A few nights ago I took off in a 109K-4 to go after what I thought would be a set of buffs. I was right. They were Lancasters at 20K but there was a P-47 perched about 4-5K above them escorting.
On his first pass on me I did a 360 flat turn and then tried to catch the Lancs again. On his second pass I maintained my flight path but barrel rolled to avoid his shot. Each time he went back up and at that alt I pretty much knew I couldn't match him.
After his second climb another friendly entered the picture much closer to the buffs than I was and the P-47 placed his attention there. The friendly dove out slightly and the P-47 followed. As soon as I saw this I put my K-4 into a climb so that the 47 wouldn't be able to zoom climb above me again. He killed the other friendly.
As I approached the Lancs the P-47 was coming from my forward aspect about co-alt. Knowing he'd have to turn 360 degrees I avoided his merge and ended up with three clean passes on the Lancs killing one per pass.
By this time the P-47 was on my six again and closing. I nosed down to drag him from alt thinking that with a lot of E and the K-4's climbing abilities that I might be able to out climb him even in a zoom but my ultimate goal was to take him to the deck. After a few turns and zoom climbs we ended up exactly there as he dove out thinking he'd outrun me in a dive. While he gained minimally I stayed with him and trimmed out at the bottom. I'm sure he thought I'd compress and lawn dart.
Once on the deck the real turn fight began. He managed to force one overshoot but didn't have a gun solution and he used the three axis turn at the top once also just missing a guns solution.
The fight would go 2-3 turns then he would extend while I chased him back down. He chose his extensions well, forcing me to continue turning so that he could gain seperation but once I straightened out he couldn't maintain it and we'd go another 2-3 turns. While in normal circumstances I may have had a snapshot oppotunity or two, I was out of cannon rounds having expended them on the Lancasters earlier. Knowing I'd have to saddle up I was getting somewhat frustrated at his ability to avoid me when all of a sudden he ran out of gas. I took him as he tried to ditch.
I'm not sure what this has to do with this particular thread but it was a very fun encounter trying to outwit this Jug, beginning more in his element than mine, to reach the buffs he was doing a good job of protecting and then coercing him into my element for the final fight. He did a good job of managing the situation and of flying that Jug other than his decision to follow the other friendly too low (but only a few K below my original alt) on that one occasion.
I guess the moral of the story is that a well flown Jug can be a formidable opponent even to an "uber plane" like the 109K-4.
