Cliffs of Dover Bf109 Tutorial - How to win against multiple Spitfires , Energy Fighting 

The instrument is called a turn and slip indicator. It is the ball, not the stick, which indicates if you are coordinated. The stick indicates rate of turn. The pilot's saying is "step on the ball", i.e. if the ball is to the left of center you apply left rudder.

Different when playing experienced players online. Planes flying in a classic "Boom 'n' Zoom" frustrate manoeuvre (Which the RAF called a "Defence Circle") which is simply circling clockwise tightly so as to be totally impossible to "Boom 'n' Zoom". This manoeuvre is akin to a boxer putting his gloves together in front of his face so as to render himself immune to his opponent's blows. tire him out and to frustrate him into making a mistake, or a knight holding his shield up to absorb his opponents sword blows. I've kept a "Defence Circle" up for 32 minutes recently without receiving a single hit versus a notorious ace. My opponent and his wingman just kept coming in on my Hurricane as I circle round and round. His wingman became impatient and made a fatal mistake so I just widened the circle as he shot past on his umpteenth failed attack and I flamed him and then tightened the circle once more. Meanwhile on comms I was arranging a posse of 4 players at high altitude to catch the "Boom 'n' Zoomer" using the "Orlok trap method" (devised by 1CAG_Count Orlok to deal with "Boom 'n' Zoomers"). In the "Orlok trap" (a two plane trap) the lead plane in the element flying a tight defence circle whilst the wingman dives away (Hurricanes and Spitfire have a far higher terminal speed than the 109), appearing to abandon his comrade. The lead fighter continues flying a "Defence Circle" ignoring all attempts by his frustrated attacker to lure him out of it. He is totally immune from "Boom 'n' Zoom" attacks so long as he keeps flying in a tight circle. The wingman moves faraway (as far a 20 miles) and starts a circle climb to Angels 25,000 to 30,000 and, in coordinating with the lead fighter, waits above to catch the attacker at the top of his climb, preferably in the middle of an "Immelmann Turn", and blasts him to pieces. Note that the Hurricane turns tighter than the Spitfire, can dive to 430 MPH safely (expect an aerolons to fall off at 440 MPH), can absorb more damage and still be fine in a dogfight, carries more ammo than the Spitfire but is slightly slower.

Was in my first major dogfight on the ATAG server today. Scored myself a kill. My very first. You don't get that feeling of success on anything else but a sim. Not only are you in a fight but you have to manage an aircraft of full realism and understand real tactics to be successful. I love your videos.

Watching this as a Hurricane pilot :D This is good info indeed.

I'm actually playing 1946 (but I imagine the techniques should be similar). I'm flying a Hurricane at the moment. I realise different planes will require different tactics but watching this gave me a better understanding of how to gain altitude quickly. I played 1946 briefly last summer but I play a lot of different genres and haven't played it since. I'm now getting back into it.

Sorry to disappoint you but this is not an artificial horizon. The turn and bank indicator is used to coordinate a turn, ie avoid sideslip. It does not help to provide lift or energy. If the turn and bank is centered, it indicates the aircraft is not in a sideslip, and if it is centered in a turn, it indicated the turn is coordinated. Greets, Phil

Was a very in-depth description and helped me quite a bit, was very much appreciated, once again thanks

These tutorials are brilliant, you've made me a much more competitive 109 pilot even though I've only had the game for a week. I still make many many mistakes, but as I'm watching these videos I'm making (slowly) less and less. I hope to see you on the ACG server sometime.

Well yes...the stick "in the middle" maximizes lift given that your wings are level...creating the greatest coefficient of lift. The Ball underneath is what maximizes coordinated flight....aka using rudder to counter P factor (prop causing the aircraft to yaw at high power lowers airspeed situations)....centering the ball with a little rudder will reduce drag and increase performance.

The tactics your speaking of apply to any aircraft, not just the 09. Any plane with speed & Alt has the advantage....keeping your advantage is the key.,which you demonstrated in this video. Great Job!!! Hope to have my new PC up and running soon, then i can jump in and fly some with ya.....:)

Thank you. It takes a lot of time to do the right decisions automatically and have your mind "free" in order to keep a situational awareness. Hitting the target with good accuracy takes even longer, especially in the 109 with the typical short opportunities when hitting and running. Keep on getting better!

Gern geschehen! Thanks for the compliment. Glad i will never find out if I would have been an ace or got burned alive at the first time trying to start that plane on a bad runway, but i have the greatest respect for those guys on all sides flying those days.

This video is excellent. Very thoughtful application of the 109's best features for engaging, and surviving combat under ideal situations. I look forward to your tutorial on how to survive a bad tactical situation in the 109. Also, maybe one day you will make a tutorial on 109 team (rotte) tactics? Lone wolfs don't survive long in crowded skies. thank you again for your tutorial series. Always look forward to them.

