Need Pfalz Tips

[Bullethead 12]

I just killed my 1st Pfalz pilot without firing a shot or being shot at. And geez, I did several QC hops wringing the pig out, until I thought I knew it. So I'd appreciate some tips from folks who have plenty of experience with the Bavarian Brick.

 

Before you answer, here's what I discovered in my test flights and short combat career:

 

Climb: not that bad. Speed: not that bad. Zoom: not bad. Dive: very good. Pilot's visibility: very good. Wings-level stall speed: about 35 knots. Banked stall speed: huge. Aiming: easy--use the radiator cap as your sight. Roll rate: somewhere between a SPAD and a Fee (that means bad). Turn rate: EXCELLENT, better even than a Pup.

 

Let nobody say the Pfalz can't turn. Put it on a wingtip, haul back on the stick, and you'll get dizzy. Problem is, it bleeds altitude like a stuck hog while doing this, even with nose level. Top ruddern doesn't stop the altitude loss, but can slow it.

 

Vices:

 

1. Poor Roll Rate and Rudder-Induced Accelerated Stalls

The Pfalz turns like a 2-seater, as in once you get it banked, it turns like mad, but getting it banked is the problem, and you really notice this when you're trying to reverse your bank to turn the other way. IOW, it has poor aileron authority. I found that, like a 2-seater, you can boost the roll rate with rudder. This works just find as long as you're doing this in the direction you're already banked. HOWEVER, if you're trying to reverse your turn, using a lot of rudder to kick your bank over the other way WILL kill you--that's what happened to my campaign pilot. You go from being banked 90^ left to spinning to the right, usually nose-up. Doing this at 100 feet AGL is NOT survivable.

 

2. Nose-High Stalls and Tail-First Slides

The Pfalz is can do this to a more extreme degree than any other plane I've flown, even the pre-1.32 SPAD XIII. When I was testing wings-level stall speed, I got the thing into a 70^ nose-up attitude and it slid backwards from there. Most planes can't do this with the nose more than 1/2 that high. However, the Pfalz doesn't seem to spin unless you force it into one with a lot of rudder, and recovers from spins easily.

 

3. Falling Sideways

If you do an incomplete hammerhead and keep the nose more than about 45^ above vertically down, the plane will sideslip the rest of the way down to the ground, unless you force that nose more vertical. While it's yawing down like this, you can't pull out and fly on off at that angle like you can in most planes.

 

So obviously, I need to avoid doing these things. Any other tips?

[Olham 164]

Hey, Bullet!

The man to give the most professional answers must be Hasse Wind, cause he survived

quite some time in a Pfalz campaign. But as those northern Fins (Finlanders?) may be

in bed now, I'll try some.

 

1.) DON'T call the lady a Bavarian brick - she'll react like all ladies - she'll fly like one.

2.) At 100 feet, everything's dangerous; I never change my turn direction; make them dizzy!

3.) I always found it hard to stall the Pfalz, and as you say - she recovers easily.

4.) Her turn I found really so good, I even fought Camels in her. (Don't know why Hasse Wind

didn't do that?)

5.) I go to bed now - you found out more about the Pfalz already, than I could tell yer.

[Olham 164]

Here's a picture of my Bavarian Lady. When the skin is completed, I'll make her downloadable.

[Bullethead 12]

Here's a picture of my Bavarian Lady.

 

Very nice.

 

So, what do I have to do to get you to fly a Fee in Bloody April?

[Pips 5]

We're talking about my favourite lady here, so no rude comments please!

 

You've pretty well got the Pfalz D.III performance down pat Bullethead. The only comment I would add is that, although the Pfalz is reasonable in a turn, it loses so much energy that even if you get around onto your opponents tail all he has to do is go vertical or roll the opposite way and your left far behind. And slow. Which as the Pfalz is slow to accelerate means big trouble.

