BF 109E-4 vs Spitfire MkI
Winning in the Emil. On the first day of the Rolling Plane Set, the Spitfire mkI is the Emil driver's most deadly opponent. The Emil's strength's are dive performance, smaller turn radius, and most of all, firepower. The Spitfire has superior roll, turning, and unknown by many; top speed. However the Spitfire mk I's top speed is barely faster, and it will take him quite a while to catch you in a chase.
Attacking from above: The most effective way to kill a Spitfire mkI is to dive from above on his high 6 o'clock position. If he doesn't see you, than wake him up with your 20mm cannon. If he does see you, he will most likely do one of the following: A hard barrel roll, a split s, a break turn, or if he's a newbie a zoom climb (in which case you shoot him dead). If he barrel rolls beware of this opponent, as he is doing his best to conserve energy, climb up and shoot you after you make a failed guns pass. When you are diving on a Spitfire mkI, and he barrel rolls, break off your attack and execute a chandelle (simply a climbing turn) to re-assess the situation. If he split s' do not dive down and chase him. Execute a gentle zoom climb, look back, and re-assess the situation.
A break turning Spitfire is a very large target, and with practice you can kill break turning spitfires while diving in the Emil with viscous efficiency. There are two key factors you need to assess in mid dive. One is your closure rate, the second is when the Spitfire mkI starts his break turn, the later the better. When your closure rate is very high, it may be wise to break off the attack, and zoom climb. Otherwise you risk collision, or completely overshooting the target and getting eight Browning machine guns firing at 120 rounds per second into your tail feathers! Determining a safe closure rate takes practice and experience, though it is safe to say that if your plane is buffeting you should break off!
Now that you are diving in on this Spit from his high 6 o clock (5 or 7 o clock is decent too) be ready for him to execute a break turn to either the right or the left. If he starts his break turn more than 480m out, zoom climb up and re-asses the situation. Closer than 450 meters, follow a pure pursuit, until he's 200-300 m away. Then, using your superior speed for a good instantaneous turn, switch to a lead pursuit and open fire. More often than not, he will be below your nose as you are firing, but he's there and with practice will be introduced to the mean end of your 109.
If you miss, don't sweat it. Zoom climb up, and re-assess the situation. DO NOT turn with the Spitfire mkI. Now you're at the top of your zoom climb, u need to decide what to do next to kill the spitfire below you. He is now either still turning, running, or is climbing in an effort to shoot you. If he's still turning, hammerhead down and take care not to overspeed. Roll to match his turn from above, and open fire when you are within 200-300 m. If you miss, zoom climb again, and repeat as necessary. If he's running, you must decide whether or not to chase him. Check for other enemies in the area first, and if it's clear skies dive down on the fleeing spitfire.
When you are zoom climbing up, and the slower spitfire is chasing you up vertically, you are now at the beginning of a "Rope a Dope." Go vertical, wait till you stall out, hammerhead or loop over and kill him. He may be firing, but by now he's so slow he has no ability to aim. "Rope a Dope's" are one of the most satisfying ways to kill a Spit :)
The Merge: A less favorable position is to start the fight at the same altitude, with the same amount of energy. This fight usually starts with a "merge situation," or head on pass. Do not try to kill on the merge, for many reasons. Although you do have superior firepower, it's your shooting skill against his, and there's always someone who's better than you. By firing at the merge, u also risk collision which is the worst way to end the fight. Lastly, if your opponent is good, he will use the time you are firing at him to do simple evasives, and then gain the advantage in the fight.
The right thing to do in the merge is this: Fire a quick burst of mg from very long range, 900-1000 m away, this will make him think your intent is to kill him on the ho pass, and might tempt him to fire back, which is what u want. At 900 m, nose down a bit, and enter a gentle dive. Your intention is to go under him. This deceives your opponent Spitfire of your real intention which is to zoom climb up vertically. Start this maneuver at a distance of 100-250 m away in the merge. Going under him will also make him lose sight of you for a few seconds, and in a dogfight losing sight of your opponent means losing the fight. Don't forget to hit WEP as you go vertical, in fact hit WEP when you see a merge situation developing.
