Appendix 3 - The Twist Files

The following material is taken verbatim from Twist's Web page. Some of Twist's aircraft descriptions appear in Chapter 4. Since he has done more, I include the others here since they are also excellent and since it is helpful to read more than one opinion on the capabilities of an aircraft.

THE GRUMMAN F6F-3 HELLCAT

The F6F was created as a direct response to the Japanese Zero in an amazingly short period of time; designed in the spring of 1942, it was tested later that year and by years end was being mass produced. Despite the short design cycle the plane was an astounding success in almost all respects, and it was the performance of this stubby looking plane, coupled with it's overwhelming production numbers (11,000 were delivered in a two year time span) that spelled doom for the Japanese hope of air superiority in the Pacific.

Although the Hellcat might have had a different history in the mixed bag of designs used in Europe, in the Pacific it excelled at everything required for victory. It was faster than the Zero, out climbed it, could climb higher, was heavily armored, carried a huge ammo supply, worked well off carriers, and turned well. In this light it's not surprising that this fighter, flown in ever increasing numbers against a steadily drained Japanese navy and army, produced the highest kill ratio of the war.

The Hellcat in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Climb -- Only the F4U out climbs the Hellcat. Tough -- Like many American planes, the F6F can take considerable punishment.

Guns -- The six .50s are fairly lethal, but the 2400 round capacity makes up for any lack by allowing plenty of spraying.

Turns -- The Hellcat can turn or out turn everything but the Zeke; however, the Ki is an extremely close match and boils down to a question of fuel loads/pilot.

Weaknesses:

Slow -- Recall that the Hellcat was designed to fight the Zero, one of the slowest fighters in the war. It has plenty of speed to deal with Zekes; but in the mixed environment of games often has to deal with other American planes that are much faster, like the F4U or P51 -- or the Japanese Ki. The F6F is the second slowest plane in the Pacific plane set.

Compression -- The F6F compresses fairly badly, but luckily has the best airbrakes available, so recovery is possible in short order. Flying outside compression keeps you at low speeds however.

Model weirdness -- The F6F has a bad engine condition that can arise any time the engine is oil starved -- in a spin or inverted for instance. It takes only a second or two in the AW over modeled version before the R2800 is porked and starts delivering considerably less power, which can't be fixed short of replaning.

Take off checklist:

Where: The F6F is a Pacific only plane that operates either from carriers or regular ground fields.

Field: Hellcats can climb well and are passable at low level stallfights, but it's important in taking off to do a quick scan for Zeros, which if they can catch you will easily out turn you. It takes a minimum of 4K or so to have good dive area to escape a Zero, so fields should be picked that will give you a full minute of climbing. F6Fs are also excellent at long range missions, with the best fuel endurance available.

Fuel: The F6F has huge tanks, but extra fuel significantly impacts its turning ability. A 20% fuel load can get you 3-4 sectors and back without much trouble, so use 15-20% for immediate action and no more than 35% for general cruising, unless you have a particularly long mission in mind.

Bombs: Hellcats can carry two bombs, but compression hurts them somewhat as a dive bomber.

The Hellcat is an oddity in that it has no clear strengths over other planes in the Pacific, and yet has the right combination of abilities to fight any opponent well. It can use turns, climbs and speed alternatively against various planes to give it a clear advantage. Only when it faces combinations of opponents that invalidate one or more of its advantages does the F6F suffer badly.

Like it's real world counterpart the F6F is a smooth handling plane and responds well, making it a good ride to learn in. If handled lightly it can stay in controlled flight at very low speeds (70IAS) and thus doesn't spin very much, but when it spit it doesn't recover particularly well and the engine must be shut down almost instantly to avoid oil starvation.

Flaps are an all or nothing proposition and shouldn't be used save for tops of loops and the like; hitting flaps in turns definitely hurts in almost all circumstances, as the plane slows down drastically when they are deployed and compresses at very low speeds if they are left on.

One unique advantage of the F6F is it's heavy air brake capability (air brakes are deployed with the space bar or middle button on a TM stick). You'd think from the way it slows down there was a deployable parachute that drops out every time you slam the brakes, and the combination of laying on the brakes and chopping throttle allows the Hellcat to blow speed faster than any plane in the game. This is particularly useful during initial engagements where you can use it to "dump and deliver" -- come in fast at a very off-angle approach, and when you get close drop throttle to zero, slam the brakes and pull hard around. Opponents will have a difficult time visualizing the very small turn radius the F6F can produce in this circumstance and will instead react to what they think is a fast plane (=large turn radius).

