Wanna piss off Shane?

[10Bears]

About a year or so ago I shot down Shane in a Yak, he was in a G6. I took a film of that and studied it to find out what he do cause usually he can get me. In this situation it was because I was flying the yak.. Let me explain. In most planes, the prop turns counterclockwise but the yak is clockwise, so your torque is pulling you to the right, conventional wisdom is you should break on merge in the way the plane wants to go. In the film Shane pulls vertical then fakes a left.. reverses then comes back down on you to the right.. To me this is an insane move.. you lose a good 50% of you kinetic energy for the reverse roll but what happens is your opponent ends up at the bottom of the loop first.. which is what you want. I just hate the idea of going from 400 kts to 120kts in about 4 seconds.. if there are other enemy planes around this is a very dangerous idea.

What alot of us do is check our airspeed then our angle of attack real quick, then check rear view then rear view up... all this takes about 2 seconds.. during this time Shane is above you in your blindspot doing his double reverse... so when you look for him on your starboard side.. he ain’t there... he’s coming down on your port side... now it’s too late for you to reverse.. See how he do?..

Okay getting back to the yak.. The yak pulls differently and at the time I wasn’t sure Shane knew the prop is different.. It’s also possible to hang on the prop a bit longer than the 109.. you can wait for you opponent to be the first to go into the loop.. (after you sir! ).  But watching the film it got me thinking.. hey how about I do the same thing.. except hang on the prop a little longer.. now it’s him that is forced to dive first.. heheh...

Boy it’s hard to explain all this in text.. you need charts and diagrams. When you do finally get Shane in a defensive position, he goes into super deluxe scissor roll mode. Okay for this you do exactly everything he does.. he throttles down to nothing.. you do the same.. he drops flaps.. you drop flaps...

If you get him, he’ll scream like a piggelly wiggley... you can laugh and go into your kitchen an’ grab one of them Newcastle beers... you earned it.

[Ack-Ack]

I don't think it was because you were in a Yak that he got you.



ack-ack

[Octavius]

um, 10bears was doing the shootin, ack ack

Nice write up 10bears.  The merge is definitely an artform - easy to learn but very very difficult to master.

[Grits]

I'm really glad that I dont anylize stuff like this, it would make my head hurt.

I cant tell you why or when I do what I do. I guess its kinda like driving a manual transmission car, after a while you are not consciously shifting, you just do it. That's how I fly, I just kinda "do" it, I understand the theory of ACM, and I usually understand why I died or why I got a kill, but I dont really make conscious decisions while Im in a fight.

Whenever someone calls "BS" to Shane after he kills them, he always explains what happened, and says "you did xxx and so I did xxx, and you never had a chance after you did xxx because..." and so on. He clearly makes conscious and calculated decisions during a fight, while Im more like a "stream of consciousness" pilot, sort of the Jack Kerouac of the sky, which is probably why I'll never get to the level he and others quite a bit above me are at.

[plank]

Agreed Grits, I'm the same way. I do, however, operate at a higher social level then shane does. And that's more improtant to me

[Löwe]

Originally posted by plank
Agreed Grits, I'm the same way. I do, however, operate at a higher social level then shane does. And that's more improtant to me

Hey Plank.......... Have you taken a good look at the company you've been keeping lately??

[lasersailor184]

Yeah, I got lost on the second line...


But I beat shane once.  Out of no where his p47 jumped my A6m5b.  What surprised me even more was that he was turning with me, not until the end did I get him.



But about an hour earlier, shane shot me down.  I got check six calls and heard that "Dreadful enemy plane is closing" engine sound.  I looked back and saw nothing, looked up and saw nothing, I turned and spun around, no matter what I did, I could not get a vis on him.  He got me, never did see him.

[DiabloTX]

Oh man, the times I have seen him on my six when I was flying in the CT...

The ONLY time I managed to get him was by being where everyone wasn't.  It was about a year ago, late ETO.  I was flying my Typhie/Spit/Mustang (don't remember which) when at low level I saw Shane in a 109 (big surprise there) being chased by 5 allied planes of different types.  Shane used the vertical beautifully.  Watching the Allied types pull up and climb in the vertical trying to catch him was funny.  When Shane reached his apogee the pursuers were already reversed and he would line up on one, kill/wound it, and go back into the vertical and the Allies would follow.  This happened for a while.  I was watching this from about D1.5 or so and climbed up 2K watching it all over my starboard wing.  I then realised I was in a perfect position to nail Shane should he watch his 6 instead of up and out of the cockpit.  Then it happened, he flew straight up into my gunsight; a guaranteed gun solution.  I was having so much fun watching him flame his provocateurs I hesitated to fire.  I thought about it for a second.  Then I pulled the trigger.  Boom.  All I remember Shane saying after that was, "Lucky gang-banger".  Yup, and I'll take it.  

[RTR]

Had the priviledge of visiting the DA with Shane a couple of weeks ago.  He is one of the most helpful people in the game imho.

He has alot of patience, (I had had a few wobbly pops, and was hitting the ground alot, when on the deck). Even so, I filmed the flights, and have learned from them, (as well as from what he explained to me).

Does he have a vast repetoire of unknown ACM in his back pocket?  Nope, just remarkable SA, and a very commanding grip on energy management, and the ability to correctly read his opponents energy state most of the time.

It was a pleasure to visit the DA with him, and he really is a gentleman. (sorry Shane, probably just ruined yer reputation).

cheers,
RTR

[Eagler]

unlike many, he can back it up

[storch]

I second that sentiment RTR, it's still fun to push his buttons.  IMHO he is possibly the most amusing and colorful guy in the game.  even when I am the focus of his attention verbally or otherwise.  sometimes he's very funny.