Big B -> RE: Informal POLL Re: Oscar (11/9/2005 11:59:35 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: TheElf quote:
ORIGINAL: Big B Let me start by saying I am an ardent opponent of the Zero Bonus...as it stands in the game. I am convinced that the aircrafts stats, and much more importantly PILOT EXPERIENCE along with SUPERIOR NUMBERS already do what the Zero Bonus is supposed to represent in real life. Ok, now having said that - if there is going to be Bonus Rule it may as well apply to the KI 43 Oscar as well. The KI 43 can out turn, climb and roll a Zero - so what the heck - it beat's the Zero at it's own game. The KI 43 does lack firepower and that's a fact of life - period. However, before we start thinking that the A6M2 and KI43 can out maneuver allied fighters at will keep in mind the following figure's below: (From Hoof's) Roll Rate: KI 43II 150mph: 6.1s 200mph: 5.7s 250mph: 6.5s 300mph: 8.1s 350mph: 17.5s Roll Rate: A6M2 150mph: 4.9s 200mph: 5.9s 250mph: 6.9s 300mph: 14.8s 350mph: 21.6s Roll Rate: P 40E 150mph: 6.1s 200mph: 4.6s 250mph: 3.6s 300mph: 3.1s 350mph: 2.7s 400mph: 4.8s B B, Without intending to start a detail debate on the physics of Air combat vis a vis the Oscar and the P-40 let me just say that, while roll rate is important, the number of degrees to turn from level flight to the max angle of bank to perform said high performance turn is 90. Roll rate is not a characteristic that is regularly sustained in air combat it is more of an instantaneous application, but turn rate and radius are sustainable over time. So for each aircraft at its given corner airspeed who do you think has the better turn performance overall? So while the P-40 would win a race from level flight to an Angle of Bank of 90 degrees every time vs the Oscar, its turn rate and more importantly turn radius I think would cancel the intial turn edge that the P-40 seems to have. This all assumes that the P-40 pilot has decided to turn with an Oscar...[:-] Well, if I were a P-40 pilot, I sure wouldn't try to turn with an Oscar by going 'low and slow'[:D] Seriously though, I was just trying to point at that the advantage of greater maneuverability often switches between the same two aircraft depending on circumstance of encounter. And far more importantly - this kind of one on one advantage in a tight turn contest is of minimal importance in military terms in a multiple aircraft engagement. It's not that high maneuverability is a disadvantage in a big dogfight - it's just that the very ingrediants that make light aircraft so maneuverable to begin with (light construction, etc) are decided disadvantages in a melee since not only can such aircraft not withstand much if any punishment, but with multiple hostiles you will always be exposed to fire and your maneuverability (your armor) will be of no defence as it would have been in a one on one. Looked upon another way - if small turn radius were king in combat...all the air forces of the world would still fly biplanes...that was exactly what the RA (Italian) thought mattered most right before WWII and as a result were left behind in modern combat aircraft for the first critical year or two of the war. Secondly Japan herself built heavier faster aircraft (at the expense of maneuverability) as soon as she could manage... So the Real World lesson is: Turn radius is good - but speed, durability and firepower are vastly more important in combat.[;)] B
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