Latrobe I generally agree with you, however there are some aircraft (*cough* Hurri2C *cough*) that have the unfortunate capability of reversing into a HO at INSANELY short distances (had a 2C on MORE than one occasion swing around from almost DEAD SIX on his tail to a full HO in under 200yds closure at high speed).
That said, there's a couple of more-often-than-not successful methods of cheating the guy intent on HOing:
Pull into a hard zoom above him before he can fire -- If executed with proper timing, the rate of closure will be too great for him to get his nose up enough for more than a split-second snapshot at an awful deflection angle. I have more success with this than any other method, because once I'm above him, it's just a matter of kicking hard inside rudder and rolling over on top of him. If he commits to the HO, he's effectively throwing all his other options out the window.
Nose down to duck under him -- Generally riskier, as you're giving him a shot at your cockpit. Also, there's suspicion that the game under-models the effects of negative Gs on the pilot so it's a lot easier for a persistent opponent to depress his nose enough than it may supposed to be. Either way, as above the closure rate should give him a poor snapshot at a bad angle, at best.
Snaproll -- Never underestimate the effectiveness of a well-timed and executed snap-roll. The tight corkscrew pattern can make lining up for the shot against you problematic, and it also very rapidly alters your E-state. The combination of these two factors will frequently be enough to throw off your opponent's aim. The downside is that the recovery time and loss of E limits your options to respond once you've cleared the merge.
