So, there I am Saturday, flying my D-9 in a Furball. I'm making out all right, using pitch/roll maneuvers to get on enemy sixes and avoid enemy attackers.
There was one Pony I'd been after for some time. I'd fired on him once and chased him on a couple of different passes.
He was moving in what appeared to be a dive opposite and below my direction of travel so I split-essed down onto his ass. I realized he was missing his elevators right around the same time an accuser who removed said tail-feathers loudly stated "that P-51 is down. It's my kill. Leave him alone. You've got a Yak on your tail. You can kill him."
Now, it was never my intent to steal the kill and while the 51 appeared wounded, he was still lit and, until closer observation revealed the nature of the damage, could easily have still been a threat.
My questions:
1. is kill-stealing actually a problem?
2. What's up with the proximity kill? I recently watched a P-47, in his attempt to evade me, auger. I was awarded a kill even though I had not shot him down; had merely been the cause of his evasive maneuvering.
I evaded the Yak, btw, with a simple series of rolls - then killed some guy name SnoopDog twice in the same day.