 

I find that the rudder and elevators are the best controls to focus on when flying the Pfalz. The elevators are powerful and haul the Pfalz up and down as quickly as anything in OFF. And that big rudder will flip you round quite quickly, but only at low(ish) speeds. So I fight the Pfalz in the vertical, avoid fights where I have no altitude advantage (or stalk until I gain one), and run if surprised (which does happen occassionally in the game thank heavens).

 

My most used manoeuvres are the zoom, cuban eight and wingover. When turning I always initiate the turn with rudder first, and as the aeroplane angles into the turn kick in aileron as hard as possible ie really slam the stick to one side. The wingover after as zoom is the fastest way to turn and reposition - but only if there is no one on your tail. Otherwise you'll be kaput! And I find that the Cuban eight is great for repositioning if there is no urgency and maintaining energy levels.

 

I avoid turns, Immelmann's and the Split -S like the plague. If fact anything that requires the ailerons to initiate a manoeuvre. If I'm forced to dive away from a fight I class that as a defeat and do not return. Rather I'll wander off looking for someone who isn't paying attention.

 

As Hugo Vass (my alter ego) I've managed to survive for 33 hours so far in my beloved Pfalz D.III. In that time I've managed 17 kills, have been shot up several times, forced landed thrice but only wounded once. So it works for me.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I wouldn't call myself a Pfalz expert, at least not yet, even though I had over 40 hours with the Bavarian lady in Jasta 10.

 

The key to survival in a Pfalz career is being VERY careful about what you do. All the tips already posted in this thread are valid, so I don't have to go repeating them again in this post. But one thing I think needs to be repeated - the turning ability of the Pfalz may at first seem like it can go turnfighting with enemies, but as Pips already mentioned, the crate is so slow to accelerate (and heavy) that you lose too much valuable energy and speed when going after nimble turn fighters such as the Camel. As the Camel is not only more manoeuvrable but also faster than the Pfalz, you'll soon be in big trouble and usually end up dead. (Happened to me many times until I learned my lesson.)

 

So the best thing to do is to stay very high and use energy fighting tactics and ONLY attack when you have the advantage. Forget the Bloody April and the RFC charging into battle with each and every opponent, no matter how disadvantageous the situation. Use the plane's stability as a gun platform to your advantage when making quick diving attacks against opponents. And you have two Spandaus, so with good aim you can often shoot down enemy planes quickly by hitting the cockpit and engine area. And once again, stay high, the higher the better, because you can gather speed and make those dives, which are often required to get away from a disadvantageous situation, if you do find yourself in one despite being careful. The Pfalz excels at diving, you won't be losing wings like in the Albatros D.III and D.V.

 

It will also help your chances of survival to not use the TAC, or if do you use it, then at least don't go looking for trouble with every enemy flight.

 

As a Pfalz pilot, I've had the most success against Spads and of course two-seaters. Camels I try to avoid because they are so dangerous.

 

If possible, try to stay as much as possible behind German lines. The worst that can happen is to find yourself flying too low and slow over enemy territory. If you're on German side, you can at least find the nearest airfield or just land anywhere to avoid certain death by the huge flight of Camel aces that will always descend upon you when you go too low and slow behind the Entente lines.

 

Gute Jagd! :)

[Bullethead 12]

Thanks for all the help.

 

It appears to me that the Pfalz is the German SPAD, with the same sorts of strengths and vices, and therefore requiring the same sort of style and tactics. I bet a good Pfalz pilot would be a good SPAD pilot.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the Pfalz seems to share the Eindecker's tendency to fall out of the sky sideways if the wings aren't level. It's like as soon as you bank, your lift completely vanishes and gravity takes over. Granted, my experience with the Pfalz so far is minimal, but I haven't yet been able to maintain altitude during a turn in level flight or while on the initial climb. The only if I'm zooming at high speed can I turn and maintain or gain altitude. Do you all see the same thing?

 

Also, the Pfalz seems to want to bounce very high on landing, even if you touch down at a very low speed. What's the best way to avoid that?

