Hunter F.58 - Is it WORTH it? A basic Review for War Thunder
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Today is going to be a quick review about the Hunter F.58 squad vehicle.
@DEFYN did a good review - go check that out. @TimsVariety did a good review - go check that out.
How's the Hunter F.58 holding up at 9.7?
The answer is - pretty good, but not great.
Flight performance -
The hunter has a good engine for it’s subsonic airframe, but it’s still a subsonic jet in the supersonic jet BR range.
It doesn’t go very fast, it doesn’t turn very well, it doesn’t have all aspect missiles so what does it have? The hunter has good energy retention.
I noticed that the best retention was in a flat turn at around 1000 - 800 km/hr. Not so much in the vertical - think like the opposite of a MiG-19 and more like an F-5C.
Unlike the F-5C though - compression is a bit of an issue at these speeds and so is sustained G-forces. In the F-5C you’ll be feathering the elevator to keep your speed up- choosing not to use your full pull. In the Hunter it is almost full pull to keep that circle tight and doing the max of what the airframe can pull. I highly recommend boosters and G-suit as one of your first upgrades for this jet. Otherwise you’ll be blacking out and you’ll be minimizing one of your few strengths you have in a dogfight.
Watch the compression - My very first game I put it straight into the ground trying to Boom and Zoom
If you can stay in a turn fight in the 1000-800 km/hr range and you’ll drain your opponent of energy (if they’re dumb enough to stick to it) and if they try to escape you have two very good missiles for the BR range to chase them down and send them to the hangar.
You get four 30mm ADEN cannons with a pretty decent ammo pool. With a bit of time behind the guns you’ll actually be able to make pretty good shots AND still have ammo left over for the rest of the fight.
Still though the Aim-9Ps will be the majority of your kills - I’m not even going to try their name in game ‘Flz Lwf 63/80’ - If you go to the War Thunder wiki and click on that name - it literally redirects you to the Aim-9P page.
After the hunter was introduced at 9.3 and then bumped to 9.7 - Gaijin gave the Hunter Ps to make up for the BR jump and they are good missiles for the BR range.
You’ll be fighting a lot of A-10s, Su-25s. You’re almost custom suited to handling these trouble-some all aspect missile carriers. You are definitely Rock to their Scissors.
You’ll also be fighting a lot of F-5C’s at this BR range. A well flown F-5C will have little difficulty in dealing with you, being better than you in almost every metric, but fortunately there aren’t a lot of well flown F-5C’s - especially during the sales. I tried to use this to my advantage and bait them into turn fights where eventually they drained themselves of energy.
For most opponents the regular strategies still work. Keep your speed. Find a target, make a pass, create space or commit (depending on their energy state and the enemies around you), rinse, repeat.
I really found the most of my enjoyment in the Hunter to come from playing with the AGM-65Bs - or as they’re called Flz Lwf LB 82. Literally the same as the AGM-65Bs just a new name designation.
You only get two of them but you’re the second earliest jet in the game to get them. Ayit gets them earlier at 9.3
I personally have dabbled with AGM-65s in Ground RB but my focus is generally Ground when playing ground. This was my first chance to really ‘try them out’. As a ‘free’ way to get into TV guided munitions - it might be the strongest argument to unlock the Hunter as your Squad Vehicle choice.
RWR, Flares and Chaff, and Two TV guided missiles at 9.7 is quite a CAS package even on a subsonic.
The biggest problem with the AGM-65Bs is how zoomed in the targeting camera is. Finding a target to use the missiles on can be difficult without really good map knowledge and the ability to translate that to your perspective in the air.
In terms of platform. The Hunter gets a decent amount of speed upon spawn. I’d take it up or take it off to the side. Find my targets and use standoff tactics to eliminate any targets I was able to find.
I never tried bombs or the rockets seriously as you lack CCIP for both so why bother then the MiG-23BN exists at the same BR with both of those things and the ability to carry a lot more of them.
Wrapping up - I’m very happy with the Hunter and its designated roles. It feels like a decent TV Missile CAS option with the ability to also take it out to play Air RB and actually be competitive beyond its missile loadout - something I feel the A-10 lacks and the Su-25 can struggle with.
Overall - a really solid Squad Vehicle option and a good addition to any lineup or hangar.
Thanks for watching if you’re still here mash that Subscribe button and we’ll see you in the next one.
#warthunder #warthundergameplay #warthunderrealisticbattle #warthunderjets 
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It works even better in AIR RB if you use min fuel + fuel tanks. Once you engage in a dogfight, jettison the fuel tanks and you become very manueverable.
I wish I had covered this in the video. It some how got left out of the script when I wrote it up. Running tanks + min fuel = good for when you get in trouble, but you’ll have to RTB after probably. And that the actual 14 min of flight time is a big advantage at this BR because you can airfield snipe folks using the forward base because you have the fuel to stay in the air longer than nearly everyone else.
@@hav3nWTFrom my experience, the 4 minutes you get after releasing the fuel tanks is enough to last majority of the match. But yes, I usually have to RTB when I have a minute or so of fuel left.
@@reinyfrost3753 100% agree. Just also saying that if you don’t have to drop tanks, that 14 min let’s your pick off RTB’ers who MUST return to base because of fuel.
Indeed, I drop the tanks when I am out of missiles and engage with guns, the extra maneuverability helps with aiming, and when I get into a dogfight I let the tanks go and catch the enemy off guard
The hunter is one of my favorite aircraft, it might not be the fastest or the most maneuverable, but the airframe and guns are amazing, it can hang with F5Cs if they don't flat turn and the 9Ps are very potent when fighting T-2s and F-104s, overall my favorite "German" aircraft, unfortunately the flare pods aren't placed in the best area and missiles sometimes sneak through but overall in my opinion a very good aircraft.
this thing is 300kg lighter than the F6, it has surprisingly insane stall control and tanks rounds better than any su25 ever did.
Going for the bombers is exactly what im mostly doing with this thing in air rb. And i use it in ground with the maverick.
God tier plane for air arcade
Great video man keep it up!!
Great Video !!
Awesome video! Keep it up and if you could please make one for the me-262 squadron plane? (Not sure if its a me-262 but its still german) keep it up!
Thanks for the idea!
How come your tv camera is different than mine?
Older footage - I think Gaijin updated the tv camera angle and zoom in a recent update (alpha strike?).