Top speed Bf109G6 late vs La5FN @7000m

[Herra Tohtori]

Regarding the differences between Bf-109 G-2 and G-6:

G-2 has 7.92mm cowling machine guns (2 x MG 17 weighs 20.4 kg without ammunition), G-6 has 13mm machine guns (2 x MG 131 weighs 33.2 kg without ammunition). Don't know how much the ammunition for these weapons weighed.

G-2 had semi-retractable tailwheel (like the F models). G-6 had a static tail wheel; it was taller than the tail wheel in earlier models to improve taxiing and take-off handling, but a lot of drag was added from it.

G-6 had bulges in the engine cowlings (for the breechblocks of the larger machine guns) as well as the top of the wing to accommodate larger main landing gear.

Additionally, G-6 had compatibility for lots of gimmicks (R- and U-subvariants) which also added bits of weight as far as I know.

If you also want to include the Tall Tail variants, the wooden large vertical stabilizer unit was heavier than the standard metallic tail and required a counterweight in the nose so that made the plane heavier still.

Late G-6 variants and K-variants obviously smoothed out a lot of the bulges in G-6, optimizing the airflow on their part. However, K-variants were the first ones to include a retractable tail wheel (which removed a lot of drag, obviously).

Those are the differences I can say right off the top of my hat.


Now, regarding the performance of Lavochkin fighters - I think it's pretty safe to say that their in-game performance scarcely reflects their historical performance. The main reason why they did so well on eastern front is because air operations there mainly occurred at lower altitudes - VVS fighters' typical mission profile was to escort IL-2's for ground attack, and at this they worked pretty well. If they needed to go past 3000 metres altitude they would have real problems keeping up with the 109's.

Additionally, the game doesn't model physical weathering... while on paper the Soviet aircraft could have been quite formidable, I am rather certain that in reality their care and maintenance was not exactly optimal and both the engines and airframes probably spent most of their life with lower performance than promised on the official specification.