Cockpit Armor

[Fauster]

So to begin I'll say this is all an impression, no data has been collected but maybe some of you other players have had a similar experience.

 

I have 2 aircraft to address and I'll start with the 109. I have recently begun flying out the various 109 models with the armored headrest included as well as the triplex front armored glass. Mostly just to practice maintaining good SA with bad visibility out of the cockpit, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find that my pilot is much better protected than I anticipated. Situations where I'd expect to instantly jump to that dreaded 3rd person view have not happened to me since. Obviously if an La5 is 10m off your 6 the plate isn't going to do squat but, I feel much more confident disengaging from a fight knowing that a stray 12.7mm from 1km isn't going to home in on my skull. So in essence, as long as you can maintain good SA with the plate in, I'd take it as often as possible. 

 

The next plane is the 190. I feel like the A5 (non F3 mod) is much more tanky than the A3, specially in regards to pilot protection. In the A3 my pilot has been turned inside out from lucky hits between 800m and 1200m  but in the A5... my goodness. I've had mulitple enemies on my 6 as close as 600m and the rear of the A5 just eats it up. In one instance I had a fuel tank explode which required me to restart the engine and I continued flying home. IIRC the A5 is only ~100kg or so heavier than the A3 but I feel a huge difference in armor. 

[-SF-Disarray]

From what I remember reading on this topic it isn't so much the amount of armor a plane has but where it is placed. Even planes considered well protected, don't carry that much armor when compared to other vehicles so an extra 100kg of armor weight, a small amount as armor is concerned, in the right place can change things significantly.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Disarray

[Fauster]

Is the A5 up armored from the A3 though? I thought the weight difference was due to the extend fuselage and cowl flaps

[Ehret]

The next plane is the 190. I feel like the A5 (non F3 mod) is much more tanky than the A3, specially in regards to pilot protection. In the A3 my pilot has been turned inside out from lucky hits between 800m and 1200m  but in the A5... my goodness. I've had mulitple enemies on my 6 as close as 600m and the rear of the A5 just eats it up. In one instance I had a fuel tank explode which required me to restart the engine and I continued flying home. IIRC the A5 is only ~100kg or so heavier than the A3 but I feel a huge difference in armor. 

 

600m is quite a distance - almost outside gun range. Energy and accuracy of rounds are diminished as they have close to 1 second of flight, already. A plane silhouette from the dead 6 is the smallest, and there is a lot of fuselage length to buffer HE rounds.

 

Does A5 perform better than A3? If it does, then this, adds to your protection at least as much, as improved armor.

[Wulf]

I'm not an expert but as far as I'm aware, there was no additional armour on the bog standard A-5 day fighter.  The A-3 and the A-5 have the same amount of armour plate.

 

Someone else may tell you something different but that is my understanding.

[Mac_Messer]

Some of the VVS aircraft have the option to choose between HE/AP shells in the ammobelt. I`d say you have so far experienced HE ammo mostly, since AP is deadly even for FW190 pilots.

 

Also, you mentioned 600, 800m as firing distances, that is not my experience. 150-350m is when I shoot and get shot at mostly.

[216th_Jordan]

The armor definitely helps, same as ducking down. If you see your enemy shooting at you better dont look back any longer, if it hits where your virtual head is at that moment you are done.

[Mac_Messer]

You just made that up, right?

[[APAF]VR_Spartan85]

The armor definitely helps, same as ducking down. If you see your enemy shooting at you better dont look back any longer, if it hits where your virtual head is at that moment you are done.

If this is actually true..... then woah man....

Lol silly question but is there any proof or way of testing this?

Edited January 27, 2018 by spartan85

[1_Robert_]

The armor definitely helps, same as ducking down. If you see your enemy shooting at you better dont look back any longer, if it hits where your virtual head is at that moment you are done.

I can’t tell if this is sarcasm?

[Field-Ops]

I doubt that the hitbox for the players head follows his actual head movements and not his 3rd person player model which is much more static.