i dont get how to play aircraft.

[^4Steel ^1Jackal^2~FYANB~]

im doing a lot better in tanks now thanks to the advice of everyone from my previous thread asking for help, so i figured id ask again about planes.

ive been trying to play the american planes so i can get a fighter to use in grb but ive had less than 0 luck.

most of the time the enemy im shooting at will swing around behind me and blow me up within 10-15 seconds of me opening fire on them.

i would like to get the f9f-8 since its an 8.3 br and that matches the ground tanks that i have the most historical love for. that, and the fact that it can carry 4 air to air missiles seems spectacular for my intentions with it.

currently im playing the f8f-1, but ive had the same issue with all the previous planes before it. they are slow, they dont turn well, the weapons are ineffective, and they are very fragile.

the only plane i havent had this issue with is the p400. that one seems like it can maneuver pretty decently and i feel like it deals about as much damage as it takes. the only reason i havent been flying it and the planes after it are because it dosnt lead to the plane i want.

is it the planes? is there something im missing? what can i do to get better?

[-=GHS=-BoonDock™]

aim the pointy bit at them and fire.

[Jaes]

Air combat is extremely nuanced. There isn't a one trick solution that will make you better outside of gaining experience and learning from your mistakes.

What it sounds like you're doing wrong is not understanding how Energy Fighting works. The F8F when you're using it properly far outshines the P-400.

https://warthunder.fandom.com/wiki/Air_Combat_Maneuvering_(ACM)

This is a good primer on the rules of Energy Fighting as well as combat maneuvers to use your aircraft's airspeed to its full advantage. If you're of a visual learn, type the combat maneuver into Google and there will be tons of video demonstrations of what the maneuver looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFcQnxDy0zY&t

This is Defyn. He's one of the best Air Realistic Battles combatants in the game. This particular video does a great job at explaining how to apply your Energy in combat.

You do not need to follow everything he is doing, you just need to listen to what he's saying then apply what you learn to your own engagements.

[TigerHunter22]

Check out Defyn, he has a channel and he deals with how to fly planes effectively.
It's gonna be a long way to go before you start murdering lobbies, but follow the mans advice and learn the basics and you'll be golden :)

[^4Steel ^1Jackal^2~FYANB~]

see i did find defyn before coming here and ive been trying to do what he says in that specific video, but its not working and that confuses me.

i climb, pick a target, dive, get a few hits that dont do any serious damage, turn in the direction they came from, and yet somehow they are shooting at me within seconds and they are going faster than me.

if i dont instantly die, i try to do barrel rolls which does usually keep me alive longer, but inevitably i just die.

i dont know whats wrong with my execution and i cant figure it out on my own because i dont know what mistakes im making

[RXDimA]

There's quite a lot to learn when it comes to air battles, but I can narrow down a couple of tips specifically for the F8F.
The Bearcat F8F is an incredibly good plane, but it needs discipline to do well in.
It is tuned for lower altitude fighting, so you will have the most performance advantage staying low. This means you have to stay fast at all times, and to do so, you must turn gently. Turning gently results in bleeding less speed.
When fighting slower, but better turning planes, like spitfires, zeros, and yaks, you want to not turn, and just fly fast at all times. With enough separation, doing a shallow climb (10 m/s) you will create a lot of energy advantage if they blindingly chase you without climbing, as they cannot maintain the same speed in a shallow climb.
You then do a gentle 90 degree turn upwards, converting speed into altitude, and since the slower opponents can't convert as much speed into altitude, they will end up being energy trapped. You need some experience to know when it is safe to do so, so be ready to learn from mistakes.
If it's a faster opponent, chances are you can just turn with it and kill it. Don't fall prey to the same speed based strategy I described earlier.

The best operating altitude for the F8F is between sea level and 4km. Preferable not to fly over 5km. I consider the F8F-1B to be worse than F8F-1 due to higher weight and worse power to weight ratio.

[Black_Fox]

General tips for turn fighting:

- Move your mouse gently to keep more speed when turning, don't point your cursor directly on the enemy all the time

- Use your yaw when turning, yawing down makes the turn wider (for evasion) and yawing up makes it shorter at the cost of speed.

- Bind an easy to reach key for pitching up, hitting that while turning greatly improves the turn rate compared to relying on the mouse turn alone

[MANKIND]

My guy, with most planes (especially jets) you want to keep speed up. Never lose speed, losing speed is dying basically, so if you got a jet that usually goes to 1200km/h you dont want to stay at less than 900km/h for example. Always bleed out like 25% to 30% of your speed, dont drop it less than that unless you know you're pretty safe to engage at low speeds. Speed is war

[Gold Merchant Lev]

Originally posted by ^4Steel ^1Jackal^2~FYANB~:

im doing a lot better in tanks now thanks to the advice of everyone from my previous thread asking for help, so i figured id ask again about planes.

ive been trying to play the american planes so i can get a fighter to use in grb but ive had less than 0 luck.

most of the time the enemy im shooting at will swing around behind me and blow me up within 10-15 seconds of me opening fire on them.

i would like to get the f9f-8 since its an 8.3 br and that matches the ground tanks that i have the most historical love for. that, and the fact that it can carry 4 air to air missiles seems spectacular for my intentions with it.

currently im playing the f8f-1, but ive had the same issue with all the previous planes before it. they are slow, they dont turn well, the weapons are ineffective, and they are very fragile.

the only plane i havent had this issue with is the p400. that one seems like it can maneuver pretty decently and i feel like it deals about as much damage as it takes. the only reason i havent been flying it and the planes after it are because it dosnt lead to the plane i want.

is it the planes? is there something im missing? what can i do to get better?

The F9F-8 is a great bird but definitely don’t want to rely on your missiles. Aim-9b’s aren’t reliable at all unless you’re shooting at someone who is flying in a straight line and not paying attention. In fact most of the early missiles are like this so I think it’s best to use them opportunistically but don’t rely on them for kills.

The best advice for getting better with aircraft is to be hyper aware of your surroundings. Stay up high and don’t rush for the first potential target you see (that’s the biggest mistake I make, rushing to get a kill always results in death). Also might seem obvious but if you don’t wear headphones make sure that you do because you’ll often hear someone before you see them or their missiles. With each aircraft you need to find the sweet spot for highest speed while retaining as much agility as possible. Check your keybinds too, make sure you have flaps and airbrake on convenient keys because you’ll use them a lot in a dogfight.


Edit- caveat about staying up high is that it becomes not such a good thing do when you’re dealing with radar guided missiles at higher BRs.

[Toffe]

That's why I play SB. No BS third person freelook and markers. In SB, a good canopy makes an enormous difference. Meaning late WW2 American planes have an edge there, while in AB/RB it makes no difference, effectively affecting game balance.

The one thing that will help your flying performance most of all is Track IR / VR. In AB/RB you already have perfect awareness due to markers and third person freelook so use that and try to control pitch/roll with WASD or something while you're busy looking around in freelook.

[freyaredpill]

Aim a little bit before calculated aiming point depending on ping. if ping is over 100 you need to take 20-30% correction.

[Warlock]

Originally posted by ^4Steel ^1Jackal^2~FYANB~:

most of the time the enemy im shooting at will swing around behind me and blow me up within 10-15 seconds of me opening fire on them.

is it the planes? is there something im missing? what can i do to get better?

fundamentally, having more speed is how you extend away, such that the enemy can't catch you when they turn around.

how you set up for that is where all the complexity comes in , knowing dozens of aircraft per BR across multiple nations

for the targeting sometimes I'll use more tracers , or do some practice sessions like when I couldn't even land a single round between reloads in SB at first, it was bad ngl