what Allied aircraft are the best in this game?

[Laurwin]

Indeed. As it often happens online, 2 average pilots can fairly easily defeat one il-2 pro player.

This brings to my mind what was said about la5fn vs focke a4-5

Why did you guys mostly agree that la5fn is best at lower alt, vs focke wulf keep in mind?

What ive heard, is that la5fn is a top tier russian fighter (only worse than kingcobra and la7)

Best speed for la5fn comes at medium alt 5km, this altitude focke wulf engine power also diminishes.

Perhaps reason for failure with this lavochin is simly low alt turn and burn, and weaker russian team tactics usually.

[JtD]

It can't dive well enough, and it is slower at high altitude than a Fw 190. Which means if you meet a Fw and you have the altitude advantage, it enters a shallow dive and you can't follow. Essentially, it is safe. On the other hand, if you get caught at a disadvantage, you cannot run away, you'll have to fight it out. And this means some low speed turning, as at high speed, you cannot outmanoeuvre a Fw. And survival at low speed turns is pretty much depending on the skills of your opponent, and luck to some extent. There's no way skillful turning will save you every time.

[MaxGunz]

There is or at least were at least 2 good sites that gave translations of Russian Ace's accounts of the war that shed a lot of light on how things went. It was by far more than just a simple matching of performance figures like war buffs so often play with copies of Jane's books.

Find the story of the creation of USAAF Fighter Command and the change that made for USAAF fighter pilots. Germany had no Fighter Command and I don't know about Russia. Galland had stated post-war that the lack of a dedicated Fighter Command type structure is one of the reasons Germany lost the Air War. That bit of doctrine, and who had it, made a big difference.

Fly low over your side's flak or low over the other side's. IRL it made a difference, in game we don't get such concentrations as there were.

There were many factors that good mission design can begin to simulate.

I was watching a documentary made in 1945 that told how the USAAF fighter relay system worked. On long runs only 10% of the fighters covered the bombers at any one time if they made the connection which sometimes weather did not permit. People who only go by relative numbers sortied have been telling for years how the USAAF escorts outnumbered the LW for so long, it was only true near the end when the LW became unable to achieve the local superiority which they had been used to. Even when the USAAF did get superiority their pilots were often 3+ hours flying to get to the combat while the LW pilots were fresh. Again, raw numbers and performance comparisons don't tell much of the real story.

As a pilot/bombardier of that war used to say at the Delphi FSF, he didn't feel sorry because "they started it".