I just wanted to share one experience from last night that made this so fun for me.
I was fighting a N1K in the Hurri I, well, not so much fighting as avoiding his repeated passes from altitude.
Normally when you pull negative G's in the Hurri I the engine will cut out but it will re-fire on it's own once you're back under positive G. However, if you pull negative G's too long, then it won't re-fire on it's own.
Such was the case when a fellow countryman flew by announcing on range; "BaldEagl, you've got a N1K diving on you". I gave the stick a little twist to maintain some sort of evasive move while looking ahead at my motionless prop. As I hit the e key hoping that I wasn't still pulling negative G's I replied; "OK, just trying to get my engine re-fired".
At that moment the N1K zoomed by without so much as a ping. I thought, how cool is that! Among all the other things you have to think of in the midst of a fight, how often do you have to think about re-firing your engine and listening to it sputter to life as your attacker zooms by.
From that point on it didn't matter if I won the fight or not, it was that one little thing that caught my attention and made me smile. I don't even remember the outcome.