Since the Hellcat has such a wide range of rolls it can be used in it's important to remember which of it's strengths you want to use against particular types of planes. Against P47, P51s use climb to get above them and of course vastly superior turn ability to out turn them. F4Us can't be out climbed but can be out turned; careful for the experienced F4 pilots who will use multi-position flaps against you by going nose down on their brakes with two clicks of flaps -- in these types of turns you need to ride your air brakes and possibly chop throttle a bit to match radius. Ki's are difficult in flat turn matches so the emphasis should be placed on plenty of vertical turns to maximize use of the Hellcats climb ability. P38s can be both out turned and out climbed, but watch similar situations to the aforementioned F4 with flaps and be careful to keep loops as small as possible in verticals as the 38 can pull some tricks there. Zekes should simply out climbed and hit from above with speed -- don't even bother turning as this plane has a ridiculously overmodeled turn capability.

The Hellcat isn't a stellar boom and zoom fighter because of it's speed and compression issues; on the way in you compress and on the way out you don't have enough speed to zoom properly. However it does very well at energy fighting tactics like the rope-a-dope because of it's high climb and low speed turning.

THE NAKAJIMA KI-84 HAYATE

The Hayate, or "Frank" as labeled by the Allies, is often regarded as the best Japanese fighter of WWII (the N1K2 "George" had better performance but saw very limited production). Brought into service in 1944, the Hayate demonstrated that the Japanese aircraft builders had learned the bitter lesson of American designs: that a speedy aircraft can easily best a more maneuverable one, using proper tactics. The advanced Ha 45 direct injection 18 cylinder radial engine gave the Frank plenty of speed, but unfortunately was also the source of constant problems. The Ha45 required constant and skilled maintenance, and as the war further hampered Japanese industrial power the Ki-84 suffered other problems, such as chronically failing landing gear (they were very long, requiring precise metal treatment to last).

Had it reached better production than it's 3800 or so made, or been introduced earlier, the Hayate would have certainly left even more of a mark in the Pacific. As it was American pilots were rightfully cautious of this fast, maneuverable plane -- post war testing showed the Ki84 to be faster at 20K than either the P51 or the P47.

The Ki-84 in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Turns -- The Ki is an adept turning plane, especially with it's multi stage flaps and low stall speeds.

Speed -- Able to keep pace with even the P51 until about 20K

Weaknesses:

Climb -- Although fast the Ki is not a particularly good climber

Strength -- Not the toughest plane available, and further is prone to loosing wings when high speed maneuvers are attempted

Acceleration -- Given a little diving distance a Frank will go plenty fast, but it's level acceleration is not good.

High alt performance -- The Ki is very much out of its element at higher altitudes. Above 20K it looses speed on many planes, has terrible climb rates, and negates any turn advantage against the F6F.

Take off checklist:

Where: The Ki-84 is a Pacific only plane, available from ground fields.

Field: The Hayate is a good fighter to scramble in, although the Zeke is a better instant action fighter if a field is capped.

Fuel: Ki's have medium sized tanks, and suffer less performance loss than most when carrying large fuel loads. Even with 40% fuel it's fairly easy to maintain 100IAS turns, so taking loads of 30-50% is not unusual.

Bombs: 1 bomb

The Frank lives up to it's billing as a superior fighter in AW. Nothing but the Zeke or decent Hellcat pilots will want to tangle with it at co-alt, so expect F4Us and P51s to use climb or BnZ attacks against it. With a few K of alt on any opponent the Ki pilot can expect to be able to run them down and force them to turn, where it can expect to win against anything but a Zeke -- and it can always run away from those if something goes wrong (or Hellcats for that matter).

Not only does it turn well naturally, the Ki has four stage flaps that help it considerably against closely matched opponents. It's reasonably easy to use flaps and turn at rates even below 100IAS with good results. And although the AW manual paints it as a difficult spinning plane, in fact it has one of the easiest to control spins available in the game. It will spin a fair amount, but it's trivially easy to recover and often, unfortunately, gives the Ki pilot a hidden advantage by gaining angles in the spin (unfortunate because it destroys the realism of the simulation).

