Dogfighting Debriefs #5 - P-40 "Hammering" a Bf 109

[@matswane]

It's not just the fact that these videos are super informative and concise, but also the fact that you take the time to respectfully reply to the viewers' questions. Really man, thanks!

[@RequiemsACTL]

I'm a CFI...so I'm used to answering questions or finding answers :-)

[@skimbo72]

The Air Combat Tutorial Library gliding instructor?

[@vilson.farias]

You have produced the best IL-2 videos I've seen so far. Thanks a lot for sharing your techniques here.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks again, hopefully they help you improve!

[@slehar]

What an awesome way to explain air combat! After you're done with the one-on-one, there is endless room for expansion with 2x2 and 4x4 tactics. Keep it up!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Slehar, it's fun when I get to make these debriefs. There is a interesting 2 v 2 submission I had from a subscriber which I debriefed for them and uploaded. Glad to know you enjoy these!

[@EdadTace]

Hammerhead has always been one of my favourites.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yeah it's awesome when you can pull it off, not so awesome when you get blasted out of the sky by an unknown bandit just before you can reverse down LOL

[@_Meriwether]

😂

[@wallyknew]

Nice video. As usual, clear and concise.

[@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles]

Well done,, very informative.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Cheers Greg! Appreciate it :-)

[@ysko3908]

What a great dogfight video ! Man we need more like this ! Already getting better while watching :D

[@RequiemsACTL]

Good to hear Ysko! It's just another little tool in the box to use when the perfect situation calls for it. This is something I very rarely get to perform, let alone in a P-40 LOL

[@ysko3908]

If its possible i would love to see You fighting and explaining sorties in 109 and 190 That would be my dream ! Anyway keep great work doing ! All of Your dogfighting lessons are superb ! Its just hard for me to know when to execute them and video like You posted gives me some examples !

[@RequiemsACTL]

I have one sortie in the 109 at the moment I can use, but me flying the 109 or 190 is very rare as I tend to fly the side which has less players. I do want to do some more Axis flying though.

[@ErossMcCloud]

That hammerhead was quick and technical. Impressive!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Eross, it's just one of those odd occasions when you get to use it. It's extremely rare for me to be in a position to use it once, let alone twice!

[@TheRaptorXX]

NICE one Req! Thanks, as ever mate. Now, off to try!!

[@Claude-Eckel]

Beautifully hammered out. Nice work. ;)

[@RequiemsACTL]

Cheers Andy, somehow the puns keep coming!

[@countzero7]

Great video, thanks for mking them, this is realy good help for players

[@matswane]

Another great and VERY useful video. Keep it up and thanks for this!!

[@BCSchmerker]

+RequiemBoS *Max Immelmann, one of the first **_Jagdstaffel_** commandants in the Luftstreitkräfte (DEU) during the Great War,* used the hammerhead reversement in many air-to-air fights in the cockpit of a Fokker Eindecker and later a Pfalz Doppeldecker, both of which were as hamstrung by lack of power as any other scout plane of early 1916 (as none too many had sufficient power to complete a half loop until Clerget introduced the 130 BHP rotary first used in the Royal Flying Corps (GBR) Sopwith Trihound in mid-1917). Some of the rugged pursuit monoplanes of the Second World War had the slow-speed rudder authority to pull off repeated hammerhead reversements.

[@MrNonaste]

Very impressive handling of this aircraft and a great lesson. I'm going to save this for reviewing. Thanks.

[@MrCarvion]

This is a very good debriefing. I have a hard time learning how to dogfight since I've nobody to learn with

[@RequiemsACTL]

Failing having anyone to fly with...the Berloga server is excellent for getting big chunks of BFM practice in

[@MrCarvion]

@@RequiemsACTL thank you. Was mostly on WoL. Will try Berloga

[@biffa2557]

Hi @@MrCarvion . I'm learning as well and happy to pair up on Berloga or WOL with comms

[@MrCarvion]

@@biffa2557 hey! This is a good idea. My Nick is Emuyen. Yours? We could start adding each other in steam?

[@biffa2557]

@@MrCarvion Hi there. I fly as biffa66 and my Steam ID is mcbailey. I often fly on Berluga in evenings (UK). Best thing is to get on voice comms by downloading Teamspeak or Discord.

[@icedragon642]

Excellent video as always!!! As I told you in 1 of your other videos I just got IL2 Stormovic Battle of Stalingrad and I'm still not ready for multiplayer yet. I had a major setback, I shattered my heel almost 2 weeks ago and finally able to use my rudder pedals ( with the aid of pain meds lol ) again. I'm looking forward to you doing one like this with the FW190A3!!!! My favourite plane, I told you on your other video I probably won't be able to shoot you down even though my ACM and SA are great, my gunnery SUCKS lol !!!! Keep these videos coming, they are so so helpful!!!!

