havent played the higher BR Yak 3s, but the base Yak3 is honestly busted at 4.3. the ONLY downside is the wings rip at 660kph.
It has no problem reaching that speed, its ability to accelerate is unmatched even by pretty much everything below 6.0, it holds its speed incredibly well too. It climbs like a rocket (though only to about 4-5000m, though Air RB fights rarely stay at that altitude for long if they even get there these days) It turns well, and though it has kinda low ammo, it has perfectly acceptable armament.
Its definitely not a 4.3 plane IMO.
as for fighting it, best way I’ve found is honestly in the Vertical. It turns well in the horizontal, but not as well in the Vertical,
Otherwise your best bet is to just try and out dive it. (the Base Yak3 at least, I think the 3P and above have much stronger wings and can dive faster, but havent played them yet).
However I found both while fighting it and playing it, as the Yak Pilot watching someone dive away from you, you can just hold some extra altitude, follow him, sit doing a cozy 600+kph because its so absurdly fast, wait for them to run out of altitude to dive to and thus ability to hold their speed, and just re dive on them except now they can’t even run anymore.
If you aren’t in a spitfire or Zero that hard out turns it in every scenario, I find you just have to bank on the Yak pilot either not seeing you coming, or hope he makes a mistake in his engagement.
The LW did not engage yaks under 5km because the yak performed well and agile at low alts, it is NOT because the yaks outclassed the German fighters.
The Yaks ingame are simply overpowered as hell, always been this way since 2013/14.
Outrun you at low alt, outrun you at high alt, pulls energy out of ass.
122 days in a fighter ingame gives me all the experience i need to say the above AND from both sides of the coin, i play all nations air.
The Yaks are my most hated aircraft ingame, unless of course you fly it yourself then it is fine…
For any new players reading this: If you perform poorly in air battles - fly the Yak’s, suddenly you will be able to achieve what you was not able to previously.
Go from being utterly useless and just dying everytime to slaughtering anyone in your vicinity with ease.
If you dont climb at start of match you wont have much chance of doing anything. They are a jack of all. So you need an energy advantage and play to you’re strengths and hope they make a mistake and you dont.
If you’re in a turn fighter they can turn but not as good they need speed to do so, if you’re in a boom and zoomer they can do that but not as good as they cant dive well and they can energy fight not as good, not enough weight due to some wood. They aiso dont have good bottom end acceleration but can hold speed once they got it.
So basicly they have 4 stars in everything but no 5’s
I don’t understand why people are surprised or mad that the yak3s perform well in game. Most engagements happen in altitudes where yak3s engine power doesn’t start deteriorating or just about starting to. I think their power to weight ratio is among the best during the war as it has a very powerful engine yet being very light, it had a small and nimble air frame too just like in game. I don’t think this isn’t realistic nor do I think the lower BR yak 3 is OP. You can readily run away from them in the competitive American props like the p51C10, p51d30 and even the p47d28. I am referring to a top speed chart for props as well as personal experience. It’s the yak3u particularly that’s op, because unlike the yak3 it actually is faster than American props at lower altitudes. You really shouldn’t be expecting your p51d30 to out accelerate a yak 3 at lower speeds of course, but you are generally significantly faster than him. Even in the p51c10. With the lower yak 3 you can actually effectively reverse the plane because it cannot generate power out of thin air as quickly as the yak3u. If you try to reverse a yak3u, and fail to follow up with a killing blow he will just loop over and catch you too fast. Against a yak3 you can normally dive away and separate because like I said you are faster than it.
I performance jump from the yak3 to the yak3u is a massive one, it basically has no weakness other than it’s rip speed. The yak 3 when compared to American props has a lower top speed and of course lower top speed acceleration while not massively out climbing competitive American props (making it so you can shallow climb against them to win an engagement). It’s climb rate is just slight worse than the bf109s, so in that regards its okay too. I really don’t think the yak3 and the yak3u are comparable planes (That being said… against a p51h it’s not really fair for the yak3u… I guess that’s just the nature of an uptier).