If all engagements were below 20K, the Ki would be a superplane. Luckily they aren't, so it's merely formidable, with a couple of drawbacks. While the plane itself is a high speed aircraft, at the upper end of the speed range it becomes dangerous to fly -- above 400IAS or so pulling significant Gs will pop the wings right off, which makes it difficult at times to keep up with gyrating P51s or F4Us that can full-G at 500IAS. Also at higher speeds it looses some of it's already average roll rate, and of course to get to those higher speeds you are basically required to dive, since it doesn't accelerate well at all.

Because of it's unusual mix of talents Ki's can be used in many different ways, but they generally fail as a straight BnZ plane due to limited climb and zoom potential. Many Ki pilots love to use them to hunt down BnZ'ers with its great speed, diving in on a fight slightly lower and catching a P51 or F4U extending out. Others simply use it as a straightforward stallfighter, and a Ki vs. Hellcat matchup is probably the most interesting in the game, as the planes are very closely matched but with different strengths.

THE REPUBLIC P-47D THUNDERBOLT

The "Jug" (short for Juggernaut) was built in the later part of the war as a multi-purpose fighter. Numerous production difficulties arose in creating this mammoth aircraft, and when it did appear it took some time before tactics evolved to meet its capabilities.

Weighing almost half as much as some of the bombers it escorted, the P47 was built around the famous Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18 cylinder engine that served in so many U.S. planes. While it was fast, carried ample armament, and was incredibly tough, the Jug was initially met with little enthusiasm. It would be fair to say the RAF hated it -- it was dramatically different from most of their designs and didn't fit most engagement tactics of the time.

Eventually the Jug found a home as the premier ground-attack fighter of the war. It could carry a wide array of weapons and was the terror of retreating armor columns, trains, and the like. With the addition of an external fuel tank P47s could easily range to target and back with their bombers, and several squadrons (notably the famed 56th) rang up impressive air to air success with the plane some thought would never fight against the sleek designs it often countered.

The Thunderbolt in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Speed -- it doesn't accelerate or dive well, but a Jug with head of steam above 20K or so is difficult or impossible to catch. Above 29K it can out pace even the P51.

Tough -- The sturdiest fighter in AW, it takes a lot of ammo to down a P47D

Lethality -- With 8 .50s the Jug can deliver a hard punch.

Weaknesses:

Turning -- Basically, the Jug can't. Several bombers can out turn a Jug easily.

Climb -- Even an R2800 can't make 20,000lbs soar into the clear blue sky

E-Bleed -- If you do attempt to turn a P47, it will loose speed like you just dropped anchor.

Compression -- At a little over 300IAS the Jug turns into a very large, fast brick.

Take off checklist:

Where: The Jug can lift off any European field, and any ground-based Pacific field. For a fun time try various fuel configurations taking off carriers off-line.

Field: Rear fields, with plenty of clear space to climb, unless you have an unusual sense of humor.

Fuel: The Thunderbolt has excellent fuel endurance. Regardless, there is no substantial advantage from running with low fuel loads as in some turn fighters, so 50% is fine for most missions.

Bombs: P47s can carry two bombs in AW (in real life the P47 had a payload capacity well above most fighters save the P38). However, it's a fairly lousy dive bomber, as it often will compress and lawn dart the adventurous bomber, and has no air brakes to help when the stick stops responding.

Simply put, the Jug is a terrible fighter in AW. This often annoys players used to its rather high reputation in real life; and there's considerable debate as to why the AW environment hurts this machine in particular. Many anecdotal accounts don't agree with the AW experience; but it's possible these are reflections of limits in the AW flight model (Shaw postulated for instance that the Jug's much talked about roll ability might be under G-load; in AW fighters can roll the same regardless of current load).

As a final insult, the P47 in Air Warrior is given a reduced ammo load from its historical capacity, although this will likely be changed in future version. This means that not only is it extra difficult to get in firing position with a Jug, but when you do you'd better make sure your shots count, because you get only a few.

The only way to fight with the P47 effectively is to use a conservative, boom and zoom type approach. Turning for any period of time is sure death, so speed is required to carry you away from the target before any lumbering maneuvers are attempted. This is not to say that the Jug can't get kills; just that it has a fairly limited number of tactics and those available have to be executed particularly well to succeed.

