Deflection shooting, visibility, and the fixed gunsight.

Hey, folks.

I'm enjoying the Spitfire and feel like it can really get into some excellent firing positions at many angles.

Unfortunately, once I get there, I can't seem to do anything with it. The 303 BB guns and fixed sight are bad enough, but for the life of me I cannot pull lead on a target and keep sight of him over that long nose. I feel like the pilot is crouching down behind the instrument panel due to the low canopy clearance and can't see much at twelve o'clock low because of it.

Yes, the Spitfire can out-turn any opposition, but your angles don't mean much if you can seal the deal. If I'm pulling enough lead to hit a target at even moderately high angle-off, he's below the nose and it's a crap shoot.

I've only scored hits really by using lead pursuit up until I'm in real close on his six, but even then you tend to lose sight and if he reverses, you could end up dead.

The fixed gunsight is not great, but even worse is the impaired front view down low and even behind the canopy framework. Even if we had a gyro sight, I assume the diamonds would end up tracking below the plane's field of view, anyway.

We have precious little ammo, and what we do have doesn't hit too hard and requires some time spent hosing down the target. A knockout snapshot is out of the question for this reason, so this leaves us with tracking shots.

What are you folks doing to score hits? If we ease up on our pursuit curve, we lose our angles. If we keep pulling for advantage, we can't see or hit the thing. Any luck with this, Spitfire fans?

1st thing i did was shift the cockpit position higher and back a bit.

2. fiddle with trackir so that you can get your head up a bit higher. I usually lean up as high as i can without losing the pipper in the middle.

As far as shooting goes, I've been having a surprisingly good time of it. The hispanos really pack a punch and the 303s are astoundingly effective if you hit at the right angle\ get good bursts at convergence. Obviously in turns you lose them under the nose but if you get close enough and pull real quick, give it a burst and then let out again to get a better look i seem to see em come out smoking a fair bit. Probably works even better with practice. Also you can shoot really well from farther out. The tracers are actually visible and usable unlike in the other ac and the ballistics are great. Maybe its begginners luck but im loving the spits armament!

1st thing i did was shift the cockpit position higher and back a bit.

 

2. fiddle with trackir so that you can get your head up a bit higher. I usually lean up as high as i can without losing the pipper in the middle.

 

As far as shooting goes, I've been having a surprisingly good time of it. The hispanos really pack a punch and the 303s are astoundingly effective if you hit at the right angle\ get good bursts at convergence. Obviously in turns you lose them under the nose but if you get close enough and pull real quick, give it a burst and then let out again to get a better look i seem to see em come out smoking a fair bit. Probably works even better with practice. Also you can shoot really well from farther out. The tracers are actually visible and usable unlike in the other ac and the ballistics are great. Maybe its begginners luck but im loving the spits armament!

Would you please stop giving advice to our enemy!!! ... Stealing kills isnt enough for you?;)

Never! Also it's hardly stealing when your just reclaiming them from an impatient flight lead who doesn't know how to hold himself back when he sees an enemy airplane :P

What are you folks doing to score hits? If we ease up on our pursuit curve, we lose our angles. If we keep pulling for advantage, we can't see or hit the thing. Any luck with this, Spitfire fans?

I definitely agree that the Spitfire isn't great for deflection shooting due to poor visibility, and low ammo load. I actually tend to like fixed sights, but for many the lack of gyro also probably doesn't help.

For me the key to the Spitfire is to understand that it is an energy fighter, not a turn fighter. What this means is that when you are looking to make that kill shot, you should be doing it from a position of (modest) energetic superiority. If you don't have energetic superiority then win that first.

If you do have a little energetic superiority then you can easily convert a high-deflection shot into a low-deflection one. Go lag pursuit (possibly with a little high yo-yo) which builds energy and reduces angle-off tail. Once you've got the right angle-off tail, use that energy advantage to pull lead for the low-deflection kill shot. The Spitfire out turns everything, and with an energy advantage it does it in spades. If you get behind someone, with an energy advantage, in a Spitfire then your opponent is in serious trouble the key is being patient until your opponent has no options left (Tip: if you're the defender in this situation in a 190 then dive and do scissors, the Spitfire doesn't like high speed scissors).

For a really nice example of this (and where I learn it from), watch this excellent video by Lemsko. It's War Thunder, but the same principles apply ...

Although Lemsko's aim is definitely not great here (as with many of his videos he doesn't use enough lead in his shots), the idea he's describing around using energy in the turn fight and using lag pursuit and yo-yos is pure gold dust.

I will sometimes take a quick (blind) snapshot if I'm feeling really confident on being lined up, but I use them sparingly .. snapshots are just not the Spitfire's forte. By contrast in the P-51 or FW-190 I'll take any snapshot going as they both have better sighting, and critically, more ammo.

;2991101']Would you please stop giving advice to our enemy!!! ... Stealing kills isnt enough for you?;)

Hey, now. I have been known to fly the odd FW-190 and Bf-109 every so often. ;)