<sarcasm>

Yes.

Yes they did suck that bad.

In retrospect, it's amazing the Luftwaffe achieved as much as it did.   

Did you know that Willy Messerschmitt designed the Me 109 in only 11 days?  And that he was drunk while doing it?  And he only drew the schematics with his left hand?  (He was right-handed)  He was also with a prostitute at the time.   The prostitute had syphilis... and a heroin addiction (much like Reichmarshal Goering).

All that aside, the 109 did get off the ground, didn't it?  You want to know how?  The Occult.  The Occult got the Me 109 off the ground.  Have you ever seen the movie Return to Castle Wolfenstein?  Well, that was more or less based on actual events, and there was most certainly a deep relationship between the Luftwaffe's performance and the Nazi Occult.

The manpower mustered for every single German sortie that took place during the war was almost incomprehensible by today's standards.  For every single, individual plane's flight, the following had to take place:

• An assemblage at the airbase of four high priestesses, three Bavarian virgins (male or female) wearing black leather spats, two red deer from the Balmoral Scottish highlands (no other deer would suffice), and a Hauptmann from the Wehrmacht with a missing left eye.
• The group would sacrifice 142 russet potatoes by jamming each into the barrel of an 88mm AAA gun and firing.
• A sacred fire would be lit in an empty fuel drum that had been cut in half.  The only fuel allowed for the fire would be hazel nuts and pictures of Winston Churchill.
• Finally, all (including the deer) would join hands (or hooves) in a sacred circle around the fire and chant (in English):
  
  Mighty Knight of the heavens,
  Arise to the challenge.
  May your miscarriage of engineering
  Carry you across the Channel.
  May your bombs be our enemies' misfortune,
  And our utter delight.
  May you not run out of petrol (again)
  On the return trip.
  
  COMPLICATE!
  COORDINATE!
  GRAVITATE!
  EXTRICATE!
  ELIMINATE!
  DEPRIVATE!
  
  ELLLEEEVAAAATE!!!!

As the chant builds up into a furious crescendo, the plane rolls down the runway.  If it is timed perfectly, the chanters will reach their climax just as the aircraft lifts off the runway.  If it is not timed perfectly, the magic will fail and the plane will stall (not because not enough air is moving across the wings to provide sufficient lift, but because the magic has failed), and crash, its' unfortunate pilot entangled within the burning wreckage.

Keep in mind the bravery of the German airmen who flew despite these almost insurmountable odds, and the sheer number of learned people (steeped in the ways of both the Occult and of our Lord and Master The Horned One, God of the Hunt) it took to get their planes off the ground.

Its something to think about.

For a little while, anyway.

</sarcasm>

First lets tackle tha MS AI.

The AI planes use a simplified flight model compared to what you get when you fly a standalone aircraft. Fly the Fw190A8 R8 against an AI pilot in a B17 and he'll out turn you - Yeah, right!
.(thread on this at avhistory)

http://www.avhistory.org/scripts/MegaBBS/thread-view.asp?threadid=1105&posts=10

Fact is AI pilots can pull some stunts that you CAN'T do in the same plane however hard you try. They also fly into mountains though (try starting a QC intercept in BF110s over Barcelonette at 2500 feet and see what I mean - LOL).



Now lets talk about Fw190's.

The British planes had big wings and therefore low wing loading. High lift sections give low stall speeds and good turning performance. The Spitfire was special because it had a laminar flow (very thin) wing with elliptical plan so doesn't lose much speed in a turn (crap for mounting big guns in though).

The Fw190 (and to a lesser extent the bf109) had very small compact designs with small wings and therefore high wing loading. Turn performance was not great and if you get into a turn fight with a spitfire, you'll die. Vicious stall characteristics too. Advantages are high speed and massive acceleration in a dive (but don't try that against a P47). The 190 also has a higher roll rate than anything else (except a late mark clip wing Spit at low altitude) allowing very fast changes of direction and a wonderful 'split-ess'.

The FW190 is an energy fighter. The tactics involve keeping your speed up and exploiting the inertia of the aircraft to dogfight in the vertical and use 'boom and zoom' tactics to keep one step ahead.

You need separation. Make a long, high speed approach, line up your target and let him have it (preferably head on). Six guns on a 190 will unload a lot of lead in a short burst - make it count. If you miss DON'T try and turn for another attack. Nose down WEP and burn to acheive separation again. Then come back and have another go.

The least realistic thing in CFS3 is that you've got that darn taget cone and tags everywhere telling the enemy where you are. That helps the spit pilot because he can turn and follow the cone but definitely does not help with the tactics you need in the 190. Try it and you'll stall and snap a wing down.

Later, the fw190D sacrificed roll rate and some firepower for massive speed and higher altitude performance. The Ta152 took this further and the H model had a long wing with low loading, a speed of 472mph and a ceiling of 48,000 feet. Fortunately for Hawker Tempest pilots only about 15 were built.

Stalls are cause by low airspeed OR too high angle of attack. Recovering from both kinds is a skill you'll need in the 190.

Also, I'm darn sure most developers just don't try as hard to model the German planes well. Hell they can't even get the guns right on some of 'em. mS only put in HALF the goddam ammo and even the later builders of FW190's for CFS3 don't put 30mm cannons where they should be.

I like the 109 in the game, especially with the extra cannons, just drop that bomb or drop tank PDQ.  This is ideal for the one pass sneak up and destroy them combat.

But as has been said don't try to out-turn a Spit, just power dive and not only does their wing hinder them, so does the fact that the early Spits weren't fuel injected so drag and gravity are on the side of the Luftwaffe.  (must be something to do with the garlic)

Anyhow that brings me to my lastest crib about realism - why when I take off in the 109 do I not get to see the ceremony - is a developer working on this - Terrain SDK anyone??  

The FW190 is inferior to the Spit IX I read an arcticle about it (ACTUAL FLIGHT TEST DATA) it could only out roll (Usless )

Whitey(spelled right?) I have to agree with you, all of the aircraft have their own little 'ticks and when you have learned how to minipulate what ever you are flying to "match" those ticks, you get good at any of the aircraft, I too have my favorites, but, I've tried to learn all of the aircraft's different  nuances you can almost perform miracles in them... Keep in mind also please, that we just got our machine back online, and I've had alot of time to try and learn them all... I like them all... Dano