It's often useful to use Jugs in pairs or more; the extra numbers provide the advantage required to press the attack consistently against the better fighters of the arena. Thunderbolts draw out fairly predictable reactions from other players -- once they see a Jug, groups of enemy will flock to it in search of the easy kill and will often remain unusually fixated when in pursuit. Lone enemies with other things to think about will often completely ignore Jugs, especially co-alt or lower ones, since they don't qualify as a threat. Being aggressive in these situations or exploiting them can result in interesting and hate-filled exchanges, always a worth while pursuit in the AW arena.

There are almost no "tricks" to flying the Jug. It doesn't spin very easily, but recovery can be an adventure. Multi position flaps are available but can't be deployed until barely above stall speed; they are useful only for going over the top of loops. Leaving flaps down any amount is asking for nasty compression. An amusing tidbit is that dropping gear produces almost unnoticeable difference in performance (except at high speeds of course), rather like dangling a kite out the back of an 18 wheeler. The Jug also happens to be the most difficult to land plane in AW, as getting it down below the required 150IAS leaves the plane hanging on the edge of a stall, and last second attempts at corrections are ignored as it barrels into the runway.

Whereas historically in AW the Jug was the chosen ride of only a few unusual loners, currently several players use it quite often and with good effect, as they understand and work around its limitations using boom and zoom, wingman, and the element of surprise (a Jug attacked me?) approaches. Jug kills are the result of luck or solid tactics; since few people are blessed with consistent luck, if you can score repeated kills in a Jug you're doing something right.

THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51D MUSTANG

The P51 is the most famous of the American "big three" from WWII: those being the P47, P38, and P51. It seems ironic that this fighter is so closely associated with American air power in the second world war; as it's design specifications and requirements were driven entirely by the RAF in the form of an order from the British Purchasing Commission. If it hadn't been for the outstanding performance of this fighter it might have existed simply as an American export to England; but after test figures came through the US was compelled to start using the P51 along side the P38 and P47 designs they had already committed to.

The P51 owes its rightful place as one of the best fighters in WWII to some innovative design and a small piece of luck. The design was in the low drag airframe and laminar flow wings, which allowed for some truly staggering at the time top end speed, and the luck was a British decision early on it's history to attempt to mount a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine in place of the original Allison supplied in Mustang Is. The resultant Mustang I/Merlin combination provided such astounding performance it basically replaced any plans to use Allison variants; instead the U.S. began supplying Packard-built Merlins in P51 frames.

A saying came about in WWII that describes the Mustang well: "The Mustang won't do what a Spitfire does, but it does it over Berlin". P51s had a staggering amount of fuel capacity hidden in their sleek lines, and with the addition of disposable external fuel tanks could range upwards of 2,000 miles -- full operational distance for most bombers. They weren't the best turning planes in the air, but by the time they were widely in use pilots understood that turning was a very limited performance characteristic in combat -- what was required of newer fighters was speed. And the P51 had it in droves; it was faster than almost everything in the air, climbed reasonably well, and suffered much less high speed maneuverability loss than most of its opponents, due to the wing design. When it came to high speed fights the P51 was very much in its element -- it had flaps specifically designed to deploy at almost any speed, an airframe with tolerances that reached into high G range, good dive acceleration, and steady horsepower even at very high altitude.

The P51D in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Speed -- Highest top end speed, decent acceleration, better maneuverability at high speed. Able to sustain high speeds longer than any other plane.

Roll rate -- Good roll rate, especially above 300kts

Flaps -- able to deploy one notch of flaps to good effect at medium speeds (250 kts or so).

Weaknesses:

Average sustained turn ability -- Better than a FW, but stallfighters chew it up.

Poor Climb rate -- With the 109, Spitfire, F4 and F6F clearly superior

Take off checklist:

Where: The P51 is available from any land field in Europe or the Pacific.

Field: Due to it's mediocre climb and average turning ability, the 51 is not well suited to low alt engagements, especially when outnumbered. However it requires only a few K of alt to be able to out run anything in the arena -- so experienced 51 drivers only avoid fields that are immediately capped.

Fuel: The 51 has good fuel endurance, and it does feel the effects of large fuel loads fairly drastically. Normal load outs are to about 50%, with more used for escort missions.

Bombs: Two bombs, and the P51 is the best dive bomber in the game.

Mustangs have a bad reputation in Air Warrior, one which their nickname illustrates well -- "Runstang". A P51 in almost all circumstances has one option his enemy does not -- he can leave, because the P51 is in Air Warrior as it was in real life, the fastest plane around. It needs a little time to work up to that speed (it can't accelerate like a Spit for instance) but once it gets above 325kts or so its in home turf. A panicked P51 pilot with alt can simply point the plane in a steep dive and reach speeds no other plane can touch (easily into the 500kts range).

