In the spirit of Zazens thread

[HomeBoy]

Dichotomy,
I'm no expert by any means but I do fly the Pony a lot.  Here's my observations.

I find good use of vertical maneuvers is key to flying the Pony.  You didn't seem to take as much advantage of that as you could have.  For instance, when you first decided to engage the 51 you made that fairly flat turn.  If you had used a hi yo-yo or chandele there,  you would have gained a slight alt advantage which would have helped you control the fight better.  When you wounded him early on, you should have been more aggressive after that.  You sort of let him escape when you could have nailed him.  Had you started above him that would have allowed you to stay above him throughout the fight so you could remain aggressive.  The F4U that was coming into the picture was about co-alt as well and probably contributed to your  tentativeness.  Had you utilized the vertical more, you would have had an alt advantage on the F4U too which would give you better command.  Gunnery is always an issue too.  Had you placed your shots better you might have shot him down early on there instead of wounding him.  Easier said than done of course.

So to summarize, use vertical maneuvers as much as you can, be a little more aggressive, and practice your gunnery.

Thanks for posting and giving us the chance to hash this out.  This is a good exercise.  Maybe I'll post later if no one else does.

!

[Rolex]

Hi Dichotomy,

It's great that you're looking for constructive help. I'll throw a little caution in here, first thing. You may get too many suggestions, in the spirit of folks being helpful, that may not be appropriate for you at this stage of your development as a player-pilot.

The 51 pilot you were up against is experienced and good. He flies the 51 often. You can discern from his score that he's aggressive.

Before going too deeply into all the facets of SA, and there are many, there are some more basic things you could work on to build a good foundation. One is making sure you have the "look forward" view mapped and set up. You'll find a write up on setting it up in the trainers link in my, or Murdr's signature. It will help you in your gunnery, along with what Murdr has suggested.

Set that view, then set a target in the training (or main) arena and practice rolling into shots with ailerons. Target command is .target 400 where 400 is distance in yards. You can set any distance and close the target by setting distance to 0. The target will always be north.

There is little energy cost to gaining a guns solution by using ailerons. Your E losses come from pulling g's with elevators and rudder deflection. So, practice shots from different angles and attitudes. Roll your airplane into all kinds of positons and practice firing from inverted angles. It's fun to do! Make a game out of it, like throwing hoops. Watch your tracers drop to earth, even if earth is "up" from the cockpit. We can't always be perfectly in plane and upright for every shot.

Experiment with rudder input and power settings. Get used to adding some right rudder as you add power, even while you're firing. Only by practicing and doing it, will it become second nature to you. It will become automatic after a while.

Good rudder work is important, not just for maneuvering and energy management, but for gunnery also. Good rudder work will accelerate roll and help you get the nose of your plane flying smartly toward a place where you anticipate your opponent will be, not where he is now.

Hop into the training arena and get some time with a trainer. Get those fundamentals down and you'll develop faster. !

[SlapShot]

3) You zoom to guns as soon as you get a shot....I could care less about HO's or other whinning but a shot taken at the expense of angles is a bad thing (if he doesnt die) {this is where you "lost" the fight}....

Humble is 100% correct.

In a fight such as this, I am constantly trying to decide that if I take a shot at weird angle, will it expose me or give up my advantage if I miss the shot ?

It's a "go for broke decision" ... you went for broke, and it didn't work out  ... you  blew whatever E you had and the upper hand in the fight ... been there done that myself.

If the situation is not desperate and I have time to work the opponent, I will not "go for broke" ... if things are desperate and I need to eliminate the opponent quickly, I will "go for broke" cause chances are I am going to die anyway if I don't get him out of the way quickly.

I think had you not taken that shot ... and went vert to a high yo-yo, you still would have had the upper hand and the ability to pick a better shot.

Bucky did a good job of handling both you and the Spit at the same time.