Thank you for these great tutorials. You are making me a much better rookie pilot who won't end up as cannon fodder, well not as much.

Good tips Apeoftheyear..! Great fighting, too and by the way, I love the Bf 109, especially the E series..!😎😎

I only just realised why I've been blowing myself up when dropping bombs on tanks. I didn't set any delay. DOH! I've got a lot to learn.

@Apeoftheyear Ha! You make me proud to fly for blue! I appreciate all your videos and information! Seriously helped me come a long way from when I started flying 109s till now. Much appreciation!!! I'm in Stab1. Kg/54 "Cerberus" on storm of war, hopefully get to fly with ya some night:)

Energy Fighting, Just pore a Red Bull® into the fuel tanks.

You're THE MAN Ape - hoping you will produce some more great videos soon !

I have been waiting for someone to actually put together a good tutorial on this. I'm tired of always getting shot down. I mean, I'm not going to be an ace like you overnight, but at least you gave me the basics to practice with.

I have many hour on ww2 aircraft simulator, and it's the better tutorial for bf i see, great job !

Yes i sometimes fly on the red side. I am horrible in the Hurricane, but the Spitfire is a wonderful and very dangerous plane because while very good at turning you still have very good overall performance (of course the cut off with negative Gs is a big contra). But i am not nearly as experienced. The 109 is just my favourite, the next plane i really like is the FW.

Thank you very much, I was having just a bit of trouble with my convergence set to 100 for EVERYTHING (MG's and cannons) I feel this new setting will be better for the typical boom and zoom tactics of the 109. Again thanks for the help, cheers!

It´s working good and the community is getting bigger. The ATAG and the ACG Server are nearly always full enough to have a good online experience. The ATAG Server btw is also managed by the same people that are the Team Fusion which is working on the new Mods and Patches.

will be raised slightly and make sure i dont aim too low at targets at bigger distance. The iron sight is just a back up even though it looks as if i was using it. My general Tip: If i was using a Spitfire or Hurricane i would go with about 200 metres, but never closer with any Plane, you should find out for yourself, since you adapt to your convergence, and my convergence might feel horrible for other pilots.

Of course it does not measure "Energy". It´s an artificial horizon but if it is very calm it indicates the least turbulences produced by your plane, while at the same time the lift is goint to be the most effective when centered. So its the most energy efficient way to keep your plane in the air when this instrument is calm and centered.

Ok thanks. I look up those at easter weekend.

I have the Saitek 52 joystick and throttle. Pedals are not necessary but from all I heard they give you mora accuracy and a lot more joy and feeling like beeing in an actual cockpit.I will invest in pedals at some point. Track iR though is a must i think. Skillwise there are some few players claiming that they are just a good without Track iR but I myself indeed NEED it in order to play well from the 1.Person view, and it adds so much immersion into the game i would never again play withouth it

Excellent tutorial, thanks.

You sir know how to fly... I think if you were flying then you`d have been an ace many times over... Vielen dank!

Very good video, thanks!

Radiator one three quarter turn closed, oil cooler one third open. I nearly never change them. Only if you are really desperatly trying to run away. If you are very fast anyways you can close the radiator for some time much more, but take a look at the temperature, oil cooler can also be closed for even another 10 percent more in this situation.

Thanks for posting!

Convergence is a very relative and subjectiv thing, i like these settings for the bf109: Nose Mgs (1 and 2), no convergence - the guns just shot straight, i can hit pretty accurate in any distance between 0- 500 meters, the bigger the distance the more you want to aim above your target, Wing Guns (3 and 4): Horizontal: 300 metres, Vertical 400 metres. I usually shot at around 100 metres distance or even closer, i nearly never open fire at over 250 metres exept when....

Hi, i enjoy your videos, i will buy a new computer in couple of weeks, and i will buy il2 games too because your videos inspire me, i am playing war thunder sim battles but that game is broken, but you can play war thunder, make some videos about it and may be you inspire other people to play il2 games.

Geiles Video sowas hab ich gesucht :) ! Thumps Up Ape

Great Video! thanks for the pointers

Herman would be proud of you! ;)

Nice tutorial, tanks a lot !

this is great, cant wait for more 109 tips!

Hello. First of all, excellent video. I am inexperienced and this has already shed light on some mistakes I've made (although using a different plane). When this game was released most of the flight sim community seemed to hate it, but looking again recently opinions seem to have changed. I was wondering if you (or anyone else) knows why.

This was very helpful. Thx, you have a new subscriber :)

Next time you do this kind of tutorial, be sure to include discussion about your throttle at the various stages. Great video BTY.

Seems like you know something from the fighter tactics. It is a pleasure to listen to what you are saying. I believe Gunther Rall or Adolf Galland would both be proud of you. Thank you.