The other thing that can be aggravating about pursuing a Mustang is that they HOLD that speed incredibly well. P51s can do level extensions at well past 300kts and maintain it; most planes can't go above 300kts without a dive or WEP. In gentle zooms the 51 is incredible; it's possible to dive from 10K, make a pass at speeds that no one can match, and then climb out slowly to almost original alt and cruising speeds.

It's too bad that so many P51 pilots are excessive runners, as the plane is perfectly capable of fighting in many circumstances that the average P51 pilot will avoid. It has a good roll rate and at medium speeds (225-250) is very dangerous with its high speed flaps (the 51 can drop one notch even in this speed range and not compress). More experienced P51 pilots can be seen "dogfighting" it quite well, but it's a deceptive kind of engagement, as they deliberately keep the speeds higher than most turn fights and use their high speed turning speed as a surprise factor. Even the best P51 fliers are in serious trouble if they regularly drop below 175kts in a turn fight, as around 150kts it is a very poor turner and will get eaten alive by true stallfighters. Mustangs can, however, out turn FWs providing the FW pilot doesn't constantly spin when compromised. The P51 itself has an unforgiving spin, probably one of the more difficult in the game.

Like the FW, a P51 is a dangerous (read: does not have to run) plane as long as it is provided a cushion of alt to work with. It's a simple fact that a 51 with 8K or so of alt can reach speeds no other plane can save other 51s. As long as that option is kept open it's unnecessary to run at the sight of a higher/better plane. In fact, many 51 pilots make the mistake of running TOO EARLY and depending on their speed too much. When a P51 extends away, especially if it dives somewhat, it is expressing its one advantage fairly early on. If the stallfighter/higher plane has enough alt that it can dive and match pace with the superior speed of the Mustang, than when the stallfighter catches up the P51 pilot has blown his one advantage. Given a choice in these circumstance I usually wait right below the diving opponent, making him blow his energy advantage to get to me, then I pull a basic evasive and use the P51s speed to get away.

An interest AW tidbit is that P51 is basically a reference plane for all others; it has by definition standard lethality and toughness, since other planes are judged relative to it.

THE SPITFIRE MARK IX E

The Spitfire is possibly the most famous combat aircraft of all time, and certainly one of the most recognizable. Combined with the Hawker Hurricane it was part of the pivotal effort by the British to repel the formidable German Luftwaffe in the "Battle of Britain", the legendary fight between the British and German air forces, where the Spitfire gained its initial reputation as a solid dogfighter.

Due to its unusual at the time planform elliptical wings, the Spitfire when coupled with a powerful engine source exhibits both excellent handling and speed, characteristics vital to air combat. In its various incarnations (it was produced throughout the war for the British) the Spitfire was steadily refined into perhaps the best all-around fighter of the war.

The Spitfire in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Turning ability -- can out turn or turn with every other fighter

Speed -- Top end speed is average, but accelerates quickly and dives well

Lethality -- short on ammo, but initial punch is very powerful

Climb -- second best climb rate in European plane set

Retains energy -- Spits hold their energy very well

Weaknesses:

Low ammo load -- often the Spit will run dry after only one or two kills

Control -- The strengths of the Spit can be used against a careless pilot, as described below

High speed maneuverability -- At speeds >300 IAS the Spit gets mushy and rolls slowly

Toughness -- The Spit doesn't take many hits to destroy

Take off checklist:

Where: The Spit is only available in Europe, but can launch from any plane field. If the strategic feature in Air Warrior bombing is EVER fixed again Spits are very likely candidates to be "denied" by closing aircraft factories and the like.

Field: The Spit can go from just about any field, due to its great climb ability. It is the best all around plane to take when hostiles are in the immediate vicinity, as it can get up quickly, climb to alt, and isn't substantially compromised at low alt fighting.

Fuel: 15-30% when combat is close, up to 50% for general missions.

Bombs: Spit can only carry one, but it's a fine dive bomber

Spitfires are often referred to by old timers as "one kill wonders". In three words this fairly summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of the machine: it has just about every strength in the book, making it a wonder, but carries an anemic ammo load, making it a "short kill" plane.