You are going to have to expand that I think - looks a lot like “The LW did not engage yaks below 5km because the Yak performed well and agile at low alts, it is NOT because the Yaks performed well and agile.”
Ie it appears you are saying it is because A, and NOT because A…???
Fully agree to your overall assessment regarding the 4.3 version.
I’d like to add that i have zero problems to kill them with a B7A2 - all you have to do is to dodge the headon at any cost. The only countermeasure a Yak-3 has, is it’s way better roll as the B7A2 is quite stiff above 300 kmph. But better roll and acceleration can be countered quite easy - like vs every 190…
Another plane which has small chance to win is a SM 92 - either by dragging them way above 6 km and make use of your better handling (mainly due to larger wing area and infinite WEP without MEC >6km) - the amazing zoom climb ability of the Yaks is useless high up as soon you force them to make 1 or 2 turns - the decrease of turn ability combined with way less engine power is amazing and kills their main advantages.
Another strategy which worked (sometimes) is a high speed (above 500 kmph) flat turn fight at ground level - the speed is too high for them to use flaps and SM 92 flaps rip around 550. Works only in 1 vs 1 and if the Yak-3 sticks to the fight - it takes a while, but you get as his six.
Imho you and some other posters nailed it: It was a plane optimized for low altitudes and had (like P-39s and P-63s) speed and handling advantages vs the LW fighters which were optimized for combat a higher altitudes. For example the VVS P-39s were used until the final days of WW2 as they were still a very capable and competitive fighter at lower alt.
I cleaned my basement the last days and found a lot of time for “reading breaks” of WW2 biographies and memoirs stored there.The main combat approach of the LW vs the VVS was BnZ - and not turn fighting - they learned that whilst fighting I-16s and I-153s in 1941. Actually comprehensible as they fought more or less always outnumbered 1:10 (early) or 1:20 (late war).
According to Krupinski’s memoirs/biography the local LW HQ’s even refused to acknowledge (at the beginning) the existence of an aircraft called “Yak-3A” - even as he described their ability to turn extremely tight to avoid BnZ attacks. He described a BnZ attack in which he bounced 2 Yak-3s. Going for their leader his desired victim was able to dodge his attack when he was in gun range -in a turn he could not follow. Peppered by the wingman he had to run and evade their fire until he crossed the front line - as VVS fighters in general refused to follow above enemy territory… Mid 1944…
The D-30 is faster at all altitudes, but it has lower acceleration due to its weight. The 4B Corsair and Bearcat are also faster, but none can match it in climb rate - aside from the Bearcat, and only really at low alt.
Btw - the loot boxes brought a Yak-3T (BR 5.0) event plane. Despite i have no access to the market place and won’t use it anyway: Is this plane worth any time to invest (based on yt vids an “upgunned” 4.3 with a 37mm and 2 x 20mm with the same weight according to data sheets in the old forum) and what is the current market value of it? Thx in advance!
The engine of the bf109G10 (1944) produced 1,474hp while weighing 745 Kg. The engine Yak 3 produced 1300-1360 while weighing 575 kg. Pound for pound it was a more powerful engine, on top of the fact the yak3 was more than a half ton lighter. I stand by what I said. It does have one of the best power to weight ratio’s of the war due to it’s powerful engine and light weight.
Some random graph I found tho I’ll be honest its rather trash. Since it is going for… I think max weight for the p47 and p51 and those are long range fighters. Still when doing dry weights the P/W ratio is still better than most planes.
…and was able to generate ~ 1.800 hp with MW-50 even with B4 fuel for 2 to 3 intervals of 10 minutes in one sortie.
Do some research and learn why the VK-105 (based on HS 12 Y) in particular and the Yak-3 in general was lighter than GER/US/UK fighters instead of claiming nonsense like this.
And check this data sheet of the A6M3 - their empty weight was 300kG lower with similar but slightly lower engine performance. Based on JP standards the Yak-3 was fat.
