So after the ignominious crash in the last mission, I wanted to better learn the MiG-3, so as not to cover myself with shame. I looked up some videos… It’s a weird bird, unsuited to the typical low-altitude Eastern Front encounter. You can see why the USSR switched their engine factories to favor Il-2 production instead.[*]
Tips I gathered:
- Unlike the typical VVS “turn fighter” that wants to weave at low altitude and airspeed (LaGGs, Yaks), the MiG-3 game is about retaining high speed and energy state - it’s not a pure energy fighter, but more of one than any contemporaneous Soviet airplane. Try to keep your speed and altitude up, race through the enemy, and try not to get caught in a slow motion weaving dogfight where you bleed energy. That’s because…
- Retaining controllability is key to the MiG. The MiG loses the ability to manipulate its control surfaces when it’s not at its preferred speed, which I’m guessing is in the 350-450 kph range. At 270 kph (speeds more typical of a Yak), the rudder is micro-sensitive and the nose sways all over the place - the airplane is aerodynamically unstable and stalls easily. (I noticed this last mission, cruising at 300kph and 5km up, I was getting blown around by the wind.) The MiG has a high dive speed (600-700), but the faster you go the less your elevator reacts (see crash in previous mission).
- So the clever MiG pilot manipulates her speed in order to maintain her “sweet spot” – making high and wide turns instead of short tight ones, extending flaps to cut speed when diving and be able to pull up, and basically doing everything you can to maintain a load of distance and turning room from the target. It’s a chef’s knife, not a fish knife. You won’t have a ton of time on target so you have to make the best of the tracking shots you get.
- The aircraft will not save you. Contemporaneous Luftwaffe fighters (109s) have better climb rate, better turning ability, often better roll rate, and are certainly easier to use. The MiG’s best quality is surprise - both surprise in attacking an enemy unanticipated, and surprise in getting underestimated. It’s a good aircraft, not a better aircraft. So I have to know when to hold em and when to fold em / get out of Dodge.
I didn’t expect to, but the MiG is growing on me in a way the other VVS fighters haven’t. It’s a hard aircraft to characterize and to understand. I saw someone call it a “disobedient stallion” which seems to sum it up. Sort of like our heroine…
Mission 2 - The Slowdown (1943-10-03)
This is the mission where I realize the limits of my little 2015 laptop. Did I say PWCG could slow it to a crawl? Let’s proceed…
She looked with trepidation at the board. Szt Golubtsov… The dream was still strong in her mind. “Shouldn’t we bring another pilot?” Natasha had heard that other forces flew four-plane formations that seemed militarily superior to the old 3-man ‘Vic’ the VVS flew.
“Nah, you’ll have the 11 and 157 IAPs in sector to help out if things get hairy. Just stick with the Kapitan, he’ll know what to do.” Natasha made a note to ask for the dual-12.7mm machine guns just in case.
We’ve got an intercept mission, meaning we’re going to probably find some bombers with escorts. I’ve been told that bombers are the most CPU-intensive units in the game…
My takeoff is a little sketchy, but straightforward. Once again I find myself skimming the treetops on my way out. This airfield location is really not the best. I struggle to catch up to my flightmates Kulibin and Golubtsov.
Things look pretty nice up here at altitude… but formation flying is a full-time job. Constant adjustments of throttle, mixture, heading, and pitch; not to mention trim.
As we cross the front and come into sector, we hear squadron “Rook” engaging fighters. That’ll be the… well, I don’t remember what aircraft “Rook” flies. (If you don’t mind spoilers, you can scroll back to the campaign map.)
Hold on, there’s some fighting now at my 1 o’clock…
I think that’s a 109 on the left? Hard to make out these targets for the rookie Serzhant.
What is that? Elliptical wings but tail like a 109. The equivalent of WW2 Bigfoot. I keep seeing that shape and I can’t make it out worth a damn.
I keep seeing wing markings that remind me of the RAF roundel. It doesn’t make any sense… is that what the Italian MC.202 looks like? I don’t think so…
The action soon slows to a crawl - literally. The game is running at 45fps but the actual action itself seems to be running at 10% speed. I realize I may have made a mistake with my PWCG settings.
It turns out there’s quite a furball up here – there’s our flight “Guillemot”, “Rook”, “Swift” – that’s all the Allies accounted for – and then there’s definitely some Axis fighters that I can’t quite ID, as well as the bombers we came to intercept. The game may be running at 60 frames per minute but that doesn’t mean we can’t get stuck in as best we can.
(Actually, it’s quite a throwback to playing Combat Flight Simulator as a kid in the late 90s - my PC wasn’t good enough then either.)
I can’t seem to pick up speed no matter what I do. What’s going on?
Wait a minute… I still have my flaps and landing gear down, from takeoff. Whoops. Natasha wipes her brow and hopes no one mistook her MiG for a Stuka.
I get in some good shots but eventually decide this mission is unplayable. Time to RTB. Good luck, Golubtsov! I hear him shout after scoring a victory. Looks like he can fly after all.
I head back home to Sloboda, stopping to admire some fine Russian ground transport along the way.
Wait, where the hell is the aerodrome? I check my map. Yep, says it should be right here… all I see is trees.
Oh hold on… I see there’s a clearing on the other side of the forest. Cool, cool. It’s the fucking Secret Garden of airfields. The Luftwaffe will never find it, and neither will we!
Natasha gets her griping out of the way and finally puts her bird down. Only four bounces on the landing… is that better or worse than last time? As the saying goes, “any landing you walk away from is a good landing.”
Natasha lives to fight another day… and the AAR brings some good news as well.
Way to go Kap! That’s why they pay you the big bucks–
…we all make mistakes now and then.
o7 comrade - and that’s a 27 IAP MiG destroyed as well.
And as for Natashenka… Don’t look a gift medal in the mouth, that’s what I say.
It’s only afterwards I realize “Rook” is the Hawker Hurricanes in 157 IAP. British aircraft tend to have elliptical wings, like Soviet fighters and unlike the squarer wings of the Luftwaffe. This should have helped target identification, but actually ended up confusing me, because I knew it wasn’t Soviet, but it looked Soviet… I also think there was a problem with the custom skins, because Soviet Hurricanes didn’t have British markings - they had the red star like everything else.
All in all, 3,000 Hurricanes were delivered to the USSR via lend-lease. They were used to greatest effect in the Arctic, in the defense of Murmansk; the RAF’s 151 Wing was deployed there to train Soviet pilots on the fighter. Soviet pilots, hated the plane.
‘The aircraft is fine; it’s metal, so it won’t catch fire. You can shoot from it. But instead of manoeuvrability and speed – you’ll have to use your Russian wits!’