Your explanation of the turn indicator (dreht) is... interesting. "trying to keep the stick levelled" simply means: not yawing the aircraft (i.e. not turning). So yeah it kind of sort of means you are keeping your energy (as you don't burn it in turns), but the explanation you give is rather inaccurate. However, you need to look at the ball bellow "the stick" and keep it centred to have a coordinated,energy-efficient turn. Nice description of energy fighting though, but please, do your home-work on your flight instruments ;)

Good job, good lesson, thak you!

Great tutorial.

Excellent! keep them coming :)

Thx for your nice comments. I am glad to be helping you all to be more succesful. My next tutorial is already pre produced and i will upload it in one week. Good idea about the rotte tactics, i will do one together with one of my comrades of the JG26 as soon as i get home - i am not at my Airfield for the next 2 weeks :( -but i have recoreded some videos for you guys before i left .

Thank you very much! Great tutorials!

The flight model seems to be nearly the same as in IL2 1946,yes.The hurricane is a hybrid between an energy and turning fighter so its good at both things but not perfect.The thing is that you need to know that the climbing at fast speeds(over 300km/H)at a low angle is probably not working as good as in the 109-Thats the reason you get away in the 109, and i wouldn´t recommend this energy tactics against 109s to you,you need to count more on your turning abilitys.

FW are very hard planes for me in all games, where i tried them.

shooting on bombers or i just want to scary s.o. of. The Reason i am setting the horizontal convergence on 300, even when i am shooting at about 100 is that after the point of convergence you shots wont hit a damn thing, or only some random bullets will hit, so i think it is better to have that point far away but not too far, i will either be close enough so my bullets hit anyway or get very accurate shots at bigger distance. 400 on the vertical axis because the line of fire...

That was brilliant, you should change your name to Adolf Galland :D

Ok, maybe the game is not so realistic then... As long as nobody thinks it works like that in real aircraft, it is ok. Have fun with Cliff of Dover, it looks great! Regards

Thx. Get the newest patches, official ones via steam, and the Team Fusion patches after that. They improve the framerates also. Lower the resolution ( 1440*900 or so) and disalbe or lower the shadows if you have some fps issues, also reducing the building number aswell as detail helps a ton without really changing the looks too much. Other than that - have at least a pc of average quality and you should be quite fine. I got 680 gtx 2600k i7 16 gb ram and have around 60 fps most of the time.

ape, der junge hat recht! des der wendezeiger und zeigt nur an, ob du quasi nen turn machst. der kleine schwarze punkt im gleichen instrument unten, da wo hängt steht, sagt dir, ob du sauber fliegst. Grüße siddich!

very nice plane, very nice tutorial and very nice game :)

The instrument you refer does not measure energy: it is a basic instrument called turn and bank indicator. Regards, Phil

Yes of course. But in an energy Fighter like the 109 its absolutely necessary to fly energy efficient in order to have succes. In an english plane you can win in many turning situations but if you climb away like i do it in this video you wont be very succesful against 109s. I just saw so many 109s turning low with the english oponents, having terrible results because they didn´t know how to fly this plane.

I will make one in about a week. Then i will get home and play around with the 109 in Warthunder to get a grip on its behavior and what is different there. But if it is like it was in Wings of Prey i got some extremely good tips which are unrealistic but worked great in WoP( which has been the prequel to WT)

good vids, nice work!

Love your videos, helped me a lot with my 109 struggles. Are you using vr or head tracking in these videos?

Super Video! fettes merci :-)

No that´s not me. Keep training an you will succed. Spitfires that notice you will make a hard turn but this will give you a split second chance in order to land some deflection shots.

Thanks for the vid mate just joined 7./JG26 flying the E-3 need help with mastering this aircraft mainly engine management.

No Problem.

You dont have to do it manually in all Versions. Only at the start, after TakeOff you can use the automatic for the prop pitch in all Bf Versions except for the E1, even though making in manually will make you a better pilot its not necessary. Must es nicht selber regeln,nach dem start kannst du auf automatik stellen,nur bei der E1 gehts nicht automatisch.Die Bewaffnung der BF ist übrigens viel besser finde ich, da wesentlich präziser.Wenn du die BF richtig benutzt ist sie das bessere Flugzeug

Ok. I have a couple of thoughts: First of all if you have the old xp, make sure you have a new version of direct x installed, just google and download a new version of direct x, second i have heard of people having trouble with the 550 ti, go ahead and download the newest driver, 3. the patches seem to be up to date if steam downloaded all updates, 4. Go ahead and download the unofficial Team Fusion Patch 3.0 ( look up my Video about the new patch there is a Link in the Discription of the Video)

i need trackir, doing this with the mouse its crazy.