[Olham 164]

I'll fly my Pfalz pilot more now, to be able to exchange experience with you.

The bouncing off at landing can be prevented, when you come in like I do:

I come in with nose down and a lot of speed. In the last moment I level out and touch down

still fast. Only when she's running on her wheels, I cut the engine.

But it's something you must feel - cause earlier on, I touched down too hard and broke the

gear on such a landing.

 

PS: from flying the SPAD XIII, I assume, both crates can turn fine, when you dive into the turn,

so you gain more speed?

Edited August 10, 2009 by Olham

[Hasse Wind 46]

It appears to me that the Pfalz is the German SPAD, with the same sorts of strengths and vices, and therefore requiring the same sort of style and tactics. I bet a good Pfalz pilot would be a good SPAD pilot.

 

Yep. But I like the Pfalz more than the Spad, because the French plane has such a poor visibility from the cockpit (yeah, I know, I've been spoilt by the Hun scouts' cockpits!) I do hope we'll get the Pfalz D.XII some day in OFF, because that would be the real German Spad, faster and even tougher than the D.IIIa. One of the fastest German planes in fact.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the Pfalz seems to share the Eindecker's tendency to fall out of the sky sideways if the wings aren't level. It's like as soon as you bank, your lift completely vanishes and gravity takes over. Granted, my experience with the Pfalz so far is minimal, but I haven't yet been able to maintain altitude during a turn in level flight or while on the initial climb. The only if I'm zooming at high speed can I turn and maintain or gain altitude. Do you all see the same thing?

 

Yes, part of the joy of being a Pfalz jockey.

 

Also, the Pfalz seems to want to bounce very high on landing, even if you touch down at a very low speed. What's the best way to avoid that?

 

I'm always shocked when I return to the Pfalz after getting used to the Alb's gentle behaviour at landing. But you'll soon get used to it. Just try to come in slow and straight so that the Brick, um, Lady won't try to flip over to one side or the other. Avoid sudden movements of the stick and hold it firmly to counter the bouncing. I've only lost one or two Pfalz guys when landing. (And none at all with the Alb, so I guess that tells something...) :yes:

 

The Pfalz is a challenge, but that's why I like it so much. And it looks cool, too. So have fun with it!

[Bullethead 12]

I come in with nose down and a lot of speed. In the last moment I level out and touch down still fast. Only when she's running on her wheels, I cut the engine.

 

That's how I was landing SPADs before 1.32. If you tried it any other way, you'd likely stall and crash from about 30 feet up, or bounce 30 feet up and then stall and crash. Still haven't flown the SPADs since the patch, though, so maybe things have changed.

 

PS: from flying the SPAD XIII, I assume, both crates can turn fine, when you dive into the turn,

so you gain more speed?

 

I really need to try the SPAD now that OBD has worked on the stalls. Prior to 1.32, the SPAD XIII turned quite well, but only at speeds above 100 knots. If you got down to 80-90 knots, turning meant an instant stall and spin. That's one reason why landings were so dangerous. Hopefully that's changed now.

 

Yep. But I like the Pfalz more than the Spad, because the French plane has such a poor visibility from the cockpit (yeah, I know, I've been spoilt by the Hun scouts' cockpits!)

 

Ah, but the SPADs have beautiful varnished wood interiors with leather and brass accents, plus a built-in absinthe strainer .

 

RE: massive loss of lift in a bank

Yes, part of the joy of being a Pfalz jockey.

 

I don't find it much of a joy. In fact, it makes me question the FM in the same way that the tail-first spins do in other aircraft.

 

The Pfalz is a challenge, but that's why I like it so much. And it looks cool, too. So have fun with it!

 

Yes, but it's time-consuming. I've already learned that, just like the SPAD, you should NEVER warp on ingress in the Pfalz, due to how that guarantees you'll be way too low when you meet the enemy. I'll have to see if that new "start in the air" feature improves on this.