The Last Of A Great Series: In the autumn of 1944 the Bf 109K series made it's debut over Europe. Based on the 109G-10, the 109k-4 was powered by a DB 605ASCM or DB 605DCM engine. Armament consisted of a hub-firing MK 108 30mm cannon with 60 rpg., and two 13mm MG 131 machine guns with 300 rpg. The 'Galland Hood' canopy was standardized, which gave much better visibility, the bumps on the nose were taken care of, and a retractable tailwheel was re-added. Our final result is an airframe nearly identical to a 109f, with a huge engine, and a ferocious cannon. The downside of this is that the airframe wasn't meant to fly at such high speeds thus compression becomes a problem at lower altitudes. However at higher altitudes where indicated air speeds are much lower, control remains very acceptable. Another mixed blessing is the MK 108 30mm cannon. This gun gives the 109k-4 more firepower than a 190a4. I once blew up a b17 in a single pass while only expending 5 'shots' of 30mm cannon. However it's low velocity and high arc makes it very difficult to hit fighters more than 200 yards away. By far the largest problem with the 30mm cannon for those unfamiliar with the plane, is it's short firing time. With only 60 rpg. it has a firing time of 6.1 seconds. However once a pilot learns the Koenig's quirks and gets his 30mm eye, he becomes quite deadly.

Flying High With The Koenig: The 109k is the best climbing plane in Warbirds. The ki84, and yak3 climb nearly as well, but easily fall away below 2km. You should always fly with this greatest advantage in mind. So if you haven't learned the spiral climb yet, now is the time. Furthermore, the 109k is one of the fastest planes in Warbirds on the deck, and is the fastest plane from 25k ft. up (except perhaps the p47 which is usually shunned by allied pilots).

Against the Spitfire14 the 109k has some key advantages that allow the Koenig pilot to always command the fight. As mentioned above the Koenig climbs better, is faster at all altitudes, and has that big 30mm cannon which also gives a firepower advantage if the 109k pilot is familiar with employing the weapon. The Spit14's advantages include a better roll rate, high speed handling, and turning ability. As with all engagements, the 109 pilot should stick to vertical maneuvers, and work to gain and maintain the altitude advantage during the fight.

The Bounce: By far the most fun kill with the 109k is to sneak up to point blank range, and waste a Spit with a two or three well placed 30mm shells. Hit WEP, and dive down to the Spit's low 6 below where he'll usually check for bandits. With your greater speed and energy, climb up as you close the distance. This will prevent you from overspeeding and ramming. When you get close, really close, less than 150 yards, open up and watch the fireworks. Most often you wont be so lucky, and then it's work from there on out! Because of the low muzzle velocity of the 30mm cannon, it's not really possible to nail those d3 deflection shots like you could with the Gustav or Franz. In fact, don't even waste energy trying to ping him with the mg's on your first pass. Instead climb up and re-asses the situation.

Roping the Dope: The most sure fire way of scoring hits with the 30mm is to rope a dope. That's when you sucker the lower enemy into climbing up to you, and then dive down on him and ruin his day. There are many variations of this. Sometimes it follows a spiral climb, or other times after you've zoom climbed. When you zoom climb away from a Spit who has inferior energy, often times he'll still try to follow you up in hopes of an easy shot. Wait till you're about to stall out, and then Hammerhead down. Kick full right rudder (left rudder is much harder to deal with in a stall) give aileron input in the opposite direction of the rudder, and liberal use of up elevator. With practice you can reverse directly on the pursuing Spit14 and hit him hard with 30mm as he stalls. Often he'll be firing at you as he stalls when you shoot him, but don't worry, he wont hit you. His energy state is too low for proper aiming, especially with the Spit14's terrible torque which makes the 109k appear docile. Take care not to ram him as you'll be overtaking him with great speed and you need to get close to aim well.

