I'm sick and tired of people saying that WWI aircraft weren't very agile, and that our planes in "dogfight" aren't realistic because they turn faster than the real thing. The first question i have for these people is, Have you ever flown a small/light aircraft? (you might be very surprised with what even you're basic little Cessna is capable of) second, how many WWI airplanes have you seen fly? (by pilots of that era who weren't afraid to push the aircraft to its limits).

To address my first question, here is a video i found on YouTube of someone "ringing out" a Cessna 152. (I apologize for suggesting that you watch a video with such terrible music)


Now, for my second question here's something to think about. (these two videos are from the 1930 HowarD Hughes film Hells Angels) enjoy!


Can you believe the stuff they did with the bomber? Kinda makes our SE5s look weak.

A 152 isn't a WWI-era plane. And there were a LOT of accidents during the filming of hell's angels.

These planes were quite delecate. Diving to the ground and pulling up sharply like you can do in-game can rip those things apart.

The 152 video is to show that even small low powered airplanes shouldn't be underestimated. Anoth great example of this is to watch John Mohr flying his Stearman he does thing with a stock 225hp engine that most people can't do in a 450hp modified Stearman.

A LOT of the crashes/accidents during the filming of Hells Angels were on purpose. Howard Hughes wanted it to look as real as possible and therefor he needed some "real" crashes. I understand that our in-game planes don't have stress damage, but diving at full throttle and pulling out hard will damage or destroy more than just WWI aircraft. Most planes are not designed to withstand that kind of stress. Does this mean that all planes that can't abruptly pull out of a high speed dive, are "delicate"?

cool to watch i enjoyed that thanx but the speed is almost double of real time so they appear to be quick.Running a 16 fps movie at a minimun of 24fps and you get this sped up action.

Frame rate doesn't change how tight a turn or loop is though, it only affects speed. And I don't think that its sped up as much as you might think.

Very cool very very cool Jacob

Jacob10000 wrote: The 152 video is to show that even small low powered airplanes shouldn't be underestimated. Anoth great example of this is to watch John Mohr flying his Stearman he does thing with a stock 225hp engine that most people can't do in a 450hp modified Stearman.

A LOT of the crashes/accidents during the filming of Hells Angels were on purpose. Howard Hughes wanted it to look as real as possible and therefor he needed some "real" crashes. I understand that our in-game planes don't have stress damage, but diving at full throttle and pulling out hard will damage or destroy more than just WWI aircraft. Most planes are not designed to withstand that kind of stress. Does this mean that all planes that can't abruptly pull out of a high speed dive, are "delicate"?

I'm not talking specifically about the planes in-game, but just planes in the WWI era. This was a time where planes were very new technology, where people thought that using a plane for combat purposes was crazy. The first planes developed for WWI could barley fly above stalling speed.

I included the bit about the pull-up issue because many of the manuvers that one can do in-game can be, realistically, considered impossible.

But in the end, who really cares? Many of the planes of that age were more than capable of combat, especially the ones developed in the later years. It was a time of pioneering, a very bright time for air warfare. It's made the basis for this cool game.

If the planes engine caught on fire then wouldn't the wing fall apart because so many of the strings were shot?

The game's graphics has it's limitations.

I'm not supprised that a small/light plane could make such maneuvers, especially with a bold and skilled pilot.

Though this is irrelevant, didn't the first bomber have a bunch of engines(8?), but still have relatively little power?


Majorly irrelevant (ramblings on about what I wish I could do) I want to fly a FW 190 D9 or P-82 Twin mustang.

Engines from back then weren't famous for being overpowered, Isaac. The first car to drive across the USA had 4 horse power, which is roughly equivalent to a particularly violent sneeze.

I know, I was more so askin' 'bout how many engines it had.

Did you you know?: the first time a person was ever run over by a car was at a staggering 4 mph? ouch...


I really wanna fly a FW "Dora 9", from my experience flying one on the Blazing Angels games , though it can't be fully trusted because those are just games, the Dora 9 seems like a nice plane to fly... Now where is a middle class 15 year old guy like me gonna get a flying license and a plane from WWII Germany?

Four mph? What kind of idiot gets run over by a car at walking speed?

Start flying lessons Isaac, you can get your license at 17. Might as well give it a shot.

My first solo flight was with a Rockwell Commander 112. The registration number was N1019J

What an experience that was.

17? I thought it was 14?

Aren't flying lessons expensive, very expensive? I know 1 guy taking flying lessons, but his mom's a rich lawyer or something.

I don't think my dad's paycheck could handle it.

Nah its not as bad as you think.

I'll look into it

CalvinIsAwesome wrote: Four mph? What kind of idiot gets run over by a car at walking speed?

Major embarrassment.

A bf-109 k-10 is the best plane for firepower.the me 262 vs spitfire in a dogfight the spitfire would win.

That depends on the pilots hy

Yea head on and speed the me 262 would win in a turning dogfight the spitfire would probably win but like you said it depends.the me 262 with a 50 mm canon would kill a bomber and 128 mm flakturm would kill a lot of planes.

Hy flyer wrote: Yea head on and speed the me 262 would win in a turning dogfight the spitfire would probably win but like you said it depends.the me 262 with a 50 mm canon would kill a bomber and 128 mm flakturm would kill a lot of planes.

according to a video on ww2 i have - the me262 was flawed by its guns, it had to slow to use them because in an attack at full power it would travel at constant speed, the bullets would lose speed after leaving the barrel and the 262 would technically out-pace its own ammo!

The me 323 gigant was like the c-130 of ww2

The "Red Tails" during WWII pushed the P-51c to the limit.They were forced to use hand me down planes but they managed in shooting down a couple of ME-262s.That is an example of pushing planes to the limit.

wait, so can u get ur pilots license at 14 or 17.... ive wanted to be a pilot since the first time i set foot in a plane... and me being thirteen...i would love to take up the opportunity.

You young folks that want to learn to fly..... and can't afford it?
Do it the old fashioned way. Go to your local airport and sweep the floors. Volunteer some work and maybe they'll teach you to fly. REALLY washing planes and doing some work can get you a long way....UP.

You can solo at 16 and get license at 17.

My favorite American WWII era plane is 1946's p-82 twin mustang. Funny thing is, the P-82 first saw real conflict in the Korean War.

The atomic bombings made flights during WWII unnecessary.