[@RequiemsACTL]

I remember :-) Keep up the practice and good things will come!

[@icedragon642]

@@RequiemsACTL I will!!! 😎

[@aspielm759]

Wonderful! Would love to see more!

[@RequiemsACTL]

I have at least another 5-10 fights good enough to show in this format but the voiceovers take a while...plus I don't want to completely neglect the tutorial sides of things.

[@aspielm759]

The Air Combat Tutorial Library Understandable. I hope that my comment didn’t put any pressure on you or stressed you in any way. Take your time. Quality over Quantity. Once again thank you for the content. You’re tutorials are amazing and you’re describing things fantastically while the animation or footage in the background is rolling. It’s also great to see that you’re also sticking to what you’re doing and try to keep this a tutorial channel. I am surprised to see that you are even planning 5-10 new videos in this incredible and amazingly entertaining style. To be honest I would be completely satisfied with 4

[@RequiemsACTL]

Hey it's all good! There's no pressure or stress on my end at all :-) I keep doing these because I know that you guys enjoy them. I've been able to fly MP a bit more recently so I've been able to get some decent footage so you can count on seeing more debriefs for sure.

[@vernonkaceygala7820]

thank you! your vids really help out during dogfights in warthunder!

[@RequiemsACTL]

You're welcome, they should help out in any flight simulator really because I like to teach the principles of things so you can apply them elsewhere :-)

[@wudimusic]

This was excellent work mate.

[@EinsteinEP]

Great stuff!

[@raingermedia]

great vid man love em!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Appreciate it Rainger!

[@_Meriwether]

Ah, my favourite manoeuvre! Not one but _two_ hammerheads! Do you think the chunky weight of the P40 helps kick it over on the rudder, or is it a detriment? Great commentary as always, thanks!

[@RequiemsACTL]

I haven't thought about it to be honest Meriwether. I consider the P-40 chunkiness as part of it's diving ability after I reverse and start coming down, but as long as there is enough rudder authority you can pull this off regardless of the airplane.

[@th3lunchb0x]

A few things I noticed if I may provide some input. First, as always, great video. Second, I'm assuming you're flying the P-40 here. At 1:10 you almost fall for an overshoot but instead of pulling up and gaining vertical separation you pull back down into him. I think this is a mistake. He had no energy and you might have hammerhead or perched above him and rolled into his six again pretty easily. The 109 also makes a mistake here, as when you kept the pressure on if I were him I would have chopped the throttle and threw it into a skid forcing you to overshoot again as you came down. It would have been fairly easy with the 109s slow speed stability and rudder authority to twist that thing around at the top of his loop at 1:49 and fall in behind you. At 2:02 after recovering from a failed forced overshoot the 109 pilot should have rolled out into a spiraling climb. He had enough angular separation and the 109 is much better at low speed than the P-40. From here he could have established a position of dominance. He has another opportunity to do this at 2:46 and 3:02 as well.Another mistake the 109 makes besides double thinking disengaging is chopping his throttle as he goes vertical through your shots. He had at the very least energy parity if not an advantage and he completely spoiled it there. At 4:51 when you pull out of your shot he should have put his nose down and tried to get energy and separation, but that was the final mistake. Like most fights it comes down to who makes less mistakes. You made a few, but he made more. You gave him a chance to take control of the fight but he failed to identify the situation and take advantage of it. Despite starting completely disadvantaged, this 109 pilot showed good skill in flying his plane but poor tactics in the fight. Sometime soon maybe I'll get you one of my tracks, though I do not have tacview at the moment. ~Salute~

[@RequiemsACTL]

Hey Barton, there's no real ego for me in my flying so your kinds of response are exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for people to share as it helps illustrate other perspectives and maybe encourage others to evaluate their own flying as well for improvements. Thanks very much for your input! I'd definitely be interested in doing a debrief if you have a track and tacview too :-)

[@zdenekprecechtel6741]

Nice, thx.

[@JCLlindo]

Bravo... Exemplary hammerhead there.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Cheers Jake, was simply fortunate that I still had the energy advantage to let me do it otherwise I would go boom :)

[@Creep.-]

Brilliant as always, thank you Requiem!! I have trouble managing the P40 engine in a fight. Can you describe the throttle and rpm changed you are making in the vertical plane during that fight? How quickly are you increasing or decreasing one or both, when exactly are you making the changes, etc. Thanks!!

