I've only been playing about a month, but in my 80 odd kills and 80 odd deaths I have yet to recall being killed, or hit with any frequency, by anybody at 800 yards. If it weren’t for these boards, I wouldn't even be aware of this as an issue.
When trying to clear a friendly's tail, or chasing a faster runner, I have fired at 700+ yards and get maybe 5% or less hits (Spit w/Hispanios and .50 cals) against a target flying straight and level with zero deflection (and likely no jinking on his/her part). As was the case in RL, I wait until I get within 400 yards now to save the Spit's short clip. I mean really, how common are these 800+ hits?
Given a typical engagement range of under 400 yards for all sides in WW2, the differences in velocity and tejectory between Luftwaffe planes and allied aircraft would likely not have been noticed by anyone at the time. The four 20mm and two mg's of the 190A series were certainly powerful enough to easily drop a fighter, even the Jug, at these ranges and was more than adequate against bombers and more deadly than most allied armaments.
In WW2, most of the "Experten" fired from closer than 400 yards (often much closer) and Hartmann used his eyesight to position for a surprise kill at 200 yards or less then disengage. I've also read comments from allied pilots along the lines of: "I fired from 600 yards, which was way too far, but surprisingly..." showing that while rare, occasionally luck rewarded a poor-percentage shooting solution. If there are people who consistently shoot very accurately at these ranges in AH (more than the occasional time that pisses off a type A personality far beyond what it should), I would suggest that while the weapons may be modeled correctly in AH the shooting skill compared to real life may not.
If you read enough on the topic, it becomes clear that gunnery training was not a universally high priority in WW2. The Experten in AH pull the trigger thousands of times more time than RL WW2 pilots, and there are likely a few long-range Michael Jordans and Tiger Woods flying around -- but again, not enough for me to notice so far and I've been shot down by some of the best as far as scores and rankings go
Charon
[ 07-21-2001: Message edited by: Charon ]