burning_phoneix
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Great plane for the aces but a punishing machine for the rookies to fly. The lack of checklists and other similar SOP's in the Luftwaffe also led to many casualties among the rookie pilots in the late war. It's Achilles heel was it's difficult ground handling.
Summed up nicely by General Adolf Galland:
"Every fighter pilot expects his plane to perform, the Me-109 expects it's pilot to perform"
Has anyone tried to fly this plane in IL-2 1946? I don't think I ever managed a decent landing in the plane.
Still, cannon armament in the nose means you can easily "joust" with Allied planes.
109 was a high altitude fighter unlike the Fw-190 which did not excel at high altitudes(except the 190-D) because of it's radial engine, and in many cases the heavily armed Fw 190s were employed against bombers with me 109s as their escorts. The bf109 K, its latest model was performance wise one of the best planes of the war.
To be honest, most German planes had problems at high altitudes due to lack of good super and turbocharging in their engines, a facet of technology where they were behind the Western Allies.