Some are doing it deliberately... but most are of the "i don't have a clue and I won't listen" category.
I remember one specific instance:
I was out there in a tank, trying to protect a town. My side was completely outnumbered, so of course my calls for help were unanswered while a enemy Gv mission started to roll in.
And there he was. A "vet", in his P-51. Circling overhead and strafing the tanks. I begged him to get at least in a plane that could actually hurt those tanks. "Why, I kill tanks this way all the time". When I popped a few of them and he got the kills he was completely convinced he did kill em. He never really listened to me.
One of the rare instances I really freaked out. He was really offended, because "Dude I'm just helping you. There are like 11 of them out there".
Very similar thing happened to me very recently. My CO asked that I come to the base he was defending as he needed my "expertise" (his words -- glad I wasn't drinking anything at the time or I would have had a spit-take) in an IL-2 to kill a couple of panzers that had made it to town. I up the IL-2 and see 5 friendlies besides my CO buzzing around the town. I figure the panzers will be dead before I get there, but no . . . after I kill the first one (and get an assist) and start to climb, I alt-I and see that the strafing planes are two hurri-IICs, a C205, and two ponies.
Killed (er- "assisted") the second, and my CO says over range "Way to go on killing the two tanks, Target." I couldn't help but reply: "Yeah, it would be nice to have had two kills for my two kills, but some people insist on shooting tanks with planes that have no chance of hurting them." Of course only crickets replied . . .
BTW -- I was once accused of trying to steal a kill on a gv while trying to point out a panzer while flying a N1K. After letting me have it verbally, the friendly GV finally got a bead on the Panzer and killed him. And yes, he got the kill -- and apologized. I may use tracers to point to a GV, but that doesn't mean my cannon fire needs to hit the tank. 2 GV lengths in front of their path of travel or behind suffices to point it out.
