New aircraft

Finally, we've gotten new aircraft. It seems like ages, and probably is, but they're here.

The British, as usual, have a Spitfire. The Spitfire Mk IXc is the more representative 1943 model with the slightly more powerful Merlin 66 engine, rather than the Merlin 61. Like its predecessors, the Spitfire Mk I and Spitfire Mk V, the Mk IXc is easy to fly and capable of an excellent sustained turn rate. It also doubles the cannon ammunition per gun from 60 to 120 rounds, permitting it to engage, for the first time, in sustained bursts without having to sweat the ammunition count too badly. It also has 4 .303 caliber machine guns, if you'd prefer to annoy your opponnent rather than kill him. The Mk IX is really the most favorable match-up for the average pilot against Axis aircraft so far. It's almost as fast as the FW-190, and for once, it has a way to bug out of an engagement reliably in the form of its excellent climb. In previous match-ups, Spits were always slower or at best marginally faster than their opponents, and rarely ever had the ability to climb away. Unfortunately, due to its power and the likely tactics of its opponent, the Spitfire IX is going to have two of its weaknesses highlighted. First off, the tendency for the aircraft to stop responding to control in a dive is greatly exacerbated with the extra power. Secondly, the Spitfire's always anemic roll rate is even more evident when pitted against the FW-190, which is arguably the best rolling aircraft of the war.

The German FW-190, specifically the 190A-4, is both the best and worst aircraft of the tier at the same time. If you know how to fly it - and this means honest-to-God actual skill and experience in realistic flight simulators - and if you have equally skilled wingmen, you can dominate competition. The 190 has a high top speed, incredible armament of 2x20mm MGFF cannon with 60 rounds each in the outer wings, 2xMG151/20 20mm cannon with 250 rounds per gun inboard, and, almost as an after-thought, 2x7.92mm peashooters in the nose. Furthermore, it has excellent rolling ability which permits the skilled pilot to chain together an unlimited combination of maneuvers with which to evade his foe. However, the 190 is the worst turning aircraft in the game. It loses speed at a tremendous rate when you pull back on the stick. Furthermore, Focke Wulf 190s have bad low-speed characteristics. Not only does this bode ill for someone trying to fight with it at low speed, but it is difficult to take off and land with, a marked contrast to the 109.

Skilled squads of pilots will terrorize their enemies with this plane, but the average pilot is going to have a long, tough road adjusting. To paraphrase a forum member, the Spitfire Mk IX is a dueling toy, the FW-190 is a murder weapon. One is made for fancy acrobatic maneuvers, the other dives in, unleashes its fury and leaves a corpse in its wake as it zooms away. Speaking of the dive, the 190 has the best in the game - it accelerates well in a dive, and more importantly, the player retains excellent control of the aircraft up until just after 800kph, at which point the plane locks up. Oh, and don't try to climb away from Spits.

The Lockheed 322-15, more commonly known as the P-38F or simply the P-38, is a mystery. Since the new aircraft have only been available on the training server and not yet live, it's been tested only under false conditions with everyone taking off at nearby airfields and with little at stake. Some things have become evident, however. It has a good sustained turn and dive, the best forward visibility in the game, and the highest top speed at low altitudes. Most impressive is its gun package, consisting of four .50 caliber Browning machine guns with their incredible range, gobs of ammo and rate of fire, and a single 20mm cannon - all in the nose. Few things that move across the crosshair of the P-38 are happy about doing so. The problem is getting those targets in the crosshair, as the P-38 has a bad roll rate (possibly the worst of any fighter in-game, except the Bf-110), awful climb and mediocre acceleration. It will be interesting to see how the P-38 ends up performing in the game, as its combination of flight characteristics is very atypical and no one is certain how it will do.