Hints

Hints are helpful/not-so-helpful hints that appear in War Thunder loading screens.

These hints often drop tips, historical trivias, or humour. Check it!

The List

Game tips

• You can use zoom to see the target better.
• Make sure to visit the Encyclopedia often. It contains a lot of useful information.
• You can use the mouse look button (C by default) to look around.
• You can send short messages to your team by using the special menu (T by default), and every player will see them in his own language.
• Don't know what to do in a stall or a spin? We have a special tutorial for this.
• The Immelmann is an effective way to change direction in combat.
• A loop can help you get onto your opponent's tail.
• Watch out for enemy waist gunners.
• Use the Target Camera. You can toggle it by holding the right mouse button.
• You can control the gunners on some aircraft. Switch between available positions with the Switch Camera button.
• Always try to have an altitude advantage over your opponent.
• You are a more difficult target to hit when flying at tree-top level.
• You can paint your plane in the Hangar.
• When landing, drop your landing gear and don't forget to reduce airspeed.
• Don't forget to raise your landing gear after take-off.
• You can repair your airplane and replenish your ammo in friendly airfields and aircraft carriers.
• Don't forget to lead your target when firing. The lead angle is displayed along the target's flight path.
• Rockets have poor accuracy. It's best to fire off a few at a time.
• Try to aim for the bomber's engines. It won't get far without them.
• You can check out all available planes in the Research.
• Aircraft can fly with critical damage, even without half of a wing. You can read more about it in Encyclopedia.
• Watch your altitude carefully, especially when performing maneuvers!
• The farther from your target you drop your torpedo, the more likely the target will be able to dodge it.
• The optimal distance for launching torpedoes is about one kilometer from the target.
• You can ignite aiming reticle light in sniper mode.
• For firing heavy armored targets composite shells are recommended.
• HEAT shells are good for long-range operations.
• Want to rewrite history? Try Dynamic Campaign!
• Want more? You can try different scenarios in Mission Editor.
• Tanks and SPGs are usually hard to pierce by shooting into the front side of the hull or turret, side and rear platings are easier to penetrate.
• Large-caliber HE shells may be effective against medium and large tanks.
• To have the possibility of reparation in a battlefield you have to research the Parts modification.
• To have the possibility of extinguishing a fire in a tank you have to research the modification FPE (Fire Prevention Equipment).
• For firing soft targets it would be best to use HEF shells.
• Full caliber AP shells have less penetrating quality than composite shells, but they do more damage in case of successful penetration.
• If the gunner is knocked out, the tank cannot fire for a while. It takes some time to replace him with another crew member.
• If the driver is knocked out, the tank cannot move for a while. Some time is required for replacing him by another crew member.
• Field repair time increases when one or more crew members are unconscious.
• Tank fire rate reduces when the Loader is wounded or unconscious.
• To determine a tank's weak points, use the armor penetration indicator.
• If you have the Artillery Support modification installed on your current vehicle, you can call for an artillery strike (button 5 by default) upon the area pointed on the map.
• You can set the shooting distance in the sniper mode.
• Use your binoculars, it's free.
• Any ship can be stopped by pressing the B key (by default).
• During combat, switch between groups of primary (alt+1), secondary (alt+2), and anti-aircraft (alt+3) weapons.
• Use the torpedo sight (set as the Q key by default).
• Select target groups for your gunners (use the E key by default).
• You can select targets for primary weapons (X+1 by default).
• You can select targets for secondary weapons (X+2 by default).
• You can select targets for anti-aircraft weapons (X+3 by default).
• In the menu, you can turn the tracking system on or off for falling of your shells with a caliber equal to or greater than 100 mm.
• You can turn on automatic repair for breaches and flood prevention (press and hold the 8 key by default).
• You can turn on automatic damage repair (press and hold the 7 key by default).
• You can turn on automatic fire extinguishing (press and hold the 6 key by default).
• If repairs, extinguishing fires, and bailing water are done simultaneously, they take far more time than each of them does alone.
• In the control menu, you can assign keys to manually control direction and range of fire.
• In the control menu, you can assign a key to fire a trial shot from a primary weapon.
• On large ships, you will lose all the shells in your ammo magazine if they catch fire.
• If the ammo magazine becomes flooded, all of the shells in it will be inaccessible until the water is pumped out.
• If the engine room is flooded, the engines and transmission there will be knocked out.
• If the funnel is damaged, the maximum forward speed of the ship is reduced.
• If the bridge of the ship is damaged and your helmsman and commander are gone, you lose the ability to control the ship until you replace them with other members of the crew.
• If the roll is not removed in time, the ship may capsize.
• Breaches and flooding reduce the ship’s maximum speed.
• A rudder damaged during a turn can get jammed and the ship will be turning until the rudder is fixed.
• If the rudder is damaged, you can still control the ship with the help of the engines, but it will be much slower.
• Breaches take on water faster while the ship is moving.
• Aim below the waterline if you want to pierce your enemy’s hull and cause flooding.
• You can cancel a repair process, water bailing, or fire extinguishing by repeatedly pressing and holding the corresponding key for that action.
• Bomb throwers shoot in the same direction as the player's view (R by default).