Despite its reputation the Spit can be a difficult beast to master, and beginning Air Warriors often wonder how they can die so often in a plane that is so good. The answer of course is that more experienced pilots exploit the bad points of the Spit to kill them.

If there's one key feature to flying the Spit well, it's the THROTTLE. In a flat turn situation, Spit pilots who leave the throttle walled at 100% are asking for trouble. The Spit holds energy so well and bleeds speed so slowly in prolonged turns that it will continue to move much faster in those turns than other planes -- resulting in a wide turn radius for the Spit and a potentially much smaller turn radius for the slow plane (I'm going to explain this concept in another page that I haven't done yet, so you'll just have to think about it for now).

The response to this weakness is to use the throttle to control your speed in turns against others. If you in a Spit are tracking an opposing plane through a primarily flat, horizontal turn and you've already gone 180 degrees, and it looks like he is going to keep turning -- you should immediately think about reducing your speed to a target of 150 IAS or so (slightly slower as you get more used to the Spit). At 150 IAS and 4-5 Gs a Spitfire will out turn everything in Europe short of another Spit. Practicing this off line will help; take up Spitfires (against drones or not, doesn't really matter) and see how well you can hold the edge of turns at 150kts. You should pull enough Gs to make the stall light flicker but not allow the stall horn to go off.

Flaps will help a Spit over the top of loops but generally are not useful for straight turns. Rather than flaps you should be adjusting throttle to maintain turns -- when going too slow, increase to WEP, when going too fast drop it back. You'll find the Spit responds very poorly to flaps at >150 IAS and becomes unmanageable at speeds >225 IAS. A Spit can easily loop at speeds well below 150IAS using flaps, and will stay in controlled flight at speeds as low as 60kts even when being slightly pulled.

There is no specific maneuver that the Spit excels in -- it's so good that literally the entire book of tactics are available should you choose to use them. Despite this most Spit fights, particularly against other Spits, eventually work their way to a simple test of flat turns. So you'd better be proficient at flat turns. A more interesting albeit complex way of fighting in the Spit is to use it as a close proximity energy fighter; tactics that apply here are rope-a-dope and the like.

The other major problem many Spit fliers encounter is black outs. Since it pulls so well at almost any speed it is easy to exceed the artificial 6G limit imposed by the Air Warrior blackout system. The only way around this is practice. Again offline will do fine; the typical drill is to take a Spit up to 10K feet, record a small piece of film, then put the plane into slow nose down turns of about 10-20 degrees below the horizon. Keep pulling until the G meter reads right at 6G; then try to keep the G-meter constant by increasing your dive angle to keep the speed high. After you've depleted your 10K alt, replay the film you took at the beginning, and then take over the control while playing the film (saving you the trouble of climbing), and practice again. You should be able to pull right at 6Gs almost by feel if you do this enough times. The next step after that is to school yourself not to pull too harshly at merge with the Spit when engaged -- remember, instead of just yanking the stick full, CHOP THROTTLE and THEN yank the stick -- but only to 6Gs.

THE YAKOLEV YAK 9D The Yak-9 was introduced in 1942 and late that year supplanted the Yak-1 and Yak-7 as the primary fighter for Russia; it was produced in large numbers for the entire war. The 9D variant was a "long range" fighter capable of distances of up to 840 miles (for comparison, North American P51s could range up to 2000 miles with drop tanks) and saw service from 1943 onward.

As with many Soviet fighters the Yak-9 is often vastly underrated in Western literature -- in point of fact it was a very capable counter for the German BF109G it most often fought and by many accounts was able to out fight the German plane on a level playing field. More importantly it was much better engineered for the frigid, harsh conditions of the Soviet front, as with many Russian war products it featured a simplicity that allowed easy maintenance and operation compared to the much more complex German designs. A descendant of the Yakolev line, the Yak-3, was probably the best fighter made during the war -- offered a choice of any Allied plane to fly, the Normandie-Niemen group selected the Yak3 and scored the last 99 of their 273 victories in the war.

The one major disadvantage of the Yak-9 line was speed; it was slower in level flight than most aircraft it encountered. Initially this was a serious drawback against a seasoned Luftwaffe capable of fully exploiting the weakness, but later in the war increasing numbers on the Soviet side and better experience among their fliers dealt with the problem.

The Yak-9 in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Turns -- The Yak is capable of maintaining a very small turn radius. Properly flown only a Spit can compete with it in this regard.

