War Thunder: Dogfights in the F4F-4 Wildcat (Realistic Battles)
17It has been some time since I made a War Thunder video, but I have recently fancied a change of pace.
The premise of this video was to present a series of clips involving dogfights in a plane of my choice as taken from the Realistic Air Battles mode. Whilst I would normally either commentate over the footage or convert the clips into a music based montage, instead I thought I would let the footage speak for itself and just give you the opportunity to enjoy some moments of seeing the plane in action. Given I quite enjoyed making this video, I hope to make more over time and potentially give you the opportunity to nominate planes you would like to see me fly.
As for my choice of plane for this video, I opted to go for a plane that I have a soft spot for in real-life: the Grumman F4F “Wildcat”, specifically its most iconic variant the F4F-4. Known best perhaps for its “Sto-Wing” folding wing system, historically the F4F-4 was arguably a side-step from its predecessor variant (the F4F-3) as the introduction of the Sto-Wing and two additional 12.7mm M2 Browning machine guns served to make the plane significantly heavier; compromising its performance given both variants of the plane were to use the same Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine. The flip side of these changes being greater practicality in storing the plane on naval carriers, along with presenting a stronger burst mass (albeit from a reduced ammunition pool of 240 rounds per gun compared to the 450 rounds per gun of the F4F-3!).
The mixed feelings for the F4F-4 definitely translate over into War Thunder in my opinion. At a Battle Rating of 3.0 in the USA tech tree, it is a rare site to see in most matches compared to its predecessor variant which sits at a Battle Rating of 2.3. The plane retains its rugged airframe which gives it great survivability against most machine gun based weaponry and even allows it to take some 20mm caliber cannon rounds (depending on their point of impact), yet the trade-off of performance for “increased” firepower is one which you have to get used to. The heavier nature of the plane makes battling skywards in the vertical more of a challenge, and a knowledgeable opponent will be certain to capitalise on this. Additionally, should you misplace your shots, you have far less trigger time available meaning you may find yourself running out of ammo much sooner than you expect.
Additionally, the Battle Rating increase of 0.7 means you will now start to face planes which can comfortably out-run and/or out-climb you meaning your ability to dictate engagements may feel reduced – especially when you have been matched into a 3.0-4.0 match. Nonetheless, I have found this is where the fun lies in the plane as you will normally be the one under attack from the outset and need to find a way to reverse your adversaries; examples of which may be seen in this video.
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At present, Paul Walsh has 726,118 views spread across 373 videos for War Thunder, accounting for over 7 days of watchable video on his channel. This is 25.98% of the total watchable video for War Thunder on Paul Walsh's YouTube channel.