Watching your vids has made me go out and give this game a try , love it so far but I am in need of a good set of controls , just got the ch combatstick and would like to know what you think should be next rudder peddles or trackir ?. What is more useful ? Because as it is now I can barely fly lol thanks for any info

And I think it's awesome how you used the iron cross-hair for the super deflection shot :) Isn't that what it's made for?

No Problem

Die Spit ist leicht zu fliegen, eine bf 109 ist zickig wie sau, aber wenn du sie richtig anpackst dann kannst du alles und jeden zerlegen :) Einfach kann ja jeder :P

I've just realised something else. The friendly AI hates me! If I get separated from my squadron they fly away at full speed. When I'm flying with them they alternate their speed between 80%-100% to make it awkward. Also I just did a mission where we had to go bomb some tanks and then fly back to base. By the time I was told to return to base I didn't have enough fuel and had to make an emergency landing. The AI are traitors!

Bullswagle!

hey ape,had a quick question and thank you for all your videos and the help, on the bottom left of the screen i run my throttle controls,what is the "s" for? (at least it looks like a "s" to me) i figured one is throttle,one pitch, one oil and one water radiators but don't know about the "s" thank you for your help.

ahh and i forgot, you need to look off course which is the newest version of direct x that xp is compatible with... google it first

Loving the accent....and the excellent video......where do I sign up to fly for the Luftwaffe! Will have to join the Blue Team!!!!.......sub'd BIG time.....Geiles Video!

Thx :)

Did you download all the patches? Have you installed the newest driver off your Graphics Card? What System do you have, and what Windows do you use?

The game was hated because it was terribly programmed and one of those beta releases that were puplished too soon. You needed a high end pc to play it with 30 frames per second and it crashed every 10 minutes + some other bugs. A lot has changed since then, the game now runs smoothly even on average systems and is the best flight sim available. Its similar to IL 2 1946 but with an interactive cockpit and much better graphics. What plane do you use?

What radiator settings are you using Ape? Do you change as you go or just set them and forget them?

Are the ac modelled so accurate as to be a faithful reproduction of the originals performance,for instance is there truly much difference between the Emil 1 and 4 in play?Have there been comparison tests in game,like if a real Spitfire 1a ought to do 340 mph at 12000 ft at +8 boost for example does the aircraft simulation do the same?Great tutes by the way!

i got a problem... i play with bf 109 F4 and bf 109 f4 / troop, when i try to get away, in a spirel climb, i get shot in an instant, or they are climbing, atleast the same speed like me, and shoot me all the chase.... wtf should i do? maybe i dont climb in a good angle, i really dont know.

nooo...the other one, fat one! ;) btw I just try Your tactic and 2 Tommy caput! :) boom and zoom...

hey i seen that you mentioned the patch and i was wondering , you have to install patch 3 before right? i quit playing the game for awhile and just got back to playing again and "discovered" these patches, how hard is it to install? i installed dark blue world in 1946, (all 19 parts) so i figured this one shouldn't be too hard or am i dead wrong? thank you for your input!!

I want to play this. But every time i load game for example any single play games it always crashes back to desktop.

Whats your cpu and how much ram do you have? The Videocard that you got isn´t very strong i think. Did you install all the official patches?

What is the name of the gauge that you refer to in the beginning of the video?

Thank you for the great tutorial on how to fly correctly Bf 109 i am playing War Thunder now and will be implementing those tactics in my Bf 109 . Can you tell me if this game is free to play like War Thunder ? Thanks Michal

I've never played this game, but my understanding is that the Bf109 was equal in the horizontal. Why does this game not demonstrate this fact?

What do you set your convergence at?? I seem to fire at the same time you do but my rounds end up going below them :(

And Windows XP SP3 English.

How do i look around using a mouse? What configuration should i do to be able to look around/control the camera using a pc mouse?

i have il-2 cliffs of Dover.. i could not get all of the necessary cockpit switches to toggle to on in order to start the engine.. wasted over 11 hours trying everything.. called ubisoft , but they were useless..Do you have any idea why i can toggle the magneto switches to on but can not toggle open the fuel cock 1.. also i can lower landing carriage but not move the radiator.. are you only useing a joystick or mouse or both.also i am useing the saitek x52 joystick.. is that the reason..

Havent flown much war thunder lately. I don´t like the physics and so on and I only got the F Version unlocked so far... If your comment gets close to 10 thumbs up I´ll work on it as soon as i get home.

Mayby i try to update video drivers. I dont have download any patch because i think that steam downloads patches. In main screen there reads version : 1.11.20362. I have Intel core quad 6600@2,4 ghz, Geforce gtx 550 ti 1gt, 4gt 800 mhz ddr2, Asus P5K-E. What is the latest patch?

Are you flying with Spitfire too?

I don´t use any of those help and message windows. Have deleted them all in order to make the game look better and more authentic. So i can´t tell you.