Historical trivia

• The design of the Ki-43’s retractable landing gear was copied from the V-143 (designed by the American company Chance Vought).
• One of the most famous pilots of the La-5FN, Aleksei Maresyev, remained an aviator despite the loss of his legs.
• The three Gladiators, repelling the Italian aerial assault on Malta, were Faith, Hope, and Charity.
• The famous Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flew a P-38G.
• The Me.163 was originally named the Li.163, after chief designer Alexander Lippisch.
• The Arado Ar.234 was designed to be a scout plane. Its initial scheme did not hold any bombs, just a non-retractable 3-wheeled landing gear.
• The Swordfish was nicknamed the stringbag because of its construction, a couple of decades out of date when it began to serve in combat.
• Because of the shape of its fuselage, the P-47 earned the nickname Jug.
• The Lancaster had an impressive bomb load of 6356 kgs.
• General Bennett once remarked that the Mosquito (FB.Mk.VI) had only one drawback: the Air Forces never had enough of them.
• The first series of Spitfires used twin-bladed wooden propellers, but from the 74th aircraft on, three-bladed metal propellers were used instead.
• The test MC200 (Prototype MM.336) made its first flight on December 24, 1937.
• The most well-known operation involving a P-38G was the interception and destruction of a G4M1 bomber with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on board.
• The A6M2-N was created to cover troop landing operations and conduct combat operations near the atolls, where building coastal airfields was impossible.
• The Zero had no equal in the skies over the Pacific until the end of 1942.
• In 1944, Henry Ford's plant in Willow Run released one B-24 every hour (up to 650 planes per month).
• When the B5N prototype was developed, it included a hydraulic wing-folding system which would not be included in the production model.
• The Beaufighter was the first plane designed to allow the installation of radar systems.
• The Beaufort was based on the Blenheim and inherited its wing structure, tail, and landing gear.
• The CAC Boomerang was a redesigned Wirraway training plane.
• At the time of its creation, the D3A1 was one of the best divers in the world.
• To extend or retract the landing gear, Wildcat pilots had to turn a handle of a mechanical winch 29 times.
• According to official figures, the Hellcat shot down 5156 enemy aircraft.
• The CR.42 Falco fighter can rightly be considered one of the best biplanes of World War II.
• The G.50 Freccia was the first Italian all-metal monoplane fighter.
• The range of the Mitsubishi G4M1 was colossal at about 6000 km.
• The Mk.II Gladiator differed from the earlier production models by including a more reliable engine, the Bristol Mercury VIIIA/AS (830 hp).
• The Hs.129B variant included the Gnome-Rhône 14M 700 hp engine, which had been obtained during the occupation of France.
• The Ju.87’s automatic air brakes allowed it to pull out of a dive even if the pilot lost consciousness from excessive g-forces.
• The Ki-61’s engine, the 12-cylinder liquid-cooled Ha-40, was a licensed copy of the DB 601A.
• Many wanted to decommission the SBD before the war even began, but it still took part in the hostilities and in 1942 sunk more enemy ships than any other naval aircraft.
• Thanks to its hydraulic wings, the TBF could be packed or unpacked by the pilot in just a few seconds.
• The Tempest saw its first mass use by the RAF during the Allied landings at Normandy.
• The Brewster F2A Buffalo was the first carrier-based monoplane used by the U.S. Navy.
• The OS2U played numerous roles, including artillery spotter and even providing cover for amphibious operations.
• The tropical variant, the Bf.109F-4, protected the pilot from overheating on the ground with a mounted umbrella covering the cockpit.
• The absence of armor on the H6K4 was due to the plane’s long range (up to 6000 km).
• The PBY Catalina was the most popular seaplane; some are still in civilian use.
• The A5M was the world's first monoplane carrier-based fighter.

Humour

• A big ship needs a big torpedo.
• Crashed... for good luck!
• Try to come back alive - your country needs you.
• Too many missions? This is your job, pilot!
• You should have no problem landing; what goes up must come down...eventually.
• For a good pilot, any weather is acceptable.
• The aircraft is on the ground, and the pilot’s alive. A successful landing!
• Don’t wait to love until you’re too old, and don’t wait to brake until you’re out of landing strip!
• It’s better to fly badly than to fall well.
• Fly timidly and you won’t get very far.
• The effectiveness of enemy aircraft attacks is about 50%, ground-based anti-aircraft attacks, 70%, and a cold, hard slam into the earth - 100%.
• One wing is good, but two are better.
• Have a pleasant flight!
• A bad pilot can’t even handle the steering wheel.
• A good pilot can fly anything that flies - and, with some difficulty, even things never meant to fly.
• Do not stand near the bomb.