Optimum fighter altitudes - how do I know whats best AE

[Cavalry Corp]

AE question on optimum altitude for air combat , CAP, sweep etc

Is there anywhere on a screen that tells you your P38 does not do well at a certain altitude etc ?

I do not know how I would find it out and for sure it says nothing in stock now .

Cav

[Erik Rutins]

Yes, when you look at the aircraft info, it shows the maneuver ratings for each range band. In addition to that info, you also now get info in the combat report telling you roughly what altitude the enemy planes are coming in at. So you can use those two to make a determination about what altitude may be best for your own missions.

[Cavalry Corp]

Erik

It gets better and better - thanks

Michael

[HistoryGuy]

The impression that I get from reading the "performance bands" A2A discussion is that a favored P-38 tactic of diving from high altitude to make an attack and then zooming back up to repeat cannot be replicated in AE (at least as effectively). It seems like "performance bands" equates to dogfighting at certain altitudes??

[Jorm]

I that right about the p38, didnt most models suffer badly from high speed compressability issues, ie in a high speed dive ? So was this high speed dive pass an actual tactic used by the P38 ?

cheers

[Nikademus]

early models did, but only came into play if the plane power dived and reached too fast a speed. Making a fast, but more shallow diving boom and zoom pass on a fighter would not be a problem for the most part. P-38's strength in this was that it's supercharged engines allowed it to retain power and regain and/or retain altitude advantage vs. earlier 1st generation allied planes. Being more at home in the higher alt bands also faciliated the 38 starting a battle with alt advantage.

[tigercub]

over 20,000 feet the P38j performance dropped off markedly.

[Howard Mitchell]

ORIGINAL: tigercub

over 20,000 feet the P38j performance dropped off markedly.

No it didn't. I didn't even reach its maximum speed until 25,000 feet.

[Terminus]

Maybe he's thinking about the -G...?

[tigercub]

Quoting of the top of my head can lead to poor memory lol yes there best performance was 25,000 But Quote:P38J in NW Europe. over 20,000 the Allison engines suffered sluggish oil that refused to flow properly in the intense cold of high altitude,leading to heavy oil consumption an engine life of only 80 hours and frequent engine failure....The turbo-superchargers were troublesome.. main reasons it was taken out of NW Europe and trying to fight Me109 at high Alts and high maintenance but successful fighting the japs not having to fly at high altitude so much...and warmer air.. slower jap planes.

Tiger!

[Erik Rutins]

Keep in mind that in AE, maneuver is not the be all/end all. Speed and Altitude advantage can count for a lot. So a plan that's faster and higher (and less maneuverable) can beat a more maneuverable, slower and lower altitude enemy. I'm guessing that answers the question regarding whether "boom and zoom" or slashing type attacks are possible? In AE, yes. You should also look at the maneuverability of your enemy's planes as while you may have a drop of in maneuverability as your plan goes higher, perhaps the enemy plane drops off even more, etc. Finding the right altitude is an interesting exercise in AE, combining friendly and enemy speed and maneuver and current altitude info, in my experience.

[Mike Scholl]

ORIGINAL: Jorm

I that right about the p38, didnt most models suffer badly from high speed compressability issues, ie in a high speed dive ?

ALL aircraft sufferred from "compressibility issues" if they went fast enough. P-38's were just among the first to be able to go fast enough to discover "compressibility".

[Yakface]

How is the altitude at which combat takes place determined.
 
For example if the CAP is at 10,000ft and a sweep comes in at 25,000ft where does combat take place?

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Maybe he's thinking about the -G...?

I would go with the G and the H, after that, that was not much of a issue anymore, the alot of the power/engine stuff was corrected starting with the J also(plus as been stated, the issues above 20 K in the ETO are not the same issues in the PTO)

plus fighting Zeros is not the same as fighting 109s

[TheElf]

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

ORIGINAL: Jorm

I that right about the p38, didnt most models suffer badly from high speed compressability issues, ie in a high speed dive ?

ALL aircraft sufferred from "compressibility issues" if they went fast enough. P-38's were just among the first to be able to go fast enough to discover "compressibility".

I'd rather be "plagued" with compressibility issues, than "I can't keep up" issues...

[byron13]

And will the P-39 provide at least respectable performance at lower altitudes?

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: tigercub

Quoting of the top of my head can lead to poor memory lol yes there best performance was 25,000 But Quote:P38J in NW Europe. over 20,000 the Allison engines suffered sluggish oil that refused to flow properly in the intense cold of high altitude,leading to heavy oil consumption an engine life of only 80 hours and frequent engine failure....The turbo-superchargers were troublesome.. main reasons it was taken out of NW Europe and trying to fight Me109 at high Alts and high maintenance but successful fighting the japs not having to fly at high altitude so much...and warmer air.. slower jap planes.

Tiger!

P-38 in Pacific didn't have nearly the trouble at the mentioned higher alts due to climate. The light Zero didn't have as much preformance loss vs. the heavier 1st gen Allied planes but it was at it's best under 20K, while the 109 was more at home up higher. In the mentioned warmer climate, the P-38 was also comfortably at home above 20K in the pacific ...where it had the edge in speed, climb rate and firepower over the zero. Standard tactic was to use this and the superior dive speed to make slashing attacks from alt advantage zooming upwards afterwards in a climb the Zero couldn't match. Because of their high alt preformance edge over the Zero, they were rarely caught in a position where they would be forced to engage in close quarter combat. (Bergerud - Fire in the Sky)

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: TheElf

I'd rather be "plagued" with compressibility issues, than "I can't keep up" issues...

Yeah, in my game with Nik, my Rufe's seem to be having that "anti-compressibility" issue - I keep seeing a message like "can't catch bombers" when I put my Rufe's on cap. It's that darned "anti-compressibility" issue again!

[Nikademus]

my heavy bombers laugh at your funny looking pseudo fighters. [:D]

[jwilkerson]

Your heavy bombers must be having "compressibility" issues.
[:D]