Over the past couple of weeks several people on TS have expressed an interest in learning how to fly the 110 so I thought I'd outline the approach i follow when flying the Bf-110. Plus my ping is crapped out today so I thought I spend my flying time writing this up while hoping that it gets better by the time i'm finished. Anyone else ever had a ping of 14000?
Apart from a few bomber-variant sorties when i first started flying online in the ATAG server in Feb 14 I only fly it as a fighter so the following will only cover flying it as a fighter.
And a disclaimer upfront - there are other more successful Bf-110 pilots such as Keller, Trademe, Hardgen and Karaya (I noticed he was racking up a nice score in a 110 recently - hoping he will post a video of it so i can learn some of his tips) who probably fly it in a different way. So pls dont view this post as the only, or best, way to fly the 110. It works for me, I have fun and I still get a real buzz when in it all comes together even after flying the 110 exclusively for 18 months, and I'm sharing it in case others might also enjoy it. TF did an excellent job in 'fixing' the 110s and the more regular 110 pilots there are the better imho.
And another thing before i get going - If you like to get into action soon after taking off or enjoy being in the middle of a big furball shooting stuff down then what I'm about to outline probably wont be of much interest. But if you enjoy taking your time, stalking the enemy and taking the shot then egressing away at high speed then this might be of interest.
So, if you are still reading here goes...
Pre reading
I'm going to assume you've read Chuck Owl's excellent manual on the 110 available on the ATAG forum. All you need to know is in there re the aircraft itself. There are also some other good guides i used listed below and I will assume you know how to start up, fly the aircraft and transfer fuel etc so wont cover that in this post.
And this report is a must if you want to find out some very useful info re strengths and weaknesses of the Bf-110 as described by actual RAF flight test chaps rather than internet 'experts' -
My order of preference when selecting which variant to fly is - C4N, C4N/derated, C4. I'm too lazy to spend much time with the C7 variants setting things up and the C2 doesnt have one of the very destructive 20mm round types. The main reason between the C4 variants is the auto prop pitch (again with the lazy) as its one less thing to concentrate on when things get busy. But I will still use manual PP in these variants in some situations as discussed later, and still enjoy and have success in the manual PP-only C4.
I will always take of with a full fuel load (1270 litres or thereabouts) which gives me a flight time of around 2 1/2 hrs depending on variant. This is one of the 110's strengths and I aim to use it where i can - it can take a long time for a fuel tank to vent all its fuel after being holed for instance.
Convergence - i set it up at 500m for front MGs and 20 mm and 500m for the rear gun. Its been so long since i did it i cant recall what the load out is but from memory its a mix of types along with a few tracer rnds. Again with the lazy re not exploring this more or messing with my convergence - the current set up seems to do the trick most times.
Take off and climb out
After a flapless take off i will engage auto pp in the usual manner and then set my oil and water rads to 50%. I will leave them here for the duration except if i have to shut down an engine and fly home - will open the remaining engine to fully open and close the shut down one to fully closed to reduce drag. Ive found that as long as i keep my airspeed above 300 km IAS and fly with the RPM and ATA on the continuous setting (the red tick mark on the dials closest to 12 oclock on the rpm and ATA gauge) then i wont have any temp issues. At this setting i can get to about 400 km IAS at ~ 4K in level flight using manual PP. If i have to i will increase RPM and ATA to the 30 minute or 5 minute setting and maybe get to 430 km but wont go this fast unless i have to (more later) as it then requires me to watch the gauges more closely.
During climb out i will trim my aircraft and set the throttle to achieve a climb rate of 5 m/s and 350 km/h IAS. The C4 in manual PP will climb and fly a bit faster than the C4N in auto (which will climb at about 330-340 km/h when doing slightly less than 5m/s). Trim is very important in the 110 re getting max speed to I keep adjusting the trim to maintain these numbers and pretty much fly it hands free during the climb. Above 4.5K the auto PP struggles but i usually accept its lower performance as i climb.
How high is high enough?
I aim to enter my patrol area at no less than 6k. Flying the climb profile as described above it will take me ~ 25 minutes from take-off roll to reaching this height and if i select a suitable airfield i can be near my patrol area as i reach 6K. I learnt long ago to avoid taking off from airfields near the hot spots as the 110 is very vulnerable during climb out. So airfields away from the action are my preferred spawn points. At this height the C4 manual PP will comfortably cruise at 350 km IAS with full fuel whereas the C4N in auto will cruise at 310/320 km. As the aircraft gets lighter it will go slightly faster.
Why 6K? - One of the things that stands out in the trials report is the relative performance of the 110 compared to the Spit and Hurri at altitude. At low altitude both the Spit and Hurri easily out turn the 110 but at high altitude 'the advantage was less marked at height'. And this is reflected in the game - this is one reason why i fly high.
Another reason is speed - at 6K the 110 will outrun the Hurri if flown properly and is not all that much slower than the Spit. So if you maintain good SA and see approaching fighters early enough you can evade (if they are hurris) or make them do a long chase (if they are Spits).
And lastly - the 110 is a pig re acceleration. But gravity is your friend and at 6K you have lots of potential energy to help you keep your speed up while defensive with Spits/Hurris or help you accelerate to high speed if making a diving pass.
And then what?
What i'm hoping to see is a contact flying near me at 3 - 4k altitude that hasnt seen me. I will then decide if I'm going to attack taking into account a few things such as whether he has any friends with him, how close i am to my friends/territory etc. Once ive made the decision to attack i will then begin to dive on him. I've found that it works best for me to keep the airspeed in the 500 - 600 km range - any faster and the rudder seems to lose authority and the closing speed makes it harder to line up for the pass - so i will adjust my dive angle accordingly and keep the ball centred as much as possible. As i approach him i will go slightly below his altitude and hide in his blind spot (if its a fighter) at his low 6 as i approach to avoid him seeing me at the last moment. And then I will commence firing at reasonably long range (~ 500m) - depending on overtake speed i might only have time for a 1 sec burst but if you get the 110s guns on him for 1 sec this is all it takes. And then once i am past him i will resist the urge to turn and look and will climb away maintaining my airspeed above 400 km/h for as long as possible. If its worked out for me then he will be smoking/leaking stuff or have no elevators and gravity will win. This never gets old for me especially if its a Spit or Hurri.
If i missed or didnt do sufficient damage then this is where the fun starts. If its a Hurri and he has no friends in front of him then i should be able to climb away from him back to 6K and safety. If its a Spit and he's annoyed at me for daring to attack him in his bright shiny thing then things will get tricky for me. I will use manual PP and fly at the 5 min settings while in a shallow climb to put some distance between me and the Spit. But if he follows and if he knows what he is doing he will eventually catch me. If i have selected my patrol area correctly then i can usually reach friendly territory by the time he closes so will often have some TS buddies to help. If not then I have found that the best approach is to be aggressive and turn back on him when he has closed to about 5 km and force at least one by head on pass. Sometimes this works but if it doesnt then the Spit has the advantage and all i can really do is make it extra hard for him to shoot me down. Sometimes I get lucky and get some hits, or my AI gunner will hit him, but more often than not we will end up on the deck with me having at least one dead engine and being in a bad place. But i still take some satisfaction if I have made him work hard for the kill and can usually tell if he is really frustrated as he will either try and ram me before i crash land (if he's out of ammo) or strafe me after i have successfully crash landed to get the kill.
So that's about it re how i fly the 110 as a fighter when going after other fighters. It is possible to do this successfully and its a lot of fun when it works. Hopefully this might give some people some ideas re flying the 110 as a fighter and I look fwd to seeing some more of you in the air in a 110 having fun.
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