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Originally Posted by mattmanB182
I know the 190 had a superb roll rate, but does that translate into better turn?
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In actual practice, yes, it does. If you need to point your plane in a different 3d direction, it's more efficient to do as much of that repositioning as possible with the ailerons as opposed to the elevator. The elevators bleed your plane of more energy.
The best depiction of what the 190 can do in BOP is by the AI in the Korsun single mission "the dogfight." The AI fly them fast, high and agile, and they move in 3 dimensions not two.
The 190 can roll faster than it needs to in any turn, of course. But rolling is vital for another reason, both evasion and pursuit. If you have a high-profile shot lined up on an opponent, it doesn't matter how well your plane can turn, there is nowhere the opponent can turn that you won't get at least one high-percentage shot at it. That's because you keep your turning circle centered behind the target's turning circle, so it doesn't matter if your turning circle is bigger. So a smart opponent will roll out of your guns plane to try to make you miss and overshoot. If you've got a fast-rolling plane like 190, it doesn't matter how the opponent jinks, you'll be right there pointing your guns exactly where they'll go if they yank the stick back. On the other hand, if you've got the 190, you can jink out of plane, apply elevator and get past their snapshot before they can adjust their aim.
You may have noticed how when you're online, a lot of players will try to shake you by picking a direction, turning, and hoping you'll miss. It's probably also your favorite shot to take. They just sit there heading the exact same direction, while your crosshairs slowly edge ahead of them until you've got enough lead. You can't miss, because they are staying in your "guns plane" and letting you shoot at the big fat top of their plane too.
What if, while you're waiting for your crosshairs to get far enough ahead of them, they suddenly roll left or right? Then they're not flying towards your crosshairs anymore. To get the shot back, you have to roll also, and start building up the lead all over again.
There is nothing like rolling to evade an enemy, (except being faster and running away.) If you can learn to check 6 and judge where the enemy's guns are pointing and when they'll have enough lead, you'll be able to jink and roll at the right moment all the time. It also drives the enemy nuts and they end up making mistakes.
In BOP dogfights, though, the speed is too slow and the altitude low for the quickness of the 190 to do it much good. That's because the scoring in BOP is backwards, it rewards you for dying as long as you can get at least 1 kill for every 5 deaths. That's why the online favors slower planes with fast turn rates or low turn radius.
For just plain turning, the 109f4 had a shorter turn radius than the spitfire 2. Even though it was slow and had only one cannon, a lot of German Aces kept one around in case they needed one.
Remember there's two kinds of "turning fast." turn rate and turn radius. Turn rate is how many degrees per second, or how many seconds it takes to turn a full circle. Turn radius is how small a circle it can turn. Check the 190's specs again, and you'll see its wing loading is well above 40 lbs per square foot, which is high. Compared to spitfires and hurricanes which have wing loading in the 20's. A plane with lower wing loading can fly slower without stalling, so it can fly a smaller circle. But a hurricane crawling around in little circles on the ground is also taking a long time to complete those circles. If you try to fly as small a circle, the hurricane will turn the corner on you, but if you keep your turns 3d to keep your circle bigger, you'll turn the corner on it.
Fly the 190 fast and furious. Check out how they fly in "the dogfight."