If I have a slight alt advantage and a little more E on a Spit when in the HellCat, I will always try the spiral climb ... and most go for it. The HellCat is an underestimated plane by most ... they think ... heavy Navy JABO brick.
The HellCat, despite what most believe, is an excellent climber ... I watched a special on the HellCat once, and it was specifically designed to CLIMB with and surpass the climb of the Zeros.
The WildCat (previous Navy plane before the HellCat) did not have the climb rate to match the Zeke and they were getting roped like crazy ... until the US pilots figured out not to try and climb with the Zero.
Once the Navy pilots got the HellCats, the Japanese Pilots really didn't notice the difference between the HellCat and the WildCat ... until they tried to rope them ... and then they never got the chance to go back and spread the news.
The HellCat could easily climb to any climb/zoom manuver that the Zero tried and to make things worse for the Japanese ... the HellCat dove even better than the WildCat too. From that point on, the HellCats used their superior climb, dive, and speed to all but decimate the Japanese Air Force.
Anyhow ...
I've been thinking about this engagement, and what I could have done to avoid getting killed so quickly.You almost answered your own question ...
Yet, once he went vertical, it seems the only smart move for me would have been to go nose low and extend.NEVER EVER go nose low unless you absolutely have to as a last ditch effort. Once you go nose low ... you have effectively submitted to losing the fight.
Rather ... extend with nose slightly high as to gain some alt, but at the same time save some of your speed.
I had an encounter with a P-38 vs my FM2 last night at around 9-10K. He had alt and E on me in a big way. At each merge I made sure that I didn't present a guns solution for him and as he passed, I straightened out and when slight nose high ... extending away from him as he climbed trading his speed for alt.
As he reversed for another pass (we were on avg. 2.5K-3.0K apart), I did the same thing. After each pass the extended distance became smaller. He was slowly losing his alt/speed/E advantage on each pass. This is what I was hoping for.
Sometimes I time it right and sometimes I don't.
I finally got us both to an almost equal alt / E situation so on the next pass I went for broke. As we merged, he assumed that I was going to do what I had been doing for the last 10 minutes ... but I didn't.
At this point, I had enough E to actually reverse, and as he started his climb, I was climbing 600 behind him.
Well ... with .50 cals, you can reach out and touch someone in a big way at 600 out ... so I let lose a lead rope that lit up his plane ... causing one of his engines to smoke with possible more damage.
This shocked him causing him to abort his climb and snap turn left presenting a big beautiful target ... muwahahah ... he is now mine !!! I squeezed the trigger ... only to realize that I probably only had less than 100 .50 cals left ... so I couldn't finish the job ...
He took off, with another friendly in chase who had finally climbed to our alt. I landed, re-armed ... he killed the friendly ... I did find him again and finished what I started.
The long and short of it ... extend nose slightly high and watching your six for his reverse. It is best to reverse back into him at a minimum of 1.5K and then go slightly nose down to gain speed for a reversal if the chance presents itself.
Keep doing that (if you have the patience - most times I don't) until you get to equal or almost equal alt/E states and then make your move.