B-25J Air Fighting Two The B-25 can hang on it's props easily. If a fight goes for a few turns and pings are exchanged a wise fighter pilot will dive on out, extend, and come back. Others will try to go up in the vertical too far. "No way can that B-25 catch me!" they think. After a few turns a fighter may be down to below 175KIAs. That is not enough to generate enough separation for a viable rope-a-dope move, or any type of hammerhead either. Yet they will try to do it. Up they go.... and the B-25 pilot should go up after them. An example of this occurs at 4:40 minutes into the B25d.cam. The FW190 strove to go vertical and the B-25 hung on after him. Bad gunnery caused a near miss for the B-25, the FW190 was out of options and Gs. Nothing hangs like a FW190 at the top of a vertical move gone wrong (bar a P-47 maybe). This particular FW190 was lucky to survive. Ample use of the rudder should be used to kick or roll the B-25 around when it's nose is pointing up. Using ailerons will cause it to stall, and even worse spin, too early. This takes practise (best done offline). A gentle amount of rudder to begin the roll and as more rudder pressure is applied a gentle pull or push with the elevator will kick the B-25 around. This is very handy for a relatively quick reversal. The B-25 is not an "E" fighter. Of course it's not a fighter at all and it can also be said that all fights are "E" fights... yet do not be forced into a flat turning engagement if at all possible. Put some vertical into each move as even a slight amount can help to keep your vast bulk out of the enemy's sights. Beware of using too much rudder at low speeds and high-Gs. It causes drag and puts your nose askew. You'll have to use an equal amount of opposite rudder to counteract any swing and at high-Gs this swing is something you do not want. You will twist and roll and try to counteract with elevator which is bad (rip the wings off). Two things will keep you alive longer. All you have to do is hold off the fighter for as long as possible. The longer you hold him off the more experience and practise you gain and you may even get the kill. Two things... one is aggression, and the other is position. Aggression is easy. Go for him tooth and nail, lead turn, use the vertical, never Immelman while engaged, go nose low, press him down the nose slightly from below in head ons, and reverse violently across his nose as soon as he crosses your tail. Position is harder to achieve. It's not about getting on his six and staying there. You won't be able to saddle up too long on a fighter. It's not only about trying to get into his rear quarter with every move either. It's about holding him off, then moving once to achieve or reacquire an advantage and then press that advantage, rather than trying to hold onto it. Instead of a long fluid engagement between equally matched fighters (or as fluid as people strive to attain) the B-25 is a low down and dirty switchblade fighter. Switch backwards and forwards from point to point. If a fighter goes nose low don't be tempted to go down after him, but pull into a High Yo-yo, get above him, and then reverse back across him as he goes around under you. Now you have position, roll, and follow through for a snapshot below at him, then switch back to another high Yo-yo to get back on top. Think position, position, position. An example of this can be found at 14:12 minutes into the B25c.cam. The P-38 fighter broke low and to the right, the B-25 pulled up into a Yo-yo, reversed, and met him coming back around. The P-38 passed under the B-25, the B-25 now had position which was pressed into a Split-S, a snapshot was taken and again bad gunnery (but also a fighter just out of range) caused a miss. The B-25 rolled out to the left and went for a High Yo-yo again as the P-38 extended. Position was sought, found, and pressed but not held. The B-25 can't hold it so don't try to (unless the fighter is a grape as when they all are coming out of a blackout).