Air Combat Tactics

Turn Fighting, Boom and Zoom, and E-Fighting

Turn Fighting

You will be hearing alot about energy so lets address it right now.  Energy is the speed your plane has.  Altitude also enters into the E equation because a plane can trade altitude for speed.  A plane that holds E is a plane that can keep its speed up in turns and manuvers.  All planes lose E when they turn and climb.  This is due to the effects of air resistance on the surface of the planes.  The more energy your plane loses cutting though the air, the slower it gets.  Without getting to technical, a plane with a clean shape will lose less energy cutting though the air, thus will stay faster, longer than a plane with the same engine power with a not as clean shape.  Like a paper airplane and a wad of paper of the same weight thrown at the same speed.  The clean shape of the paper airplane "holds its E" while the wad of paper "bleeds its E" and quickly falls to the floor.     The Spitfire Mk9 is a popular choice for new comers to Air Warrior.  The Spit is fairly fast and very manuverable.  Although the Spit can be flown as an E-fighter, most fly it as a turnfighter.  As a turnfighter it is hard to beat.     The Spitfire excells at turn fighting because it holds its E so well.  It can stay in a flat turn tighter and longer than most other planes.  There are a few things to keep in mind about the spit however.  A spit turns in the sharpest at 150 knts.  Any faster or slower and the turning performance drops off sharply.     The Spit has good guns but has a small ammo load.  The cannon shells that give the Spit its powerful punch run only last for the first 50% of the ammo load.  After that, the Spit's lethality drops 80%.  Use your ammo carefully.  Don't fire in headon passes, and hold your fire until under 400 yards.     The spit has a good climb rate and loops well.  Using flaps on the top of loops will make your loop tighter.

The most important skill you need to develop to get kills, no matter what style of fighting you choose is situational awareness or SA sor short.  SA is the art of knowing where the planes in your immediate area are, how high they are, and how big of a threat they pose to you.  Unfortunately this is the hardest skill to develop.  There is little that can be said to improve someones SA other than check your radar often and use your view switch often, checking all views.     OK, back to the essentials of  turnfighting.  Ruddering is as necessary as guns in getting kills.  If you don't have rudder pedals or rudder control on your joystick, practice with the rudder keys.  You should use your rudder to control the direction your nose is pointing in turns.  If your not using rudders in your fights you are not using your plane to its potential.  Many Air Warriors think the Yak-9 is a death trap, but the Yak has excellent rudder control.  Flown correctly a Yak is more than a match for anything in a turnfight.  Ruddering in the direction of your turn will decrease your turning circle.  Also when in a flat turn use your rudder to keep your nose where you want it (climbing or diving turn).     If you are going to turn fight, it's best to fly a plane that can do it well.  Air Warrior has many great turn fighters to chose from.  As mentioned before the Spitfire is an excellent turn fighter and it is the model all other turnfighters are measured against.  In the following I will list the turnfighters and what they do well.     The Zero I and II.  The tightest turning fighters in AW.  The turning ability of the zero is amazing.  Only the Kate torpedo bomber and the ki-43 oscar can stay in a turnfight with one.  Any other plane attempting to turnfight with a zero is dead meat.  Drawbacks of the Zero are plentiful, however.  They have poor ammo load, so you must be very careful with your bursts.  They are VERY slow.  You can't catch a runner and you can't outrun persuers.  Worst of all, they are about as durable as a paper airplane in a rain storm.  You cant take many pings in a Zero.     Tne Ki-43 Oscar is almost as manuverable as a Zero when using flaps.  It also climbs better than the zero and has better rudder control.  Unfortunately, it is just as fragile as a zero and also slower than just about every other fighter in the game.  It also has pathetic firepower, just 2  7.7 mm machine guns.  You have to get in alot of hits to get a kill.  In a pure turnfight, however, no one will be able to outturn you save a well flown zero.     The Ki-84 Frank, in my humble opinion the best turnfighter in the game.  I get the lion's share of my kills in this sweet little number.  It is fast.  Faster  than even the P-51 at altitudes under 5k.  it will outturn every other plane in the game save the oscar and zero, and these it can just over power by staying in climbing turns and loops.  The Frank has multiple flap settings that greatly improve its turning performance.  It has good fire power,  2 - .50 cal. machine guns and 2 - 20mm cannon. The cannon only last through the first 35% of your ammo however.     The major drawback of the Ki-84 is that is bleeds its E quickly and is a mediocre climber.  Also that first 35% of the ammo goes quickly and leaves you fighting on BB's.  Also the Frank compresses at around 320 knts, meaning it won't turn well going very fast.  That is a problem in a plane that has the horsepower of a corsair at half the weight.  And lastly it suffers as all the Japanese planes do from lack of much armour.  It won't take the punishment like the allied planes will.     The Bf-109 family are excellent turnfighters.  They have the best climb rates in the game and are excellent for climbing turn fights.  The 109k is the fastest with the best climb rate.  The G has the best lethality in the early % of its ammo.  The F has the biggest overall ammo load and is the second best climber.  The E is the best turner, but not by much and has the worst guns of the series.  The biggest advantage of the 109 family is that they are unaffected by bad gas if you are flying from a damaged airfield.     Disadvantages of the 109 are few but important.  They have less of a punch than most allied fighters and small ammo loads.  They can't stay in a turn like a Spit or F6F.  They also have small gas tanks and burn the gas they do carry very fast.  This forces you to take more gas and a plane heavy with gas doesn't turn as well as a light one.  This makes the 109's popular for defending airfields.  There are many pilots who rack up lots of kills in this nimble little fighter, however.     The Me-110 is a two engine fighter with a gunner position.  It can nose down turn as well as most fighters.  It has good forward firepower and a big ammo load.  With flaps and rudder use it is a bunch of trouble for the enemy, especially with a gunner aboard.     The drawbacks of the 110 are many.  It is slow.  You won't outrun anyone in a 110.  It is a BIG target.  A blind guy with parkinson's disease can get pings on you.   A 110 loses altitude very quickly in a fight and can's flat turn worth a damn, so once you get on the deck you are dead.  It compresses badly at over 270 knts and is a pathetic climber.  You'll be hard pressed to find a plane that burns E quicker.  All these things considered,  it is still a potent turnfighter in relaxed realism.  In a nosedown, turning fight it can be a nasty surprise to any turnfighter.  You need to use flaps, airbrakes, any throttle carefully.  Once you master it, however, the 110 is a good platform for multiple kill runs, especially if you have the patience to take it to 25k or higher.  It will go anywhere on 39% gas and has a large if somewhat anemic ammo load.  The first few bursts have 2- 20 mm's cannon and 4 - 7.9 mm machine guns.  After that you are down to the 4 machine guns.  Not a big punch but at close range a good enough punch.  I have never run out of ammo in a 110     The Hawker Hurricane is an excellent turnfighter with few vices.  using flaps it can outturn and outloop a spit.  It has a good punch but a small ammo load.

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