Choosing an Air Nation as a Beginner

There is no objectively correct first air nation. There is a correct first air nation for you, and the difference comes from how each tree teaches you to fly. The choice is worth twenty minutes of thought because switching later splits your research, your crews, and your muscle memory across two trees.

What to evaluate

Criterion	What to look for	Where to check
Early tree depth	Competitive vehicles available at low ranks	The nation’s first two or three ranks in the tech tree
Forgiveness	Aircraft that stay controllable at low speed	Test flights — the only honest answer
Gun handling	Early aircraft with usable, forgiving guns	Read the stat card; forgiving guns matter more than peak numbers early
Repair economics	Low early repair bills	Compare the bill against your average income per battle
Playstyle fit	Turners vs energy fighters vs attackers	Fly the early vehicles in test flight

The last row matters most. Every nation’s early tree teaches a slightly different lesson: some trees emphasize turning, some emphasize speed and diving, some start you in sturdy attack aircraft that let you learn the map before you learn dogfighting. None of these is “best” — but one of them matches how you want to play.

What each nation’s first aircraft teach

Nation	First real trainer	What it teaches you
USA	P-40 Warhawk / F4F Wildcat	Boom-and-zoom: attack from speed, extend away — not turn-fighting
Germany	Bf 109 E	Climb, build energy, dive — the pure energy-fighting lesson
USSR	Yak-1 / I-16	Turn hard and fight close; fragile but agile
Britain	Hurricane → Spitfire	Turn-fighting with the elliptical-wing Spitfire
Japan	A6M Zero / Ki-43	Extreme low-speed turning, but fragile
Italy	C.200 / CR.42	Light, maneuverable, thinly armored — precise play
France	M.S.406 / D.520	Decent all-rounders with unusual guns
China	I-16 (copied Soviet)	The Soviet lesson via borrowed designs
Sweden	J8A / J21	A short prop line that reaches jets quickly
Israel	Foreign aircraft from Rank IV up	Not a first tree; starts high

Read the full per-tree plan in the USA, Germany, Britain and USSR air tree orders before you commit.

The test-flight method

The tech tree tells you what exists; only flying tells you what suits you. Spend an hour in test flights: take each nation’s first one or two aircraft, fly them, and answer three questions per aircraft. Does it hold speed in a gentle turn? Does it climb confidently? Can you keep the guns on a target for more than a second? The nation whose early aircraft answers yes twice is your nation.

Two structural notes

First, air trees are entirely separate from ground trees. If you already fly a ground line, your ground progress helps your wallet and nothing else — air or ground first covers that decision.

Second, all ten nation trees are viable to high ranks; the differences at the top matter far less than the differences in how they teach you at the bottom. A nation whose early vehicles match your reflexes will teach you faster than a nation with slightly better paper statistics.

The decision procedure

1. Shortlist two nations whose early aircraft you enjoyed in test flight.
2. Check their low-rank repair costs in-game.
3. Commit to one. Research the full first lineup from that tree — the first lineup guide — before buying anything in the other.
4. Revisit the second nation only when the first lineup is complete.

Switching nations later is fine; switching every week is not. Pick, finish a lineup, and let the results — not the tier lists — tell you whether the tree suits you.