The winner of the second stage will receive the "2v2 Duellist" title and 300! Scores will be considered in the overall standings in the tournament series "Aviation Legends".

The winner of the first stage will receive the "2v2 Duellist" title and 300! Scores will be considered in the overall standings in the tournament series "Aviation Legends".

The Bf 109E and Willy Messerschmitt

Almost everyone who knows at least a little about the history of the Second World War will immediately recognize the Messerschmitt as a legendary fighter plane with the feared German cross on its wings. Altitude, speed, firepower, altitude and speed again – that is the simple and elegant secret of victory when flying any Bf.109. The earlier variants of this plane and the E and F in particular also have another feature which is common to every all-purpose fighter – maneuverability. This is especially noticeable in energy fighting – the Messerschmitt has almost no equal in this regard.

The plane owes its excellent flight and technical characteristics and its illustrious career to its constructor Willy Messerschmitt, which is why the plane is still called by the name of its designer even now. He managed to create an aircraft that was able to face any opponent of its time even under the conditions of strong competition with Ernst Heinkel, who had designed the He.112. Even though the development of the new fighter was started under their own initiative, the Messerschmitt team managed to design a plane that used almost all the technical innovations of the time. After its initial flight and combat experience in the Spanish Civil War, the Bf.109 continued to be improved right up until the end of the Second World War.

The Bf.109E series are the best balanced and most versatile fighters of the whole line. Starting with the Bf.109F, the later models became faster but heavier, or had an improved climbing rate while losing maneuverability. If the tactics on later Messerschmitts mostly come down to boom and zoom attacks in a high-speed dive that end in a climb back up to altitude, the earlier models of the plane allow for far more variety when choosing of air combat maneuvers.

The “Emils” and especially the Bf.109E-4 that was designed with the experience the Germans received in the Battle Of Britain became universal fighter planes. They could do just as well using boom and zoom tactics as when they were using many fighting maneuvers (usually in the vertical plane) considering the flaws in the characteristics of the opponent’s aircraft. The only obvious flaw in the comfortable, responsive and tough “Emil” is that the cannons are mounted on the wings. Because this makes the cannon rounds have a far greater dispersal, it is difficult to shoot down an opponent with a short burst without carefully setting the weapon convergence. With only 60 rounds of ammo available per barrel, large numbers of rounds cannot be spent on the destruction of a single plane. However, all of this is well compensated for by the power of the incendiary rounds used by the 20mm cannons.

The versatility of the Bf.109E-4 allows the pilot to use the more popular combat maneuvers and his own new ones that can then be tested in practice. Test your dueling skill while flying this aircraft. Duels are now available under the Events tab in-game!