If you optimize something you prioritize desired results - mainly by sacrificing other aspects. An aircraft engine can become lighter if you don’t need superchargers or other stuff needed at higher alt. Same as airframe, wing design or wing area - they have an impact on agility and turn rates, but also on lift and drag. Just think about why the Ta-152 had this large wings…
Before i forget this: Ever wondered why such a superior aircraft seen action summer '44 sits at 4.3 in Air RB and your mentioned 109 G-10 at 5.7?
A 1944 109 G10 would have the MW50 system, boosting its power to ~1800hp.
Regardless, even the best case scenario 1360hp for the VK105 is very unimpressive.
Allison V1710s were making that kinda power (and reliably, unlike the VK105) for quite some time, and made plenty more after mechanics figured out they could remove the boost limiter and the mighty Allison wouldn’t have its longevity greatly affected. The DB601E was also making right around 1300-something hp much earlier. The Jumo 213 was into 2000hp in 1944, and even the much lower priority bomber engine Jumo 211 was making just over 1400hp before the Yak3 came into the mix.
That’s not to mention radial engines, the best of which (R-2800) were making over 2000hp at this time - even the worse ones like the BMW 801 weren’t far off this number at about 1850hp.
So no, it wasn’t a powerful engine. It just received a very light and small airframe.
Well yeah, I was mainly referring to low altitude. The yak-3s engine produces less power at higher altitude than the bf109s, I am aware of that. I am also aware that could be a reason why it weighs more. There can also be other reasons for an increased in weight like the configuration of the crankshaft in the case of the IL2 and just in general the build of the engine like what its made of.
As for why it is at a higher br. In war thunder WEP isn’t modeled correctly for some planes, the bf109g10 is one of them. With MEC you can WEP longer than should be possible. So it has an artificial boost to power. The same is true with most planes with WEP unless they have been directly nerfed by gaijin. Also because it keeps it’s engine power for longer, has a better air frame and guns. It’s actually really good at high altitudes. At low it would be a lot fairer comparison. The yak3u does better at altitude and lower altitude is a much more comparable plane.
For example semi recently the Fw190 As got nerfed in the WEP department, I would like to see a decrease in BR. It’s not as good anymore, not being able to WEP all the time, like people IRL, really hurts a planes performace in war thunder.
Can you point to me to a source that states the VK105 was an unreliable engine? Not the VK107 but the VK 105. Thanks.
Radial engines are way bigger, not really a fair comparison but yeah the bf109 could produce even more power than the yak3, I did see that but didn’t include because it was a temporary boost. Bigger engines with more displacement will obviously produce more power, it’s not surprising but the yak3s engine was light and that helped it precisely because of it’s design to be a lighter plane. It’s a very powerful engine for it’s size.
p51c10, lower br, produces more power at higher altitude, doesn’t have to worry about ripping, and is sinificalty faster at all altitudes. The F4u4 is the same way, but not you have better guns than it. Helps both as they are boom and zoomers. A lot of planes have these characteristics over the yak-3, not only exclusive to these two planes.
If you’re going to compare engines then you also need to compare their displacement as well as their weight. Ideally you would also compare compression ratios/etc.
Ash-401 has displacement of 41 Liters and weighs 1020kg
BMW-801 has displacement of 42 Liters and weighs 1012kg.
R-2800 has a displacement of 46 Liters and weighs 1073kg.
Allison had a displacement of 28 Liters and weighs 633kg.
M-105 engine had a 35 Liter displacement and weighs 575kg
Merlin had a 27 Liter displacement and weighs 744kg.
DB-603 had a displacement of 44.5 Liters and weighs 920kg.
The Soviets were by and large behind the curve when it came to producing good quality engines and when it came to super-charger technology; or it’s more accurate to say that Germany + Western Allies were far ahead.
However the Soviet engines power output was on par with both when using similar quality fuels and water injection.
The Ash-82 and BMW-801 are very similar radial engines and ended up making around 1850hp in their best configurations.
The R-2800 was able to make 2800hp late in the war due to some design and manufacturing changes as well as the use of much higher manifold pressure due to water injection and 150 octane fuel.
