Rich

Thanks for the most useful reply to date. You're asking all the same
questions a/c to a/c that I was asking. Question is, does anyone have any
answers? I've only had one turning fight with him. Climbed toward him (my
first mistake) from behind, when we were about level he saw me, Immelmanned
toward me, stayed high enough so that when I turned toward him he sucked
into my 6. Never saw him again after that.

Know of any corners where a Pitts might out-fly a 1D? Any ACM is a case of
fighting on your own terms and not getting into the other guys' kind of
fight but I'm new at both ACM and the Pitts (15 hours) so I haven't yet
learned where the Pitts excels against other comers. We were reasonably low
(for an FNG like me) so I didnt' use any vertical and kept the Gs low (about
4 max, I think). Problem with that is that I think the 1D is good to about
10Gs or something like that so I'll never outturn him.

The Pitts has a couple of good things going for it. It's pretty fast (this
particular one, with the -D model wing, is faster than most other Pitts')
and I can accelerate pretty well with its course prop. This means I can
gain and lose energy pretty well but I don't have much vertical penetration
from the prop - I have to have it at the bottom to start with in terms of
speed. Also, though it's usually a bad thing, the Pitts is so draggy that I
can bleed off energy quite quickly. If it's a matter of slowing down to
tighten a turn radius or bleeding off speed to force him to overshoot, I can
do that and he won't be able to slow with me, but he'll have such a delta of
energy I think he could just run away from the fight at that point and I'd
never catch him. Of course, this would only work in a level turn if he
isn't smart enough to yo-yo (but I think maybe he is).


Thinking about the engagement afterward, what I think I might have done is
wait until he was committed to the downline in his Immelman then gone
vertical, passing him canopy to canopy on the way up. That would have given
me a height advantage because he would still have had to pull to either
level off or climb again. From the vantage point of height I would have had
more options depending on his next maneuver. He would have had a hell of a
lot of speed on at that point, though so he would still have been able to
stay in the fight or run away cleanly.

Once you get into a level turn, let's say, and he's in your six, what can
you do to shake him or at least keep him from getting a shot? (silly talk
in airplanes without guns, but you know what I mean). What would a Mustang
driver do against a Bf109? Is there any value in reversing in the level
turn by dumping the stick and turning it into a level negative turn? With
the element of surprise and a quick roll-out that might not put me in an
offensive situation but may break his lock long enough to do something else.

Reading the books is easy but you're never sure if the other guy's read the
same books and knows what he's supposed to do to let you win. Also, neither
of us being trained fighter pilots, we don't know what the routine BFMs are
or their standard defenses so we're maybe a bit more unpredicatable than a
professional would be. A mid-air scares me more than anything in this game.
Still, it's been fun the few times I've done it.

Any tips on Pitts v Yak 50? I actually had him once!

Shawn
Slowly growing fangs




"Rich Klarich" <rklarich@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:18ebb95d.0203261530.bb88525@posting.google.com...
"ShawnD2112" <shawnd.NOSPAM2112@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:<62Kn8.7068$kU2.984574@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com>...
> Any tips on how you shake a One Design off your six?
>
> Shawn

Fellas, First- what is your min safe speed for manuevering and how
close do you two want to get? Can you stay at your best cornering
velocity while looking around and stay coordinated? Do you know what
g to put on the wings? It's not max, baby. You can pivot a Pitts
around and point it quite well- but you don't want to be low. If you
can win the turn, you can win the fight. Turn faster than the other
guy and stay in a better plain, then you don't have to worry about
your airplane as much. Sorry, but in a 1D vs S1S 1v1 it's going to be
the pilot, not the plane. In the 1D, I would fly fast and big over
the top stuff until the S1 pooped out and went for speed with a dive,
then I'd convert on his 6 from above, knowing I can now match him on
the pull. In the Pitts, I'd never let myself get slow when the 1D was
above me with any speed. How slow and fast does you 1D fly against
you? How much more vertical can he use against you? You can't outrun
him. You cant outclimb in the vertical from similar speeds- so what.
Be an aviator and fly the pants off him. Start high and fast, don't
just pull to his 6 in the pass and die in the energy bleeding 1 turn
spiral- get jiggy with it.

Again, it's going to be the pilot. Got a rear view mirror? I've had
one near my handhold on the upper wing for years and it rocks.

Rich Klarich

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