Bewolf
Dec-11-2013, 06:47
Ok, this has been mentioned a couple of times already, but I think it is a good idea to get some more details on this for the unlucky 109 driver that finds himself, through a mistake or simple misjudgement, slow and low.
So, you have just flown for an hour over the British coast without getting any kind of contact. Mr. Tommy can't be bothered to come up to play with you at your strenghs or you simply have bad luck. Bored out, you decide to make a low pass over an english field to get at least a couple hits before going home rather frustrated at this waste of time. You come down, make your pass, turn to check et voila...Spitfire on your tail, usually called Happy*** or ***Dutch, who appear to have made lurking near their field grabbing a bored out 109 driver an art form.
Dive...and you crash into the ground. Climb, those 303s will climb faster. Run, 303s will outrun you. Turn, the Spitfire pilot will get a mad grin on his face as you just made his evening. All in all a rather suboptimal situation.
However, in a low speed turning dogfight, natural Spitfire territory, the 109 still has some advantages which, if used correctly, gives you a, if you know what to do even a good, fighting chance. It requires however:
a) really good situational awareness. Pretty impossible without TrackIR.
b) you need to know the 109 in an out, especially at critical speeds
As a general rule, you won't outrun a Spit behind you unless you already have a good deal of speration, same goes to climbing. You also won't outurn him. The only option is to turn his energy against him. To translate: You need him to overshoot in one way or another. However, the more trigger happy the Spit is, the better your chances.
Now, what are the 109s advantages at low speed?
a) The 109 rolls better then the Spit at all speeds.
b) The 109 has better acceleration.
c) The 109 slows down faster. (these three are MAJOR and way underrated advantages in any kind of dogfight. Think 190D vs.51D)
You must make this work for you. Remember however, you are a sitting duck during this time, so even one more Spit or Hurricane and you most probably are toast.
So now for the trick.
1. Once you find a Spitfire behind you within firing distance, lower your flaps just a few notches. Just press the button for a second or two. This will give you a tad more lift, enough hopefully to make your low speed maneuvers a little bit more safe.
2. Next, start a turn and make it progressivly steeper. This appears counterintuitive given the better turn rate of the Spitfire, but stay with me here for a moment.
3. While you do this turn, cut throttle. Not too much at a time, because a good Spit driver will notice your propellerl spin decreasing and will compensate himself. However, the turning in itself will break down the 109s speed more then the Spitfire's, which has better energy retention. Once you see him maneuvering into fireing position, make the turn even harder and drop a bit towards the ground so he can't get a good firing solution while you are under his nose. If he tracks you down the following role will also be longer for him. This is the most dangerous moment which decides between survival, even victory, and imminent death.
If you survive this and chances are good if you manage to throw his aim, however, chances rise much in your favor.
4. After the Spitfire fired, he most likely will move from inside your turn circle to outside of it as your angle towards him has been greatly increased. He will compensate for that by turning hard into you again. But within that short moment when his angle is greatest to you, when he is farthest out, you then need to quickly reverse your turn. Push the stick to the limit, use your rudders, get around as quickly as possible while pushing the engine to it's limits, give it everything you have, emergency power included. IMPORTANT: change your altitude, higher or lower based on your best judgement at the moment, else he will just wait until you fly right through his gunsight.
5. Because you can roll faster then the Spit, while also slowing down more quickly, the Spitfire pilot will now have trouble reversing his own direction to follow you. You are already flying towads him while he is still rolling. Once he does, repeat the process and roll into his flightpath again, but NEVER, I repeat, NEVER on exactly the same plain as before. With a bit of luck you can make the kill here already while he crosses YOUR nose in the end.
But eventually, if you got a pro, this rolling and turning will result in the scissors slowly changing into a continoues barrel role with the Spitfire "above" you, relative not to the ground but to your own aircraft in any given position towards the ground. Here the 109 has the advantage, as it's acceleration, not so much aerodynamics, are "pulling" the aircraft around and keep it in the air. Now you have several options:
a) continue this maneuver. Try to pepper him should he maneuver into your flight path. With abit of luck the Spit driver is so used to just turning he does not know how to deal with this and makes mistakes, giving you the opportunity to get behind him.
b) If your opponent knows what he does, you can continue regardless if you feel confident enough, the 109 is seriosuly capable in this kind of maneovering, even vs. the Spit.
But if you had enough and the opportunity arises when the angle to the Spit grows large enough, continue the turn but lose it gradually to gain energy, retract flaps, level out and go for it. With a bit of luck seperatiojn now is large enough to get away.
I'd personally advise to go for the kill, it's safer. He will be thirsty for blood now that he is behind you again and with a lot of survival instincts triggered.
In all of this propper judgement of energy both of your and the enemy plane is most important. There are more variables here, but those are based on gut feeling only eventually. It requires alot of training and routine to pull it off succeefully. And as said before, add only one other enemy fighter here and your chances drop dramatically.
Hope I could explain this good enough to give some new 109 pilots a bit more confidence in their flying. There are no desperate situations, just desperate pilots.