[@RequiemsACTL]

For a short and simple answer...essentially what I was doing was this....I set the RPM to the "Combat Power" before I entered combat and then adjusted the manifold pressure as needed. You can tell the difference between continuous and combat/emergency power by the sound of the engine. You'll notice during this fight that I'm NOT looking at the engine gauges very often at all. I'm using my ears to listen to tell me what power band I'm in. Play the video again, but with your eyes closed and listen to the engine. You will hear the subtle change. Then watch it again and you will realise what power (throttle) changes I'm making and when. The speed at which you make the change comes with practice, but is MUCH more important when increasing power, especially in the P-40 to avoid breaking the engine.

[@Creep.-]

@@RequiemsACTL Thank you!

[@apbuzzz]

What software do you use to show simple UI( with 2 planes, red and blue smoke trail)? Thanks for the great debrief!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Tacview: www.tacview.net/product/about/en/

[@gierek27]

Awesome video I'm big fan of P-40

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Paul, I just wish MP servers hadn't disabled using tacview due yo cheaters as it prevents me making more of these

[@LazOyuncu61]

I thought hammerhead turn can be accomplished with nearly no speed and a vertical ascend. It kept me dying like an idiot so i stopped doing that. After watching this, I'm pretty sure i'll use it more often!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Using a hammerhead is extremely situational and requires good judgement on energy states...as long as you have the energy advantage and can avoid the guy sticking his nose up at you as he hurls bullets your way it will work out. If you attempt it after misjudging the bandit's energy state then you're gonna have a bad time for sure

[@jefferynelson]

You must be an excellent flight instructor in the real world.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Jeff, the goal is always to make my students capable, safe, and able to make good decisions. I'm proud of the fact they all came out like that :-)

[@Blackhawkae69]

Man, you must be one hell of a CFI friend! Despite the win, you were into that fight for a very long time, do you feel you should have played it safer and pulled out even though you won this fight? If you could run us through a Tacview session or describe your work flow with it that'd be nice. Because honestly, I installed it, tried it a few times and just get lost with everything you can do with it so I put it aside. Nice work, as always

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yeah the fight went on for much too long. I really wasn't comfortable still being in that fight after the first few loops around. Sometimes it's just hard to find an exit without exposing yourself really badly. If anything I could have just turned away after I missed him on that first pass and use a cloud to hide. Tacview is relatively simple but it just takes some practice to use like any software.

[@TheDominionOfElites]

Wow, this is a great one. How many other planes are proficient at this move?

[@HernanMoragaMmHs]

I believe as long as you have a rudder you can pull this off! Just need some practice. All planes handle a bit differently. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to miss inform

[@RequiemsACTL]

Any airplane at a better energy state can use it to their advantage

[@lootNscoot1]

I’ve been trying to fly the P40, but it seems like it’s much slower than the 109’s. I can’t climb after them without stalling yet they seem to be climbing without any loss in momentum. Not exactly sure what I’m doing wrong, but I can’t seem to get maximum performance out of the plane. Can you give me some advice on what I might be doing wrong potentially?

[@yoosta22]

Can you do a video on the Thach weave for the F4F against Zero???????

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yeah that's something I'd like to go

[@HernanMoragaMmHs]

nice video!

[@mestizo2842]

Nice 👌

[@deadbeef576]

4:12 was very dangerous

[@LogoMasterWT]

what do you use to see the flight itself?

[@RequiemsACTL]

Tacview

[@LogoMasterWT]

@@RequiemsACTL yea figured it out after 2 min after asking the question thanks for the tutorials though

[@Funebresto]

The Bf-109 had to keep climbing

[@davidaitchison1455]

Why didn't you go high on the first merge to improve your 'E'?

[@RequiemsACTL]

Well, I was going uphill and losing speed so I may not have been able to get vertical enough to make it worth it. Plus, if I went high it could give the 109 a chance to extend away easily and as it would get further away nose low to me it would be hard to see against the snow covered ground. After shooting at it I felt like I had a decent offensive position that should get pressed further to keep the pressure on the 109. If I go high that relieves any pressure I applied in the initial attack.

[@terryburian7057]

Why in the world the guy in the Bf109 didn't climb above you I don't know.

[@snow1-2pinkkush46]

tacview is so useful it shame server disabled it now

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yep. Not having Tacview available for a while is why I stopped making these debriefs.

[@snow1-2pinkkush46]

@@RequiemsACTL yeah can understand that hope they will put it back one day

[@mranthony1886]

The minimum wage in Russia is 194usd per month. The Russian dollar has tanked so he has no idea using his rich USD.

[@lopo8000]

the reasson the bf109 is not that great is because u can not fight in the vertical u gotta go energy fight, the fokker wulf is better similar to the japanese zero

[@ErossMcCloud]

Interesting concepts but shouldn't alot of these be common sense? Especially towards the end lol. A lot of mistakes on the German pilot part!!

[@RequiemsACTL]

What may be common sense for one is uncommon for another. We both made mistakes in the fight!