Lephturn.. gee; thanks for the synopsis.
Fight one.. Yah mention E.. wuzzat?? <GGG>
Look.. no doubt about it; I underestimated the quality of the pilot in the gustav, but I did not underestimate the plane itself. FYI I was doin 320 at the merge; goin UP was outta the question. Had I been doin 450 or so; UP UP UP was where I woulda gone. Frankly; saggin way under him in E, the only place to go was down.. and hope the other guy made a mistake. When facing an 'e' loaded gustav the best thing to do is get him to turn.. I was hoping he'd answer my 'flat' turn (hard to see it here, but I was keepin the nose down on the first turn.. didn't even try to ride up with him till I was fully around) with a flat turn of his own.. but he went up. Now the ONLY place I can go is down....
So I figured I'd keep the stang comming around; descending, runnin my e up a little while hoping I could load him up to compression. Gustav's don't dive all that well..
Once on the deck I had hoped to scrub him over and in front.. where I can put him into a scissors.. (and there's not 10 pilots in this sim who can pull that kinda under the cowl deflection shot)
So.. in answer to your statement regarding me zooming up for an extension.. at 320ias on the merge.. not an option. He'd a had me two turns sooner. I just didn't have enuff speed. Only option once the fight starts.. get him flat turning if possible. The place to get that goin is on the deck. Thats where I went.
The right answer at the first merge with the relative e states being what they were?.. no turn at all; and damn sure no climb.. shoulda kept right on going. Toledo wouldn't have been too far.
Fight Two: Get closer too him? Less seperation?? LOL! Not bleedin likely. The best possible merge for dissimilar AC or AC with an E disparity is a wide seperation. I get close to the other guy on a merge only when the e states are similar and I'm SURE I can get the angles.
Next point regarding 'close speration merges'.. who want's to risk 'old faceful'?? Catchin that kannonen in my face was NOT an option. You'll note I was tryin to get the E up.. and less than two minutes from takeoff,. how much E yah think I had?. LOL.
In all three fights he had a huge edge on weight.. a half tank in his Gustav vs 1/3 tank in the stang.. by fight two he's already off to about a 1/4 tank. No compaints here.. and not historicly inaccurate.
He had nowhere near enuff fuel on board to go home in AH; but enuff ta kill me fer sure. He also had a huge E edge a all times. Again, I want to be clear.. I'm not complaining! Just pointing out that I was and am well aware of the relative merits of loadout states and energy differnces and AC types.
I had no advantages in either plane or loadouts. That Gustav held all the cards and we both knew it.
I wanted to see how he'd play the hand.. No way to get parity; knew it before I thumbed the starter. Call it "Kobiashi Maru"
At best all I could hope for is a snapshot. About 1 in 10 of these will crush a Gustavs engine.. and thats what I went for. You'll note he just calmly does two smooth loops.. and scrubs my E, then rudders over and drops on me. Perfectly done.. done it myself to literaly hundreds of hapless opponents myself.
And yes I agree.. the right thing to do was get the hell outta Dodge.. and do it BEFORE turn one.
When he went up the first time in fight two I had my chance to bolt.. but you'll notice he didn't start his zoom till I'd committed to the turn. (Sly bugger that he is.
) Again.. knowing what the right thing to do was is not really the issue.. I didn't come to the fight to tease him and extend till he ran outta gas and kill him on the ditch... all options I was concious of. I came to turn with a Gustav in the hands of a master.. and learn. Thus; my fate was sealed.
In fight three; a classic.. and I almost had him in the bag. Again; theres not 10 pilots in the sim that could keep that gustav outta my guns envelope in those circumstances.. watch it again and watch his speed. I got the Gustav where I want it and he wont give me a shot! He maintins that bird smooth as silk on the tops of those spirals AT LESS THAN 100MPH! Gents; it don't matter if yer on a bicycle in a scissors armed with a .45.. if yah can get to a lower controllable airspeed you can kill the bugger. You'll see three shot opportunites develop and see him chop the throttle all three times.. and I slide by.. also as steady as a rock. Yep I had flaps out here; and when he scrubbed me clean of airspeed and had to dive to get some air over my controls he was on the perch. End of story.
The only fight I had a chance in was that last one.. the other two I was trumped when I went for him at the merges. The last one he gave me an alt advantage; but as you can see; at 400ias to my 300 IAS (less than 2 minutes from wheels up; 1/4 tank; he has less than 1/8th now) theres only one place for me to be.. under him ASAP. And thats where I went.
After watching these three films I feel better.. I figured it correctly.. he flew a superb fight; kept his bird outta my guns envelope and used his superior E states to merciless advantage. And when I got him on the mat in the scissors he demonstrated to my satisfaction that he won with skill.. not the plane.
Salute again Hristo! Superb flyin.
And Lephturn.. thank you for or the critique. You are entirely correct in pointing out the errors in tactical considerations between the platforms; the lessons for the less experienced among us are important ones. They should learn from my mistakes..
Salute; sir, and thanks!
Hang
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PALE HORSES
"I looked, and behold; a Pale Horse, and it's riders name was Death, and Hell followed with him" Rev 6.8
