously, and the engine overheats the slowest of all the Bf 109s. Last but not least, there’s the lighter weight, which makes it feel more agile, even though it’s still one of the heaviest 109s.
But as I said, I don’t yet know whether the advantages or disadvantages will outweigh each other in the long run. Maybe I’m just not good enough.
But ultimately, this doesn’t really help us with the Yak. I don’t even think that a higher BR would really be the right solution. What would be more crucial is a revision of the flight model, and we all know that will never happen.
This is imho leading to the right direction - a lot of planes have a busted flight model whilst others are severely hampered by instructor limitations. If you dig deep enough you find a lot of examples that mainly mouse aim players (imho 99% of Air RB pilots) of certain nations have to deal with that.
So whilst i agree that gaijin won’t nerf USSR flight models it would be great if they would consider a de-nerf of their opponents.
Example:
My Swiss C-3604 (flown with a Hotas, SFC and disabled instructor) kills any Yak in the BR range and can dogfight and win vs Spitfires (and the even better turning Hurricanes) whilst i have severe issues with the JP Bf 109 -7 or the also broken MB 157. 😂
There is a reason why 1 vs 1 duel specialists use FR controls in their tournaments.
from my experience you can just use MEC 40% radiators (all of them) in later 109s (everyting higher than the G-2) and use WEP continuously the only problem is youll burn through your fuel very fast when using WEP
I’m not entirely convinced. I remember G6 doing OK with 40% rads on colder maps and overheating (although much slower) at moderate and hot maps even with 60-80% rads. Will have to test it again.
On test map (I think it’s moderate?) it goes into yellow with 100% rads at 330IAS, but at higher speed it’s OK.
But yellow means a few minutes later you’ll be in the orange.
40% will get you overheating pretty badly.
Dunno if there’s opportunities in ARB for such, but I’ve found running my engine at ~85% throttle (or rather: whatever throttle gives me 1.15 ATA on my instruments) in all my 109s (F, G, K) when not in immediate danger has given me some pretty significant margins before the engine kills itself from over-heating in actual emergencies. I’ll grant that this is viable and possible in ASB where you get to pick your engagements and have time to let your engine relax but might be useless for ARB. It even lets me WEP for combat with the F-4 (alongside ~65% or 75% rads which I toggle on when I start turning).
I mostly started doing it after seeing the engine management cheat sheets for Il2:GB for continuous vs combat power (30 minute max) out of curiousity if I can avoid my engine temps turning yellow after 20 minutes of flying (it indeed stops my engine temps turning yellow after ~20 minutes of flying).
Basically, 100% throttle for take off and climb to 3 km altitude, throttle down to 85% (or even 60%) when flying to objective or patrolling above objective once at my target altitude. 100% if I see unknown plane or confirmed hostile. WEP if emergency (say: a dogfight).
For non 109s, the equivalent is running 85 or 92% prop pitch (or specific RPM if I know them like 2700 for P-51C) and slamming to 100% in a pinch.
and lf9 is also undertiered
I mean, I just adjust prop pitch constantly when not in combat, although this doesn’t work for some planes. F.e. in Do-335 B2 you may be down 25% of power and still be overheating.
But this is non-viable for actual combat and I guess one doesn’t play sim to cheese it :D
i remember even the G-6 doing fine with it
(ill test it ig)
i checked for the K-4 and G-6 (i dont own the G-10 and i will not touch the G-14)
both are doing fine with 40% (even on hot maps i think)
but there is still the problem that wep just burns trough your fuel like twice as fast as 100%
Well, that’s only KINDA true:
Yellow means you will get into orange in a few minutes.
if you stick to 380+ IAS, it takes a bit to reach yellow, indeed, but it happens.
Then once you hit yellow, even at 500 IAS you are back to yellow almost immediately.
And the temperature steadily increases.
40% is too little on moderate map for K4.
Now I’m testing G6 with airfield start, then climb at pretty fast 325-330IAS…
Yellow oil and water happen VERY quickly (water like 10s after oil)
G6 loses power past 4,1km, so if one stays there, it will probably settle down to reasonable temp, so there’s that. Still in the yellow, though.
Just a rare, unbiased opinion. My handshake. Like you, I don’t understand people, who say “Yak-3 is OP”. Seems like all the whine 'bout “OP Yak-3s” is made by people who don’t understand air combat strategy and tactics.
Maybe they just fly to the “meet point” and dogfight then in chaotic style? It such a ‘mode’ it will be almost ANY aircraft that has balanced specs (climb/acceleration/turn/energy saving) that will annoy them.
Yaks are just quite popular, so they see that they’re often killed by Yaks… And instead of learning combat tactics and their plane’s advantages, choosing to complain about Yak-3s OPness…
Fully agree that P-51C-10 has its strong sides (600 kph+ in horizontal near the ground, perfect energy saving in flat climb/dive, etc) and not-too-bad turn time to attack Yaks when you have right position in a combat. And it has BR 3.7 (!) So Why “Yak-3s are OP” whiners aren’t whining “P-51C is OP”?
As you said, P-47D-28 is good against Yak-3s (and NOT only against em alone) too. Not to mention that D-28 is just a physics-law-breaker with its fantastic (for P47D) climb and turn speed. No Bf.109G-6 pilot can duel with D-28 in good hands in a turnfight. Rare G-2 pilot can… And, with its absolute high-alt advantage over Yak-3s (and almost all other Soviet planes), 840+ kph dive speed (against Yak-3’s 680), plus its “laser” M20 bullets… It’s just a killing-machine if you use it properly. And yes, it was VERY good @ 5.0 but Gaijins LOWERED its BR to 4.7.
So, I could say the same 'bout some Japan machines (A7M2, J2M2). Britts (Typhoon Mk. Ib), and so on.
And yes, 3U is much better than 3. It performs as well @ its BR, as P51C-10 or D-28 at theirs.
It is one of the most pleasant Soviet machines to play. But it meets Spit LF mk. IXs, Bf.109K-4s, P-51H’s (as you said) and jets… So isn’t an OP really, more just a good machine, if you know how to use it properly… But La-7 is like so!! NOT-a bad-thing that bangs out 5 enemies vs you alone, if you know what to do.
So, it seems like it’s the Pilot who rules?.. Thinking instead of [you_know_that_word]?
Yak-3 beats P-51 in climb, turn, instantenous turn, energy retention, acceleration and firepower.
P-51 is faster in straight line and has higher rip speed.
Yak-3 has A LOT more to work with.
it outclimbs nearly everything on its br (talking about the normal yak3s but i think this also goes for the 3u and vk)
at least on the alts you will meet it
the main problem is here that there is no way in the world you will get up high enough for the yak to lose a fair fight against you
its not that slow in a straight line (this i think only goes for the normal one)
has great guns with near .50cal ballistics while also doing as much dmg as 30mms
it beats everything it meets in a dogfight (unless its japanese and even then i has a chance)
the only downside is its ripspeed
uhmmm at least some do?
one of the most underwhelming 5.7s in game
- if thats true all 5.7s do
- thats the point of an uptier