Weaknesses:

Slow -- The Yak is terribly slow, only slightly faster than a Zeke. It doesn't accelerate well and it doesn't dive to high speeds -- plus it will rip wings off at high speeds when under high G-load.

Ammo -- It might as well be shooting green peas. Three kill missions in a Yak are the mark of careful ammo conservation.

Climb -- A poor climber

Fuel -- Basically equivalent to the 109 in this regard. The Yak has a small gas tank compared to some of it's opponents and has very limited range.

Compression -- Yaks get very sluggish at higher speeds.

Take off checklist:

Where: The Yak is an ETO only plane.

Field: Yaks don't climb well, nor do they particularly benefit from altitude. In fact a Yak is completely out of it's element above 20K so there isn't much point in taking it there. Might as well take it up from a field close to the action and only climb slightly -- running away in a Yak is basically impossible, so you'd better be ready to fight.

Fuel: Yaks have tiny fuel tanks and seem to require 5% to get to the end of the runway. Fuel loads of below 20% are pointless; flying even 2-3 sectors with combat requires 50% or more.

Bombs: 1 bomb available.

On paper it would seem the Yak is the junk heap of Air Warrior. In practice though an experienced Yak pilot will get more kills and more easily than a Jug pilot for instance; however, the Yak pilot may not make it home to talk about it. As it is in real life this plane is much maligned in AW and has grown a reputation of being flyable only by a select few -- the truth being that only a select few have bothered to find out you can get quick kills in it.

Essentially all "Yak attacks" revolve around it's turn ability coupled with a huge e-bleed characteristic. Slamming a Yak into a 6G turn at 250kts is like hitting airborne salt water taffy -- the plane instantly sheds speed at an alarming rate as it comes around. It so happens that this is almost the opposite characteristic of the better stallfighters of the European arena, the Spit and 109. In turns they will tend to keep their speed fairly well, and as a result make much wider radius turns. Flying a Yak in turn fights is like flying an F6F with the air brakes on 100% of the time. The trick to it is to visualize a time to commit to that one heavy turn that will bring you into firing position. Unfortunately a mistake at this point will leave you relatively helpless against a plane that without doubt is faster, can climb better, is tougher, and has better lethality than you do.

Luckily the Yak has several weapons at low speed to help it out of tough spots. First, it has two-stage flaps and responds well to both settings -- 50% flaps and 75-100IAS in a carefully managed turn will yield a very small radius. 100% flaps can be used at the top of loops or even going under with Split-S maneuvers. Also, the Yak rolls fairly well at low speeds. Finally, it's a very forgiving plane about stalls -- they can be recovered easily and quickly when they occur. It's important to note however that even at these edges of execution an aware and capable Spit flier for instance (with a reasonable fuel load) can out perform the Yak in all respects. 109s have a hard time in flat turns but can easily switch into climbing turns where the Yak is absolutely terrible. Most other planes will (at least should) simply run away.

Ideally you should try to set up Yak engagements so you have just enough alt to supply you speed to jump a faster opponent and get him to commit to a turn. At that point the Yaks bleed characteristics should put you in firing position; if this doesn't happen quickly (within a turn or two) you've probably lost the window of opportunity and should think about regaining speed again, unless you're completely committed to the turn fight in which case you should try to get it going slow where the Yak is better matched.

THE MITSUBISHI A6M5A ZERO-SEN

The Zero was the emerging standard fighter for the Japanese at the beginning of their Pacific campaign; it was fairly new (having first flown in 1939) but not so new the U.S. didn't know about it -- it had seen action in China and elsewhere long before it was used against the Americans. Even so American armed forces severely underestimated the A6M and that mistake caused considerable problems -- it's primary opponents in the early war, the F4F Wildcat, the P40, and the lamentable P39, were heavily outclassed by the Zero.

The wide disparity in plane ability forced a quick adoption of new air to air tactics by the American pilots; the famous "Thatch weave" for instance, which was effective but required two to one engagement odds, close wingman contact, and was fairly risky even so. More commonly Americans took to a simple philosophy echoed by pilot biographies throughout the era; engage with alt, engage with numbers, and when compromised immediately dive to safety (a singular weakness of the Zero was high speed diving).