Spiral Climbs: An interesting quirk of the Spit14 is it's torque to the right. Most aircraft in Warbirds torque to the left, including the 109. The upshot of all this is that against the Spit14 you should always spiral climb left. Your engine torque allows you to spiral climb left with little effort, while the Spit14 is fighting his torque, has to deflect his control surfaces a lot more, and thus will have poorer climbing performance. The time to reverse on the Spit14 during a spiral climb is when he's given up, spun out, or when you've gained enough altitude over him and gained a decisive edge in the fight. If the last situation occurs, stop the spiral and increase your pitch even more till you're about to fall out of the sky. This places the Spit directly below you, rather than behind and below you the way he was before. Hammerhead over and try for the close in 30mm shot. Often he'll start the classic turn and burn circle as a defensive maneuver. Good timing is crucial for defeating this, and may require lots of practice to get the hang of. Dive down so that you end up level, and in a close range lead pursuit. It helps to be wings level so you can watch him fly into your gunsight. This is really hard to do, but it can give you a d1 killing shot. The most frustrating thing is when the Spit14 split s' in defense. Do not follow this maneuver, let him waste his altitude, immelman and re-asses the situation.

Merging: Your goal in any co-altitude engagement is to gain altitude over the enemy. After you pass the Spit head on, you have the option of just making a gentle sustained climb to easily gain you the advantage. If you're looking to kill him quick, then you'll want to do a Immelman / Chandelle maneuver. The trick is not to pull too hard on the stick while you're going vertical, that wastes energy and gives the Spit a better chance of killing you. Go straight up till you're near stall speed, roll a bit to the left or right, and hit opposite rudder to bring you back to nearly opposite your original heading. You don't want to be going exactly opposite your original heading, that makes you easy prey to the head on shot. Now you should be at a higher altitude than the Spit and in a climb, and he'll probably being trying to nail you from low 12, but if your angle is correct he'll miss every time since his energy is so low. Keep climbing and pull vertical again, then Hammerhead down. You might get a Rope a Dope, or you might see him do the classic Spit turn and burn circle. In any case, you now have more altitude and the advantage in the fight.

Faking a Pass: This can be a very good way to gain energy over the enemy. It's best employed when you can't waste the energy to line up the shot on a breaking spit. Faint a guns pass, perhaps even fire an mg tracer, then zoom climb. He'll most likely break turn while you're gaining energy. It also seems to work very well for inducing rope a dope's....

Defense: If you are attacked from above and behind, nose down a bit and hit full rudder to the left or right. Pitching down means to hit you the Spit either has to pull negative g's, causing a red out, or roll inverted for a nearly impossible shot. Don't hang around long after he overshoots, hit War Emergency Power and dive out of range. If you end up with a Spit14 glued to your six, don't try to run straight away. Do a hard Rolling Scissors and make him overshoot, then turn to another heading and get out as fast as you can.

Gunnery in the Koenig: The 13mm mg 131's are very tempting to shoot at will. They have a high muzzle velocity and compared to the 30mm have a long firing time. However only pinging your opponent warns him of your intentions, and also gives him more reason to panic and run away before you get within range of the 30mm. Usually it's best to only use the mg independently of the 30mm cannon to hit guys who are running away in a straight line. The goal is to force the target to turn, which closes your distance to him. Due to Warbirds' unrealistic gunnery model, you can do some impressive damage from long range on a steady target with the 13mm. For fighter to fighter combat, a convergence of 200 yards works well in the 109k, if you plan of B-17 busting, 300-500 yards is good for those high side slashing attacks. Find out what works for you, and stick with it. Because of the 30mm's low muzzle velocity, for any deflection shots you need to aim well ahead of the target, and anything farther than 150 yards is too far for deflection shooting. While the MK 108 has a small clip of ammo, it's within reach to kill 5 or 6 fighters per sortie.

Compression: Anyone who's flown the 109k knows the affects of this. At high indicated air speeds the controls lock up and maneuvering becomes difficult, which in turn makes gunnery at high speeds something left only to those who are adept at coaxing the Koenig towards their will. It is absolutely imperative to have a formidable command of trim while flying the 109k. When diving, use elevator trim and aileron trim to straighten your flight path, and when you need to pull up, use up trim. An experienced 109k driver will even use aileron trim in dives to help follow a maneuvering target. All this requires a lot of time and practice, but the rewards will leave your victims shaking their heads in disbelief.

In general: Always stay higher than the enemy, fire at close range, and never turn fight.