Well, I got in another painfully long game. Here's the results...
I held my own, but never got the upper hand. I don't even know if they had a base. Never saw it. In the end it was impossible to compete with an "Ace" with no bomb, while I was in the Camel. Once he got past me, I could keep him busy in a chase for a good while, but he was doing all the chasing.
That was my last rookie day for a good long while. Here's my lessons learned and observations:
-I performed MUCH better in the Fokker that the Camel.
-Neither could climb with a bomb worth a damn
-Both are excruciatingly slow with a bomb, the Fokker did better than I thought it would unloaded and was surprisingly nice in a turning fight. I've been on air craft carriers that turned faster than the Camel and I swear a damn tank passed me while I was in it. It's a real dog
-the rate of fire is much slower. Although I almost never run out of ammo in the high end planes, the 225 rounds I was given sure didn't last long. I was out of ammo by the time I reached mid-field.
The real thing I learned is that as we gain experience and become better pilots its all that much easier to take advantage of the noobs. Not only are they learning how to handle their planes, they ARE equipped with inferior equipment. We need to remember to encourage the new guys. I'm not saying we give them a pass, but definitely need not to abuse them. It's easy to do.
Another note... These planes that rookies have to use CANNOT jump up like the ones we're used to. I've learned how to get away, up and around when someone is attempting to spawn kill. It was nearly impossible in the my last game. 2 pilots had us pinned in a perfect rotation so that one was always firing at spawning planes. In the end I managed to pop up get shot and chute in time to crash one out. A noob will never even know to try that and stands little to no chance of getting away. The immunity is a good thing for the lower ranks and I think it should be extended beyond Rank 4 (Although I also think it should go away once they fire their first shot). I absolutely can see how a new guys can get discouraged and leave never to return when being abused.