So we have another "run-stain".
It's common for less aggressive players to fly fast fighters. Should they find themselves at a disadvantage, they head for the deck and skedaddle.
About a week ago, I was up in an F6F defending near a vehicle base. I saw a contact on the radar from the southwest. Since I already at 10k (shot down a formation of bombers), I started climbing in the direction of the incoming aircraft. Passing 14k, I saw the icon of a P-47 up around 16k. I headed towards it in a shallow climb, building some speed. As the distance closed, I was off its nose, slightly to its left. The icon switched to P-47M and I began a tight reverse. The Jug blew by, but my reverse put me within 600 yards dead astern. I saw the P-47M had drop tanks. I fired a short burst (already pretty low on ammo) and saw a few hits. The Jug pilot pushed over into a dive. The range opened to around 800 yards. We headed down, with speeds in excess of 500 mph. The jug was doing a mild jinking. The range remained at 800 yards. I took a few brief shots, scoring hits each time. The range clicked down to 600 yards just as we leveled off about 200 feet above the water. I only had about 100 rounds remaining and I fired one last time. More hits and a flap came off and a fuel leak started. That's when I saw a friendly P-51 closing fast from behind. The pilot asked if I needed help. I said, "he's shot up, but I'm out of ammo. He's all yours", and broke off. I headed for the v-base as my fuel was down to 6 minutes at full power and it was a half sector to the base. About 30 seconds later, I saw the kill message pop up.
Before I landed, the P-47M pilot was on 200 whining about how my F6F could keep up with his P-47M in a dive. I replied that the P-47 has no advantage in a dive. Both are big, heavy fighters. I told him that I managed my E better and he had failed to dump his drop tanks. He called it BS and ranted about the flight models, etc. So, if you're going to run, run smart.
