Do you remember the first time you got a "real" kill?

[Treize69]

The "best moments" thread got me remembering. Do you recall the first kill you got that really felt like a kill? Not necessarily in AH, but in any online flight sim, since most of us came from other places first.

The first palms sweating, heart pounding combat from which you emerged victorious? Or the first time you went in with a prearranged strategy and it worked? You know, the first time you actually felt immersed, like you were a fighter pilot and youd just gotten your first kill! For me, it was in the Historical Arena of Warbirds 2.77....


Was flying solo interference (P-40B) for a 2-man SBD raid on Finnschaven in the Slot map. About 15K, throttled back and cruising just out of icon range to the Rabaul side of them, about five minutes from their pushover, when I saw that gray speck moving in below me. I immediately throttled up and went into a shallow climb to the north to try and get enough alt to dive on him and slash, since I know I'm not good enough to dogfight a Zeke in a P-40 at 15,000 feet. Alert the SBDs, let them know what I'm up to. By the time I feel safe enough to attempt it, we are within sight of them.

By this point I'm remembering all the historical accounts I live on, when a sudden image flashes into my head- Gallands "up and under" attack in Mike Spicks book. Upsun, dive down to his low 5 or 7 o'clock position and come up from his blind spot. He hasn't made any move like he'd noticed me yet, so I decide to go for it. Roll over, nose down, palms sweating... check list complete.

Underneath, he still hasn't made any move like he'd seen me, pull the nose up at about 800yards. Heart is pounding so bad that I can't even hear the engine! Pipper just in front of his prop, throttle back so I don't overshoot, wish I actually had oxygen so I can stop hyperventilating...

400 yards... 300... 200... press the tit, cowl .50s blast away! Hit sprites from nose to tail, lined him up perfect! Black smoke, fuel leak, pixelated fire, tail breaks off, down he goes. Throttle up, climb away from the falling wreckage and getting back into escort position. Feel like I'd just slammed a quart of Jim Beam, know its a game, and don't care. I'd just executed a perfect bounce of a Zero and protected my charges, without even being seen or fired at. That was in the Spring of 1999 if I recall right, hard to remember for sure when I started since I'd had it offline for a long time before I got an account. But I'd been flying less than a month in any case.

I still feel (felt?) that to a lesser extent whenever I pull off (pulled off?) a perfect bounce. And that might be part of why I have such a preference for historical matchups...

[Bruv119]

In all honesty I cannot remember my first kill!  

I've probably done around 100,000 of them in 8 years this saddens me that I can't.


I'm pretty sure it involved a Spitfire vs an AI drone in the free bofb room FA 2.0 on the microsoft gaming zone.  

My first AH kill or kills was a set of Lancs that I dispatched in a Spit5.   Killed 2 hit up the last one but he shot my engine out.  Glided down to base.

Quickly learnt use bigger guns against lancs!

[skyctpn]

Game was SWOTL  (secret weapons of the luftwaffe)
great game.. I was flying a bomber escort mission and dropped down on a 109 in my p47 before this I had been trying to turn with them.  Fired WAYYYYY too early but held down the trigger as I flew thru him.. BOOM!

[DiabloTX]

Mine was as an F4F driver in Battlehawks:1942.

Before that the very first shootdown I had was probably the coin-op game 'Red Baron' that used vector graphics.

[Overlag]

the first real kill that sticks in my head was me in a f4u. crusing around alone wondering what to do.

in comes a few f4us and one peels off to attack me, while the rest stay high. i panic, as he gets 800 yards off, and pull hard causing a sort of upwards snap roll. the chasing f4u goes straight through the middle of my roll and falls into my gunsite... I pulled the perfect "batfink move" (we call it in 71st) without even knowing how...

the guy i killed then invites me to his squad, and the rest is history. His name was Ripsnort, leader of VMF323 (2003 version). the rest of the squad then pounced on me lol.

that wasnt my first kill but its one i remember because it was that single move that got me in a squad lol

saying that i not sure if i killed him or not, i may have just damaged him badly.

[ColKLink]

You know I had to do this PAWZ,.......... after 3 months of flying offline, i ventured into the main arena. almost 3 months later, I had my 1st kill, pawz was in a ju 87, i was in a p-51....... I really thought I had broken into the big leagues.  Hey have I ever told ya, pawz was my 1st kill ....I had to pawz.

[Saxman]

Mine was probably a proxy.

[IronDog]

My first kill was against a fellow named Ice.I was just furballing away in the full realism arena,Air Warrior,and he flew right in front of me in a 190.I pulled the trigger and kaboom,there it was my first kill.I can't even recall what plane I was in.That has been sometime ago,and is just one of the many good times I have enjoyed while flying online air sims.
IronDog

[Spikes]

I killed a LA7 with my nose gun on the Ju-88.

[Toecutter]

My first would have been in a P 38 in Warbirds....circa 1995. (Remember when the 38 was the newbie plane?)  Not really sure what I shot down.  After flying the standard flight simulators and coming to Warbirds I remember what really blew me away was the fact the people would fight in the vertical.  First guy I got behind pulled straight up, I remember thinking "Where the heck is he going?"  My six o'clock is where he was going.  Adding himself to the long but distinguished list of people who have shot me down.




mk31

[texasmom]

No. I don't remember.

[VERTEX]

I successfully Hoed an La-7 with an La-7. He died I was undamaged. Got so excited I almost fell out of my chair.

What a noob I was.

[Pawz]

LOL Klink I see your not going to let me forget that on

[Guppy35]

Don't remember my first kill, but vividly remember the first time I got sucked into the cockpit and my imagination and the game made it feel like "I was there".

Longbow Scenario in Airwarrior.  I was GL of 602 "City of Glasgow" Squadron in Spit IXs.  We were the last squadron in to cover the withdrawal of RAF B25s and USAAF Jugs coming out after hitting a target in France.

As we crossed the French coast we started seeing dots.  Del was flying my wing as he's done so many times.  We had two flights of 4 and I swung down the coast after a 190 that nosed down and ran.  Del and I got seperated from the rest of my guys.  A single engine smoking 25 crossed out below us and then we spotted a Jug in trouble with a 109.  He kept moving away from us and I'm 'hollering' for this guy to break before the 109 killed him.  Finally after repeated calls, he broke and I got a shot and pinged the 109 but he didn't die.  And as he's done so many times since, Del finished the 109 off.  

The Jug, low on fuel ran for home as we swung back up the coast to look for more stragglers.  Soon we see high dots and they're 190s and down they come to bounce us.  The fight is on.  We're outnumbered and it doesn't look good.  Out of the corner of my eye I spot a flight of 4 above the fight and think, this is not really not good.  Turns out it's my other flight and they roll in and the 190s are soon dispatched, with me getting one in the process.  With low fuel we form up and race for Tangmere on the deck.

Absolutely immersed for the first time ever in a computer game.  It was as 'real' as it was gonna get.  And the memory is that vivid.

[sullie363]

Mine is easy to remember since my first kill also came on my first sortie.  It was back in AH1 on that map with the three large land masses (not pizza) with lots of water and islands between them.  I upped a spit9, eventually saw two enemies, also both spits, and shot both of them down.  So I guess that was also my first two kill sortie also.  I had come off playing quite a bit in warbirds at the time though so it wasn't all dumb luck.