And IF you pull it off succesfully, it is you flying home with a big grin on your face. ;)
So, you have just flown for an hour over the British coast without getting any kind of contact. Mr. Tommy can't be bothered to come up to play with you at your strenghs or you simply have bad luck. Bored out, you decide to make a low pass over an english field to get at least a couple hits before going home rather frustrated at this waste of time. You come down, make your pass, turn to check et voila...Spitfire on your tail, usually called Happy*** or ***Dutch, who appear to have made lurking near their field grabbing a bored out 109 driver an art form.
Dive...and you crash into the ground. Climb, those 303s will climb faster. Run, 303s will outrun you. Turn, the Spitfire pilot will get a mad grin on his face as you just made his evening. All in all a rather suboptimal situation.
However, in a low speed turning dogfight, natural Spitfire territory, the 109 still has some advantages which, if used correctly, gives you a, if you know what to do even a good, fighting chance. It requires however:
a) really good situational awareness. Pretty impossible without TrackIR.
b) you need to know the 109 in an out, especially at critical speeds
As a general rule, you won't outrun a Spit behind you unless you already have a good deal of speration, same goes to climbing. You also won't outurn him. The only option is to turn his energy against him. To translate: You need him to overshoot in one way or another. However, the more trigger happy the Spit is, the better your chances.
Now, what are the 109s advantages at low speed?
a) The 109 rolls better then the Spit at all speeds.
b) The 109 has better acceleration.
c) The 109 slows down faster. (these three are MAJOR and way underrated advantages in any kind of dogfight. Think 190D vs.51D)
You must make this work for you. Remember however, you are a sitting duck during this time, so even one more Spit or Hurricane and you most probably are toast.
So now for the trick.
1. Once you find a Spitfire behind you within firing distance, lower your flaps just a few notches. Just press the button for a second or two. This will give you a tad more lift, enough hopefully to make your low speed maneuvers a little bit more safe.
2. Next, start a turn and make it progressivly steeper. This appears counterintuitive given the better turn rate of the Spitfire, but stay with me here for a moment.
3. While you do this turn, cut throttle. Not too much at a time, because a good Spit driver will notice your propellerl spin decreasing and will compensate himself. However, the turning in itself will break down the 109s speed more then the Spitfire's, which has better energy retention. Once you see him maneuvering into fireing position, make the turn even harder and drop a bit towards the ground so he can't get a good firing solution while you are under his nose. If he tracks you down the following role will also be longer for him. This is the most dangerous moment which decides between survival, even victory, and imminent death.
If you survive this and chances are good if you manage to throw his aim, however, chances rise much in your favor.
4. After the Spitfire fired, he most likely will move from inside your turn circle to outside of it as your angle towards him has been greatly increased. He will compensate for that by turning hard into you again. But within that short moment when his angle is greatest to you, when he is farthest out, you then need to quickly reverse your turn. Push the stick to the limit, use your rudders, get around as quickly as possible while pushing the engine to it's limits, give it everything you have, emergency power included. IMPORTANT: change your altitude, higher or lower based on your best judgement at the moment, else he will just wait until you fly right through his gunsight.
5. Because you can roll faster then the Spit, while also slowing down more quickly, the Spitfire pilot will now have trouble reversing his own direction to follow you. You are already flying towads him while he is still rolling. Once he does, repeat the process and roll into his flightpath again, but NEVER, I repeat, NEVER on exactly the same plain as before. With a bit of luck you can make the kill here already while he crosses YOUR nose in the end.
But eventually, if you got a pro, this rolling and turning will result in the scissors slowly changing into a continoues barrel role with the Spitfire "above" you, relative not to the ground but to your own aircraft in any given position towards the ground. Here the 109 has the advantage, as it's acceleration, not so much aerodynamics, are "pulling" the aircraft around and keep it in the air. Now you have several options:
a) continue this maneuver. Try to pepper him should he maneuver into your flight path. With abit of luck the Spit driver is so used to just turning he does not know how to deal with this and makes mistakes, giving you the opportunity to get behind him.
b) If your opponent knows what he does, you can continue regardless if you feel confident enough, the 109 is seriosuly capable in this kind of maneovering, even vs. the Spit.
But if you had enough and the opportunity arises when the angle to the Spit grows large enough, continue the turn but lose it gradually to gain energy, retract flaps, level out and go for it. With a bit of luck seperatiojn now is large enough to get away.
I'd personally advise to go for the kill, it's safer. He will be thirsty for blood now that he is behind you again and with a lot of survival instincts triggered.
In all of this propper judgement of energy both of your and the enemy plane is most important. There are more variables here, but those are based on gut feeling only eventually. It requires alot of training and routine to pull it off succeefully. And as said before, add only one other enemy fighter here and your chances drop dramatically.
Hope I could explain this good enough to give some new 109 pilots a bit more confidence in their flying. There are no desperate situations, just desperate pilots.
And IF you pull it off succesfully, it is you flying home with a big grin on your face. ;)