So the Sopwith Snipe dropped for Il-2 earlier toda- yesterday? Timezones. It came out within 24 hours ago and is the first truly new WW1 aircraft to be added to the franchise since Rise of Flight's support was ended back in 2015. I, as a turbonerd, had the thing pre-ordered since the day it was possible to back in May, and now I've got my paws on her and a bit of virtual stick time I thought I'd give my initial impressions. In short? Brilliant little beast.
The Snipe is a little bit of a niche airplane with a rather short combat career, only being introduced just shy of two months before Armistice, but in that time she did earn a bit of her name for herself. Perhaps her most famous escapade was in the hands of one William Barker, the most decorated airman in Canadian history, who, as the story goes, ended up in combat with more than fifteen Luftstreitkräfte airplanes while flying a lone Snipe, shot down four of the Fokkers*, and survived to make a forced landing in friendly lines. The preserved fuselage of the Snipe from this very combat now rests in a museum in Ottawa, Canada, still full of bullet holes and all.
*Okay, one was a Rumpler, but...
So how's this digital representation to fly? Is it good? I'm enjoying it! The impression I got from reading about the Snipe is that it was something of a souped-up Sopwith Camel, larger and meaner, and that's what it feels like. She's a good 200kg heavier than the Camel but her Bentley BR2 engine gives her nearly double the horsepower to make up for it, and her wings are larger too. The result is an aircraft with all the good qualities of the Camel amplified; it climbs better, it retains energy in maneuvers just as spectacularly, and it dives into hard turns with great enthusiasm. I think maybe the Camel can probably cut a tighter corner? But the Snipe's huge engine makes it feel a bit better in sustained turns. I'll have to test it out with a friend at some point to really get the numbers down, but that's how it feels.
It's, uhh, still a rotary, though, like the Camel. The gyroscopic effect of the rotating engine gives the turns a lot of... character? There's much adverse yaw to the plane when you turn, so you have to step on the rudder in the direction you're rolling to keep her going straight. Of course, like her rotary siblings, left turns and right turns are just different enough to keep you on your toes, with your nose pitching rather alarmingly if you make a turn wrong. The adverse yaw is actually so extreme that I've had the plane slip out under me sideways and go into a tumbling spin the first few times. I did find it relatively predictable after a bit of practice, though. Do a few maneuvers with one eye on your dashboard to watch your slip ball, then you can start to feel it out and keep your turns coordinated even looking over your shoulder. Wild, but reliably wild. You can learn it.
One place it is much rougher (I'm assuming due to the heavier weight) is in the vertical, whereas the Camel I find very easy to flip over the top of a slower vertical maneuver, doing the same thing in the Snipe can end up looking like this...
This is recoverable! The first two times it took me by total surprise and killed my poor pilot, but on the third I figured it out. You have to hold the blip switch to kill the engine and then force the nose down with all your controls. It doesn't feel good to do at all but you can live, minus a lot of altitude.
I have to emphasise that the plane's performance more than makes up for how difficult she is, though. While she's not exactly fast, barely a hair faster than the Camel at sea level though better with altitude, you have a serious amount of power you can be aggressive with, and I'm quite sure any Central Powers aircraft you get the drop on is going to be in for a rough time. A few airplanes out turn it, but if you maintain a perch on them with climbing turns you can handily bully them into the floor. Going to be rewarding to master, I feel.
If I had to complain, the cockpit is just too dark. You can't read the instruments at all without the sun at your back, and the cockpit light doesn't illuminate either the RPM gauge or the speedometer. I feel like I have to crank my brightness just to read it, but then that would mess up the outside world. Here, look, above is facing into the sun, below is facing away:
But other than that I do like how she looks, quite a lot. She's very lovingly modelled inside with a rather intricate interior (when you can see it!):
...and I really quite love how you can watch the rounds feed the guns as you fire, too. Very violent. >:3
Overall very positive! I'm eager to take her up on proper sorties whenever work and Christmas calm down. I'm sure I'll really have to fight for slots to try her online, though...
Now I just wait for the Siemens-Schuckert D.IV to drop >.>
