CrazyDuck

To be fair to the lovely Pony, once you built up skills with it, and perhaps even more importantly, didn't attempt to turn with it with more than 30% fuel, it actually turned surprisingly good! You could easily surprise a cocky 109 or a Mc205, staying with it in a tight turn or even outturning them at medium speeds. However, trying some hard manouvering with large amount of fuel it really resembled the untamed wild stallion, so I guess its name isn't a coincidence afterall!

As an interesting sidenote - if somebody hasn't noticed it yet, Russians also have crucial engine related gauges color coded for convenience: Fuel: yellow, Coolant: green and Oil: red.

Thanks @Tom_Weiss for stunning P-47 skin.

Holy cow, two of the top 10 of most aesthetically pleasing aircraft ever made from my humble personal list came alive today - Me 262 and Albatros V! Thanks devs!

It's here!

Ouch! Multiple 20mm and/or HMG hits in the engine, fuel tank and cockpit area should hurt as hell.

Yes, AP rounds can be devastating in air to air! I tend to use pure AP ammo on nose mounted guns when I go bomber hunting, or when I want to add a stealth factor to my attacks (early Russian pure AP beltings don't have tracers). You can snipe with those twin nose ShVAKs on a MiG or La from great distances, with your target not knowing they're under attack (no tracers). In other words, if you know where to shoot (e.g. engines), and if it is easy to hit (non maneouvering bomber), use pure AP. If you have to spray in general direction of an elusive and/or maneuvering target (not knowing where on target your shots will land), use mixed or HE.

Quite a task, probably since the UTI-26 (designation parallel with the I-26) was a much earlier version, corresponding to initial Yak-1 and Yak-7A from 1940. It was equipped with the VK-105P (not even with the PA, let alone the PF, which we have in the sim on Yak-1, Yak-1B and Lagg) and generally lacking all the aerodynamic and other improvements of the Yak-7B. Let's not forget our Yak-7B is one of the latest (1942) before adopting designation Yak-9 and receiving cut down fuselage and bubble canopy.

Condolences to those closest to you, and eternally blue skies to you Kwiatek! S!

Sometimes people use lights to indicate they have lost engine power and are crash landing, so they beg for mercy before doing that, in particular when they are too low for bailing out.

Why divebomb with IL-2 in the first place? It isn't built for it and isn't particularly good at it either. Instead go in with a shallow dive, deliver some eggs to the enemy below (don't forget the 5 second fuse or bombs won't go off), and get out as low as possible, using terrain, trees and even buildings to shield you from AAA. 700+ kg of armor should suffice to keep you alive for several passes at normal levels of AAA also! And don't forget to get rid of ROFS-132 rockets as soon as possible, they cause a lot of drag and turn your IL-2 into a flying pig. One direct hit with it however ensures a medium tank kill. Also, with careful aiming it's possible to use the 100 kg or even 50 kg bombs for medium or heavy (Tiger!) tank killing.

Why not? Ju 88 I've put the last as the hardest to master (IMHO) since OP asked for a twin that's easy to learn and operate. My answer has nothing to do with which one I consider the most rewarding or combat effective.

Yeah, you summed up nicely why I put it at the end of the current bomber spectrum: The hardest one to master, the most rewarding once you tame it, no doubt.

A couple of grabs from the mission I just played to work up your apetite :). I've set up an ambush with my PzIII Aufs.M behind a house and waited for Russians to pass. I've managed to knock out three KV-1 behemoths before the fourth one figured out where the fire is coming from and ruined my fun. In an open field on equal grounds, the PzIII with its thin armour and 50mm cannon stands no chances vs KV-1. (Also, on first scrshot you can see one of the additional armor plates on the starboard side of my tank blown off, with a hit received in the hull beneath it.)