As you are zooming up vertically, look back and see what the spit is doing. If he executes a turn, or split s (if you're really lucky) you have won the fight (assuming co e states at the time of the merge. Keep zooming up till you stall, hammerhead down and shoot him dead. This may become a "Rope a Dope" or it may be a shot where he is still turning, and you must use roll in the vertical to match his turn. If the spit zoom climbs up vertically like you did, then you are in trouble (unless your energy was considerably greater than his, if so keep zooming and gain as much of an altitude advantage as possible). This pilot is smart, and even if he's not as good as you, the Spitfire's superior dogfighting ability will catch up with you quick, and send you home in small boxes. You may want to consider running, or some defensive maneuvers.
Defense: So, you have a spitfire mkI on your tail, about to blast your emil any second. What to do, what to do, what to do? Don't panic! If there are friendlies around, call for "HELP" on the radio. If you are alone...what are you doing without a wingman?? Well, this text is intended for 1vs1 fights, so.... If you have any altitude, there is a great escape maneuver that can sometimes even turn the tables on the spit! A diving scissors is what I'll call this for now until I see the real name in a book or some other text. This maneuver capitalizes on the 109's smaller turn radius. So, begin a standard split s, and apply hard down rudder (assuming your view plain is perpendicular to the horizon at this point) as you roll so that your split s is beginning before you are actually inverted. Pull hard, very hard out of your split s until you see the horizon again, now roll over inverted again (using rudder again to start the dive early) and repeat this until you will actually cross paths with the spit going in opposite directions (assuming he tried to match this maneuver and kept his throttle up). If you're still feeling gutsy you now can go vertical, and see what he does, or a wiser choice may be to keep going straight and run for home.
If the Spit mkI is close on your 6, and you have no altitude, then you are really screwed unless you get lucky with some last ditch maneuvers. Try a scissors, or better yet a rolling scissors and hope he overshoots, and if you're really lucky you might even get a snap shot with your 20mm cannons. When a spitfire mkI is diving from above on your emil, try not to bleed to much energy until you can execute an escape maneuver. Tangling with a higher spit is NOT recommended with the emil unless you can visually see that he's a real dweeb. So, he's diving down from above at your high 6 o clock position. A very good defensive maneuver is to enter a gentle dive and roll hard with a bit of rudder applied in the direction of your roll. Wait till he's about 900-1000 m behind you, then roll over, dive a bit inverted, and roll like crazy. This saves energy, and forces an overshoot. After he passes you, that is the time to perhaps split s and disengage in search of friendlies or the safety of your base.
Annoying A Spit mk I pilot: If the spit is say d10 to d15 on your 6, and you have altitude, try the following: Start a shallow dive, then pull up in a shallow climb, then shallow dive again. Repeat as necessary, adding in more "dive" if he starts to get close. His engine cuts out in negative g maneuvers, thus he will have to be rolling to follow you correctly, or his engine will keep cutting out. Another fun thing is an outside loop (simply push forward on the stick until you are inverted), then follow up with a split s. The chasing spit's engine will either cut out, or the pilot will be forced to do some very funky maneuvers to stay with you :)
As a rule of thumb....
NEVER try to win a dogfight with a Spit1 if you haven't already done it in a few firing passes. The real Luftwaffe used hit and run tactics against the RAF, I suggest the same. Always stay higher than any enemy you can see.
Convergence at 220-170 m, because the mgff 20mm cannon are low velocity. Return To Base (RTB) when you have run out of cannon. The 109E-4 has a truck load of 7mm for the machine guns, but their firepower is laughable, though you can get an occasional kill with them. Most important of all, fly with a wingman, and you wont need the above information!
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