CrazyDuck

Are you sure? IL-2 originally uses the more powerful Mikulin, not Klimov.

What I'd like to see the most are the AB (cluster bombs) for the blue side, specifically the ones filled up with anti-armor bomblets (SD-4).

Fw 190 A-6 Standard fighter/fighter bomber. MG 151/20s in place of MG FFs. Fw 190 A-6/R1 "Pulkzerostoerer" - heavy bomber interceptor. Two gondolas with 2xMG151/20 each (for a total of 6). Fw 190 A-6/R2 "Pulkzerostoerer" - heavy bomber interceptor. Two wing mounted MK108s. Fw 190 A-6/R3 Anti-armor version. Two MK 103s under wings. Fw 190 A-6/R4 High alt GM-1 boost installed. Fw 190 A-6/R6 "Pulkzerostoerer" - heavy bomber interceptor. Two Wfr.Gr.21 mortars. Fw 190 A-6/R11 Night fighter with FuG-217 "Neptune" radar. Fw 190 A-6/U3 Ground attack version.

Considering how far away in the pipeline BoN is, I'd wait till first sale and get them both for less than 90 bucks.

It's simple. 1 v 1 Fw is inferior (vs almost anything, not only Yak). 4 v 4 (or more) Fw turns into a brute - it is made to clear the wingman's tail, not own one! Find 3 wingmen, and take on 4 aces in Yaks. You'll massacre them. In other words - Fw isn't meant to turnfight, it isn't meant for E-fighting (that's NOT bnz!), however it shines (and that's an understatement) in drag'n'bag.

Version -42 is the one with gunner as option. I never take it. Firstly, it's armed only with a single ShKAS (a light 7,62 mm machinegun), which can't really do all that much versus german fighters. While you can occasionally damage the 109's fuel tank or cause it to leak oil, you really can't do anything but scratch paint of Fw 190 (if only pilot isn't a total n00b and hangs around your tail and poses as a target for your gunner to train on). Secondly, there is virtually no armor around the gunner (he is sitting behind the armored capsule which protects the pilot, engine and fuel tank) so he's completely exposed to enemy fire from rear hemisphere which makes his life difficult. And thirdly, gunner is very draggy, it causes your plane to slow down for some 40 kph. Considering this, I believe the costs far outweight the benefits. Story is completely different with model 43, where all these drawbacks are addressed: 1. Gunner has a hard hitting UBS heavy MG, which will make any German pilot think twice about a direct 6 o'clock approach; 2. he is protected by armor at sides and rear, and 3. extended canopy minimizes additional drag and uprated engine more than makes up for it.

Simple, small acts like this give me hope for humanity. Hat's off.

It's a Russian game. You learn the hard way! Welcome on board btw.

Happy NY to all! But new decade will start with 2021.

If you are sure the second volley indeed scored hits (i.e. that visual effects were not something else, and that those hits were indeed caused by you and not somebody else), then it sounds to me like net packet loss. Do you see the same behavior offline (with murky world if internet removed from equation)? .50 cals are very potent weapon - and if they connect, they should always cause damage. However, hitting non-essential parts of the target might not be enough to bring them down immediately. I've scored kills with .50 cals at distances greater than 600 m, so I'm quite sure there is no distance threshold where they would become benign.

Nothing meaningful to add that hasn't been covered already by others - but yeah, as graceful as Spit is once it's airborne, as clumsy and unstable on the ground. Narrow, outwards retracting gear doesn't help either.

One short note about dogfighting in the MiG: she has a sweet spot, a narrow speed interval at about 350-380 kph give or take, where it delivers! Go slower, and you'll stall and more importantly bleed E, go higher and you'll loose responsiveness; stay at about 380 kph and you'll ride one of the sweetest dogfighters in the sim. Oh, and take twin UBS in the nose and don't even think about packing two more under the wings, they are not worth it (unless you go after bombers exclusively, and I'd hesitate even there).

Well, I agree - it's a challenging aircraft to use for anti-fighter combat. However, you are wrong on account of enemy always being faster. P-39 is the fastest aircraft on the ground in 1943 vs German opponents, if you know how to handle engine. That said, it's also devastating vs bombers or/and heavier aircraft (which don't maneuver hard and are easier target to hit with the 37 mm howitzer you are howling around in the nose).

I use 150 m (even 120 sometimes) for anti-fighter combat, and 300 m for anti-bomber and ground strafing.

Precisely what made my eyebrows lift when I saw it listed on Normandy expansion.