What the heck. Just as a note, cartoon planes in a simulated world does not equate to doing this for real. Valid tactic in RL or not, it has no bearing here, and you are still a worthless, skilless dweeb if you do it ingame, and your momma still wears combat boots.
In RL? Sure, flying a Hellcat or a F4U I'd make a headon pass vs a A6M. Why not?
1) The American planes are all well armored, with a huge radial engine up front that can absorb lots of damage and keep on flying, self sealing fuel tanks, and bullet-resistant glass in the front of the cockpit.
2) The American planes pour out a huge hail of lead from 6x.50 cal. MGs
3) The Japanese A6M had no armor, slim design, and afforded very little protection to the pilot other than the maneuverability of the aircraft.
4) The limited firepower of the A6M meant that, while it was armed with cannons, it had neither the ROF or the number of guns of the American planes, so there was much less lead able to be put in the air to do damage to the oncoming American.
If the American plane gets you in his sights, your best bet is to go evasive and not try jousting. If the A6M can avoid the initial pass, and the American plane stays to fight, the balance swings to the Zero. Why wouldnt the headon pass be a great opening move for the American in this case? It makes sense.
Now, put me in a P-51, facing heavily armed and armored FW 190's and Bf 109's, no way in hell would I make a headon run against them. For one thing, by all pilot accounts the P-51 was a good match for the 109, and more than a match for the FW if it came to a dogfight. For another, they were all well armed and as well armored as any American plane. Add to that the fact that you no longer have the protection of the big engine in front, and indeed you have the cooling system to worry about besides. I might feel more safe in a P-47, but I never read anywhere that P-47 pilots used headon passes vs Luftwaffe fighters as a tactic. Even with a Jug I wouldnt want to face the guns of a FW headon.
I have read stories about Spitfires and Hurricanes using the tactic vs German bombers during the BoB, mainly from initial frustrations over how much ammo it took to bring down a bomber with those .303's. They started making passes at the cockpits of the bombers to try to kill the pilots. Desperation tactics in desperate times. Had they had cannon armed planes earlier, I think they would have done differently. They did what they had to do, with the equipment they had to work with. Those were tactics against bombers though, not vs fighters.
No matter what, no RL pilot ever made a headon pass at an enemy plane and did so lightly. In the case of the Zero, its simply far more dangerous if it gets behind you where you cant shoot back than it is in front of you where your superior firepower might bring it down first. Beyond that example, I cannot think of any other plane matchup where pilots would actively seek to setup for headon passes at opposing fighters.