This confused the Japanese, who by and large considered air combat almost an art form which matched the wits and ability of one pilot against another. This was mirrored in the very design of the Zero; it was at the time the ultimate "dogfight" style plane, exhibiting superb turning capability, good range, and excellent power -- at the price of durability, low offensive armament, and very limited payload or bombing options. If American pilots had attempted to engage the Japanese on a level playing field, so to speak, they would have been slaughtered, both by the superior design and better training at the onset of the war the Japanese enjoyed.

Unfortunately for the Japanese the features they designed their premier fighter for were quickly obsolete in the air war. Having demonstrated the validity of their new tactics in combat, the U.S. armed forces began making planes to better utilize them, and training their pilots extremely well in how to do it. Against a supreme turning plane the U.S. answered with several planes that had common core design features: they were fast, they were heavily armed, they were heavily armored, and they performed well at high altitudes. Against the likes of well flown P38, F6F or F4U, the Zero was hopelessly outclassed, but by the time that was evident to all concerned it was too late to displace it as the number one fighter for Japan. When asked after the war which plane he fly in WW2 combat if he had a choice of any, Sabaro Sakai, one of the leading Japanese aces of WW2, said he would pick a P51. The pilots of the Zero understood what they needed was a faster, tougher plane, but the design that produced such outstanding early war results was no longer able to give them that four years later.

The Zero in Air Warrior

Strengths:

Turning -- The essential capability of the Zero. It can out turn every other plane.

Weaknesses:

Speed -- A huge flaw, the Zero is by far the slowest fighter in the Pac. Any decent pilot with a few K of alt can avoid a Zeke with speed.

Climb -- Almost as significant as speed, the climb ability of the Zero is awful. This means the F4 or F6 for instance can separate in two ways -- vertically by climbing, or horizontally by walling the throttle.

Weak -- The Zero had a wooden frame and as little metal as possible to decrease its weight. Armament was added later but it was never enough. The weakest fighter in the Pacific, it can rip wings easily at speeds >300kts.

Take off checklist:

Where: Any Pacific aircraft field

Field: The Zeke isn't a good choice for rear fields because it takes too long to get to the action and large amounts of alt advantage are mostly wasted. It is however a great plane for field defense or fields close to the action in general.

Fuel: With such a light weight and large fuel capacity, the Zero can go quite a way on it's tank. Fuel endurance is excellent and you can generally get by with 30% for most missions (or even less).

Bombs: One bomb, but the Zeke is a terrible dive bomber.

The Zero has definite appeal as a turn fighter because of it's phenomenal turn rate, but it quickly runs out of tricks after that. The basic problem with Zekes is that by themselves, they're more or less worthless against aware opponents. Any other fighter can pick a way to simply run away from a Zeke if one shows up alone. This is why I often refer to Zero's as "assist killers" -- they can get a kill, but usually the reason they do is the opponent was forced into close quarters with the Zero by another plane. Once that point is reached, it's simply the application of an overwhelming turn advantage to kill the opponent.

There's no inherent problem with this, it just means that when flying a Zeke you will be best utilized with another fighter of different type, preferably a fast climber like the F4. If you plan to go solo, plan to be frustrated. Any other plane that perceives you at an E advantage and within range to do something about it can and will simply leave, and you should expect nothing less. One way to combat this is to keep your speed as high as possible in general flight; holding at a steady 250kts or so when approaching for instance, instead of climbing which will put you at <150kts (do your climbing before engaging). Some players won't be expecting a Zeke to go that fast and won't deal with it properly, possibly allowing you to close into range that forces them to evade -- at which point you can throw your speed away in turns, since the Zero will win that fight sooner or later.

Keep in mind while trying these type of tactics that the Zeke is a very poor high speed plane; it rolls slowly and of course can rip wings above 300-325 or so. You will have to be careful to use gentle, easy turns to keep your speed up because in any heavy turn the Zeke bleeds speed terribly.

It's more important than normal in a Zero to be aware of your loop ability and not get going so slow you can't Immel or at least get nose up. The reason for this is obvious; other planes are going to use their superior climb rate on you whenever possible and thus you'll often have to deal with planes "on top" that absolutely want to stay there. Your best hope against them is to hoard your speed and try to catch them close enough above that you can zoom up and hit them, or possibly lead turn them as they come in (which is very dangerous, so practice it a lot if that's what you want to do).

Probably the most fun in a Zeke is fighting another Zeke. It's here that the plane is in its element and you can experiment with things like partial flaps (which work very well at low speeds) and the amazingly slow speeds that Zeros can perform some maneuvers.

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