I was in the MA and we were talking about the P-51 and F4U. I said "The P-51D is a better E-plane (energy plane) than the F4U". Well Warlock challenges me to a duel. He even gave me a 10k altitude advantage. Little did I know the tactics he had in store for me.
So once in the dueling arena, Warlock chose the F4U-1a, and I flew the P-51D. He started off below me at 12k, and I at 20k. So I began diving on him, and then going vertical. He'd try to follow me and attempt to get a snapshot on me, but he couldn't. This infuriated him. I've never seen so much crying and whining on 200 as I did tonight with him. "Quit running! Get down here and fight! I'm gonna run out of gas!" ad nauseum. Since when does going into a 70 degree climb count as running? I was just using sound energy tactics. So the whole fight, I had Warlock defensive. I'd dive down, he'd going into a break turn, I'd fire, then go vertical. But his verbal tirade on 200 began to get to me. He was infuriated that I wouldn't fight his fight (flat turns and rolling scissors I'm sure). So I dove down and engaged him, even though my P-51's engine was only drawing about 50 inches of manifold pressure. He got a snapshot on me, and down I went. He began to use this as evidence that the F4U was better than the 51D.
The next fight, I was in a late model Spitfire (14 or 16, I dont remember). I started using the vertical again, and he became enraged and started spouting some crazy stuff on 200. Instead of turning with him, I would just climb at a very steep angle that he couldn't follow. But thats cheating right? Using an advantage my plane has that his doesn't lol. Anyways, something was majorly wrong with my stick or the way the plane was set up, as I kept getting "dont move your controls so rapidly" messages. Finally my controls locked up as I was doing a roll and I crashed.
Anyways, I guess the lesson I learned today is that you should block off any communications with your opponent before a duel, as they might goad you into fighting their fight. If you know the strengths and weaknesses of your plane, use them logically.