Introduction

Flying in World War II Online is little different, at its core, from flying in Aces High, WarBirds, Air Warrior or even IL-2. Concepts such as roll rate, firepower, turn radius, turn speed, energy management and energy retention are all valid. For those of you just learning to fly, don't worry, we'll go over these concepts and more. But first, the terminology of flying.

Roll. Rolls are achieved by moving the stick from the center to the left or right. In the real world and in the game, the joystick activates ailerons which control the flow of air over the wing and produce pressure to induce the desired rolling maneuver.

Pitch. Pitch is the motion produced by moving the joystick towards yourself or away. Pitch maneuvers are achieved by elevator manipulation. Elevators are on the small "wings" at the tail of the aircraft.

Yaw. Yaw is the idea of moving your aircraft's facing from side to side. It can be controlled either through rudder pedals or the twist axis on a twisty stick. Yaw maneuvers depend on the rudder, which is at the end of the vertical fin on the tail of your aircraft. Yaw motions are generally weak compared to pitch and roll, but strong rudder forces induce roll and can be helped in making your aircraft roll faster.

Trim. Aircraft don't want to fly straight and level at every speed and throttle setting. Your engine produces torque. Your wings don't have equal lift. To keep your aircraft flying straight, you need to trim it as it changes speed, or if you adjust throttle. Typically, the faster your aircraft goes, the more it wants to roll one way or another, and the more its nose wants to rise. If it goes slower, it will roll the opposite way and its nose will want to drop.

Energy. Energy is what permits maneuvers. There are two states of energy - potential and kinetic. Potential energy measures how much energy you have "stored" in your energy "bank" - ie, altitude. If you are flying at a high altitude, you have a lot of potential energy to use - you can cash in this energy with a dive to gain speed. Kinetic energy is the speed you have at that specific moment. You never, ever want to be without either kinetic or potential energy, unless you're about to land.

Boom and Zoom. Boom and zoom, or BnZ or simply booming, is the art of fighting in the vertical. It requires a lot of energy and is highly concerned with trying to save that energy by engaging in energy-saving maneuvers rather than those that waste it. Typically, fast aircraft with good dive speeds and controls at high speed are boom and zoomers. An ideal example of this is the Focke-Wulf 190.

Turn and Burn. Turn and burn, yank and bank, circle jerking, TnB or quite simply pulling the stick into your gut is obviously for turn fighters. This also requires energy, but is a style of fighting not concerned with saving energy but expending it - and more importantly, getting your opponent to expend more of it. This is the Hollywood movie style of fighting. Aircraft like Spitfires and Hurricanes are suited for this style of fighting because they expend less energy than their competition in turns.

Return to Base. RTB. This means you should head home, because you're lacking fuel, ammunition or are damaged. Aircraft don't have to land at their starter airfield, but they do have to land at one of their own nationality. With the 1.19 patch, the large bombers have to land at bomber airfields.

Convergence. The range at which your guns cross through a single point. By default it is 200 meters (~670 feet), but you can adjust this by typing .conv ### before spawning in. Most pilots fly with default, though some choose as little as 50 or as much as 400.

Blackout. Blackouts are what happens when the brain is starved of oxygen due to heavy maneuvers. They come on quick and can take a while to shake off, depending how severe they were.

Redout. Redouts are the opposite of blackouts - they happen when the brain gets too much blood. They occur during negative Gs, like if when you're flying straight and level then decide to point the stick forward and nose your aircraft down harshly. Redouts are much worse than blackouts, because they occur sooner, seem to last longer, and almost inevitably have you flying towards the ground.

WEP. War Emergency Power. Gives you an extra boost of power for some better climbing and top speed, though not all aircraft have it and it doesn't always work at all altitudes. Typically overheats engines much quicker than normal full throttle. Some aircraft don't overheat, or won't overheat easily. Ask around to be sure.