+1...

hs-129 was not really bad plane, in total, but, Lagarto, what you write is very similar to what i read about hs-129 in different sources...

and on russian, from authors of books and articles about il-2, have several good articles with name "Planes of the battlefield, the Eastern front (1941-45.)" ie, about soviet and german attack planes like il-2, 87, fw 190 and hs-129...

in particular, authors criticized all sides and about germany one of main findings - it's resistance of german armor and bulletproof glass which compared with soviet analogues were less resistant...

for example, in tests 6 mm of german armor it's approximately 3.4 mm of soviet AB-1 (type of armor, which was used for il-2), 75 mm of german bulletproof glass with better, than soviet glass, visibility it's approximately 54 mm of soviet K-4, etc...

interesting, how it's confirmed/veracity in german sources etc? because it's important too, if we talk about armored "nose" of fw 190, i think...

well, anyway, apparently it's one of reasons why hs-129 was not really mass attack plane...

and here "hs-129 in NII VVS KA" with interesting details (on russian, but in end have summary of findings)...

No matter what, its so sexy looking anyway, especially compared to the IL-2. You could say, its a question of taste, and of course its special, with its duck-like nose and its edgy neck, but hey! - its such a stubborn german design, as much as you can imagine it. :D

http://modellzona.com/img/3ojXRm.jpg

Thanks for the new desktop!

Also bear in mind that the Hs-129 only flew under fighter cover and did not cross the front lines. So, this plane only had to contend with flak. Unfortunately, the flak in Il-2 is a bit too accurate, but that is meant to compensate for low numbers due to computer constraints.

Furthermore, I think it's worth mentioning that the Il-2 is very nimble in the game. I feel that, based on accounts, the control inputs are too light. After all, it is a huge and heavy airplane, but you can pull out of dives and jink with just a flick. So, when comparing to the Hs-129, the handling seems poor compared to our ingrained perceptions of the Il-2. Hopefully it will be looked at with the other Soviet planes in 4.13.

How's that? What was it attacking if it didn't cross the front lines?

I think what he meant was that the Hs-129 did not go on interdiction missions. It only flew in direct support of the panzers.

Basically the Hs 129 was used like a flying anti-tank gun ... a basically defensive weapon. It wasn't used to intrude into soviet territory to hunt soviet tank formations but used to attack (and hopefully destroy) soviet tanks which were either attacking german positions or which had broken through into german-controlled territory.
It was, however, not used exclusively under fighter-cover (there were never enough german fighters to allow that). Rather the opposite was true as the VVS rarely ventured into german-controlled airspace until 1944 due to their fighter doctrine. They tied their fighters to specific targets - like a ground-target or a flight of own bombers/Il-2s they had to protect - instead of allowing them to roam freely like the german fighters were allowed to. Because of this Hs 129 did not encounter soviet fighters very often and mostly "by accident".

Maybe it's a good idea to not have adjustable joystick settings, and set these per aircraft in code/data. Then everyone has to fly it like it is.. all 100s

That might be a good idea, but, dont forget, there are joysticks, and JOYSTICKS, and not everybody can aford a JOYSTICK, or built one. That was ok, if everybody flew with the same.

Indeed, even the length of the joystick has a huge impact on how the aircraft behaves. However, this is just relative performance between two planes with the same curve and with the same stick. I could make both planes 100 straight across, but the Il-2 would still be snappier than the Henschel.

With my current stick, a straight line (10,20,30...100) gives the best impression, but on another that I have, a quadratic line is better (1,4,9...100). Straight 100s feels like flying an RC toy, but I'm sure it works for some people.