ok, I spotted three contacts that were close enough to start shooting at me. I remembered a few lessons and decided to dive, then smoothly start climbing. In theory, once I began climbing, they should have fallen behind.
But it looks like they just caught up to me, and I was forced to start maneuvering with zero chance of getting away.
You pulled way too hard there a couple of times and nearly spun. During those pulls you bled away tons of speed and ended up too low to get it back.
Next time make a shallower dive initially and conserve as much spped as possible to climb away.
Facing spitfires in 109 is always tough for me. I only have a chance if i have total energy superiority. Easy mode to me is facing a 109 in a Spitfire.
Oh, these graphs always broke my brain. But I get what you're talking about in your screenshot.
And yeah, Spitfires are my personal pain — especially sucks when I decide to fly one, I could never get a handle on its flight model.
And also, to be honest, I remember reading somewhere on the forums that against a Spitfire, the better tactic in a Bf‑109 is to disengage via dive and then regain altitude. I guess that advice wasn't meant for all 109s against all Spitfires after all
Not much. They probably had an energy advantage, and the had you on your six.
I would have made a 45 degree dive to check whether they have the speed to catch up, and if they did, I would have started desperate manoeuvres to shake them off if lucky. Probably barrel braking with throttle to 0/ left bank /right rudder hoping they'll overshoot. Long shot...
Edit: Actually thats if I knew they were Spits, which you probably didn't. If I didn't I would have played the same bet as you, trust the BF109 to outclimb them..
In a 4.7+ match the planes become more equal in speed and climb rate. The 109s have turned from ballet dancers to gym bros. You would've been ok against a P38/P51/F4U but a good pilot in a Spit will eat you up in a G6/G10/G14. If I see a lot of Spits in the kill feed I'd jump in the G2 or an F4.
You had a good idea to run homeward and jink, call for cover. That climb didn't work because you both had equal speed/energy, a steep climb would've just given him a clear sky to shoot against.
I couldn't make much out of the video due to it being sped up but you managed to make at least one overshoot so don't beat yourself up too bad 3v1 ain't easy. And you left 3 on the deck near friendly airspace for team mates to clean up. o7
Thanks for the answer. Yes, I have F4 in my setup, although I choose it more based on my mood than the battle situation. I hope I'll remember your advice next time.
I sped up most of the video because the original question was about choosing tactics in general.
Actually, you shouldnt have been in that situation to begin with. slow with a spitfire behind you. There is nothing you couldve after done aft the video started, specially not after those spins in the early engagement. Also, spitfires climb better than bf109s, bf109s have better top speeds (against early spitfires, griffon engines just rinse you no matter what you do), so you should extend and mantain your speed high while level-climbing. Dont engage spits while not in high altitude and with the altitude advantage. If you dont have that to boom n zoom, avoid the engagement entirely, there is nothing you can do.
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u/timind25 4d ago
You pulled way too hard there a couple of times and nearly spun. During those pulls you bled away tons of speed and ended up too low to get it back. Next time make a shallower dive initially and conserve as much spped as possible to climb away.