Where Have All The Aces Gone?

[Mr Hanky]

Isn't that what being a veteran is all about? I mean to fly smart, take the path where your least likely to get shot down?? (easy target, you have the alt, enemy does not, as in Rudes case of rovering P51's)

Ripsnort, why are you making it sound like you are arguing with me?  I was not condemning the pilots... simply noting what happened.

The vets are flying smarter.  That's what makes them vets.  They don't go into hairy situations, but they still rack up kills.  That is because they prefer to have the advantage.  The likelyhood of a vet choosing to engage with even or worse odds is less than with newbies.  As a result, you won't see many vets if you decide to fly smart... or at least they won't be much of a threat.

There are simply too many people on right now that don't fly smart to make it worth the trouble to engage those that do.

[Apache]

Originally posted by Mr Hanky:
OK Ripsnort, I re-read your edited post and I believe you are actually the one making assumptions.  Its entirely defensive.

I didn't get into the details of the attack.. and said nothing about the status of the base... nor did I mention vulching.

The base's ack were up.  2 fuel tanks were destroyed and the city was completely intact.  I serioulsy doubt that is a group of smart flyers trying a coordinated base attack.

The newbies went low and were killed.  The vets stayed high and got out of town when a real threat arrived.

The vets are flying smart.  The newbies are not.  There is little to no reward trying to engage a pilot with good SA right now because there are so many others that don't even know what SA means.

An example:

Two 190s are chasing a P-51.  You dive in on them and begin to close.  One 190 peels off, but the other remains fixated on the P-51... you get an easy kill on him and turn to engage the other 190, but he is too far away.  One flew smart, the other did not.  One died as a result, the other did not.  If you had to guess.. which one was the vet?

I know, I know! The killer of the first 190  

[Kieran]

I'm with ya there, Todd. I usually try to rtb, but have been known to ditch to spare what little action time I had.

[Rude]

My belief is the veterans are all looking for easy targets and getting out of dodge when things get too risky.

I'm ok with easy. I'm also ok with lucky. I'm even ok with the occasional undeserved kill via collision or proximity.

What I'm not ok with is offering myself or my squadmates up for the slaughter due to fighting with a disadvantage. When we enter a large fight, we do it on our terms. A fistful of energy and sharp SA is all ya need. Many of us will engage in this manner when flying alone. The only difference is the margin for error shrinks considerably. We don't need 20k worth of alt and are not shy about blowin through the middle of the soup...we just try to make sure we keep our eyes in the direction of inbounds.

Bringing home kills is just fun for us. Just like furballin is fun for Lazs. Neither is a bad thing, just different.

 

[Mr Hanky]

Rude.. there is absolutely no need to defend yourself.  You asked a question and I answered it.

If you chose to fly with groups of squadies and dictate the terms of a fight, then you should know that you aren't going to have alot of engagements with others trying to do the same thing.  They are mutually exclusive.

If you want to fight veterans, act like a newbie... I guarantee you'll find some.

[Ripsnort]

Well, with all Hanky Panky aside (pun intended for further self-analysis)...I fly to live, I am not an Ace, I am a vet though...but I do get bored from time time, so you'll see me blasting in from 500 feet on your rear fields where folks like Hanky are upping to get that extra altitude, then I jump them from below when their wheels are up...MAN that is a rush!    My 5 yr old son has taken on the habit lately too.  

[Kieran]

Color me lost, but I don't see what the original post is asking for, other than volunteers to be squeak-slapped by a group of mustangs with advantage. Does that sum it up?  

[LLv34_Snefens]

Well, i dunno.
I don't fly much but seem to run into Fariz in alot of my flights lately  
It doesn't always end with one of use killing the other, but we usually find out it's us two by saluting the unknown pilot  


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Ltn. Snefens
RO, Lentolaivue 34
My AH homepage
 

[Mr Hanky]

Ripsnort, you are starting to act childish.

I don't launch from rear fields.  I suppose I can see where you'd assume that (just like all of your other assumptions in this thread) given that I was pretty high when I entered the engagement described above.  But, that is only an assumption... and like most assumptions it is wrong.

I gave an example of a situation I encountered today.  You took that and made 40 different assumptions and then accused me of not really knowing what was going on.  Do you see a little bit of irony there?

[JAGED]

I got an assist on Hitech over the weekend  

[Apache]

<S> Rip.

Got to defend MrHanky here a little. I can vouch that MrHanky does the low alt front line stuff. I've run into him 3 or 4 times lately. All below 5k. I remember once he was at our field and twice I was at his.

I do see the logic in his response. If I'm in bish territory and I see a group of P51's above me (prob. the 13th), darn right I'm bookin' out, lol.

[Raubvogel]

Originally posted by Kieran:
Color me lost, but I don't see what the original post is asking for, other than volunteers to be squeak-slapped by a group of mustangs with advantage. Does that sum it up?  

Yeah that seems to pretty much sum it up.  

[Kieran]

Hehe, lately I feel like I'm channeling Lazs. Scary!  

[Nifty]

I rarely catch who I've killed.  Usually, I don't even have time to check the buffer to see I've gotten a kill or the assist.  As such, I don't know which of the 13th TAS I shot down this tour (entering Rude's name in the squad list shows I'm 1/0 against the Rude squad this tour).  The reason I don't kill you often and you don't kill me often is the SA.  You're not gonna die to a Spit, and I'm not going to die to a Pony under normal circumstances.  I checked, and over all the tours I've flown, I'm even against Rude's squad, all of 7/7 I think.

I think the only vet I've tangled with on multiple occasions that I remember is hblair.  I swear every 109 I saw was him for a tour.  

I've fought alongside many vets (other than my squaddies obviously) though.  I always find that more memorable than seeing you shot down vet #39, e.g. impromptu winging with Mathman cuz we both happened to up Hellcats from a CV simultaneously.  It was a blast!  We come into a furball at about 5000 ft.  We see a friendly with 2 cons on him, so we dive in.  10 seconds later Victory 1 by Mathman and Victory 1 by Nifty comes up in the buffer followed by "thanks guys! <S>".  Don't have the slightest clue who we killed.  

Oh, I did shoot down Mason over the weekend.    I always seem to remember the FDB kills and deaths. LOL

[YardBird]

Originally posted by Ripsnort:
Think about what makes them survive, and why you don't survive, most of the Aces I've met fly smart and live because they tend to stay away from high risk areas or enter high risk areas with plenty of wingmen to cover one another.

What really stinks is when you are flying high, looking for that easy kill, and you run into Ripsnort, who's flying high, looking for that easy kill.   Dang, that was a fun fight!