Good plane for a FC beginner?

[Mo74]

Hi all,

 

I picked up FC V1 some time ago to support the developers/game and then spent my usual time playing WW2 era - but would really like to try FC V1 finally.

 

What would you recommend as the easiest to fly? Fighter/bomber/British/German, I don't mind. When I say easy, I mean simplest in terms of engine management or easy of flight input.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Mo.

[J2_Seya]

German D7F or the regular D7. The D7F has an altitude throttle and the normal one doesn't. They both fly very nice.

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by J2_Seya

[Avimimus]

The two seaters are also pretty benign to fly overall.

 

The Albatross and Pfalz should be doable (the Albatross is probably a bit easier than the Fokker D.VII but has lower performance). For the allies the Spad is theoretically easy to fly, and the S.E.5a. has some good characteristics

 

FCII probably has easier to fly aircraft overall (except for the Gotha - if it is like in RoF anyway)! Note: I've recently been flying the D.XII (a favourite of mine) and I would also recommend against that plane for a beginner.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Avimimus

[PaulTheSalty]

Bristol F2b, either version. The Falcon III has more power, but the II is still excellent. It's fantastic because you can try multiple play styles out to see what you like best.

 

It has a gentle stall and is straight-forward to recover from a spin. Both of these make it very beginner friendly. It's also fast and surprisingly maneuverable for an aircraft if it's size. The engine is difficult to over-rev due to a very high max RPM. It holds up well even in long dives or after taking severe damage. It's a machine that wants to get you home.

 

It is also a highly flexible platform:

 

Want to run recon? Bristol can.

 

Want to do level bombing? Bristol has a bomb sight. (Contact fuze at high alt)

 

Dive bombing? Select your bomb size and go. (Use 5 second fuze for low alt)

 

Need a heavy fighter? Slap up to 5 guns on the frame and get some. Plus you can reload all those weapons in flight, unlike some other aircraft.

 

Want to bring a friend to watch your back? With the Bristol you can have an AI gunner, bring a real player, or man the observer seat yourself.

 

There isn't a fancy training video on it, but you hardly need it. Bind water radiator, mixture, and throttle to control the engine.

 

Maybe some keys for gunner commands. I use long range and fire at will on 1 key, short range and return fire on another.

 

And some trim control. It's one of the few WW1 aircraft in game with trim. If the elevator gets knocked out (which is unlikely as it is modeled with independent left and right sides, another huge +) you can use that as an alternative to limp back home.

[Zooropa_Fly]

The Alb.

 

S!

[NO.20_W_M_Thomson]

To add to what PaulTheSalty has mentioned, The Bristol is a beast, She'll take a beating and wont fall apart at the first sign of trouble, She can almost turn with anything.

Only thing wrong with it is the ai gunner is lacking in the ability's to do much good other than warn you, you have a six. No where near what a real gunner would do in the game or what really happened in real life.  

[NO.20_Krispy_Duck]

Bristol, D7F or D7 are all good options. They're not overly difficult to fly, and they  get better and better as you get better at flying them. They can make a shaky pilot passable, an OK pilot look good, and a good pilot very dangerous to the enemy.

 

The Alb and SE5a are relatively forgiving but suffer from some limitations in the game. If you want to learn to fly, they're fine at that, but as you get better you'll start to feel their limitations in FC.

 

The Spad XIII is a decent aircraft, but the visibility from the cockpit is frustrating if you're new. The Spad VII (180) also has the visibility issue, plus some flight model problems.

 

This is speaking of FC. ROF has many of the same planes but they behave differently, so keep that in mind if you're migrating over.

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by NO.20_Krispy_Duck

[US41_Low]

In terms of just takeoff, flying, landing: D7F, Pfalz D3, Bristol F2 or F3.

 

In terms of combat application: probably the same 3.

 

Spad has more engine management than many planes, has a landing quirk,  can lose its wings easily with a single bullet or flak shrapnel, and can only be used effectively in combat if you know what you’re doing

 

the albatross with the current  outrageous damage model will fall apart in a gentle turn after taking a single bullet to the wing. Don’t waste your time getting frustrated.

 

Se5a is easy to fly and land but is also very weak in the wings and requires knowledge of BnZ and energy retention in general.