Spent the night flying through hordes. Wish I took some pics of that. I call them volunteers because they joined missions. Then they probably feel safe in large numbers and don't quite pay full attention. I know I do, at least more safe. It was a good run. Haven't landed double digits in about a year. Landed a bunch of 9s last camp. It always seemed I had been damaged or run out of gas on approach.
Most were picks. Did have a decent fight with a spit 8. One that I actually wanted to bail on but there was no out. It was do or die and at very very slow speeds.
At one point I went to meet a full herd of Bish. Figured they would be high so I went to about 19 or 20k. Didn't see them. Looked down and they had killed every hanger and were working on the town. No way to dive straight down effectively. Slowly I started my down turn heading away and then curved back so I could come in a flatter angle. Must have been 50 of them. I saw maybe a couple of other friendlies there. As I stated to zip through I looked for the larger targets, P38s. Honing in one I came in furiously fast and chopped throttle for a little maneuverability. He turned a little but I got a light ping on him. Believe it or not some one got a ping on me. No damage but wondered later how close did I come to a pilot wound. A split second after I pinged the 38 I saw one of our guys, Zud, being chased by about 5 or 6 cons. I zipped in 4 pulled off and 2 didn't. I pinged the first p51 and he turns up and to the right. I hit him again. He explodes. Still having a great deal of E I hammer the 190. I thought he was down. Not so. Zud has to turn and one of the other 51s comes back in. I pull up to help Zud. But Zud announces he is dead stick. The 190 I pinged crashes while killing Zud's ditched plane and I get the kill. I got another kill in there somewhere. Maybe the 38. I don't know. Just one scorching blast through and 3 kills. That gave me 9 kills. Some Rook kills in there but mostly Bish.
Went to fight Rooks but they came over really high and stayed that way. One guy in a C205, we believe, ran out gas just circling overhead. I tried to climb up to 4 spit5s. Got in a tangle with one but just ever so briefly thought I saw something red. I dive away just when I thought I had another kill. Sure enough looking back I see a spit 5 600 off my 6. Did manage to kill a 51 and a 110. The 110 was almost a lost. My stick lost calibration while fighting him.
Instead of trying to climb to the cons I returned to base rearm and head North. Seems to be some action up there. Get to 24 and the Bish are pretty much staying in the base ack. I take a risk and dive on a Brewster. That ack pings me and I Ping the Brewster but no kill. Then later I tangle with a spit. Was just about to get him when I spy a KI84 coming in. I can't make another turn. I dive down and under the KI84 as he tries to blast my screen. At this point I'm low fuel and still want my 10th kill. On the way back 3 or 4 Bish 262s fly over me. Oops. time to dive to base. I land and rearm. I see a dar bar in the west, at the nearest airfield to the Knights front line.
Going from experience I go high to meet the con. Finally the con shows on dar but I'm not even in the dar circle yet. Then I wonder if its a p51 porker. Diving to the base I catch a set of buffs just a hair above me. I pull up and climb to 19k. The B24s pass under and I descend almost straight down. Pinged them pretty good but no kill and no fire. Darn, I really wanted that 10th kill. I climb back and go for the piloted buff this time. He's on fire. Kill 11. What the heck. When did I get kill 10! I make another pass and I think I missed them altogether. He turns to sharp and loses a drones, Kill 12. Now I'm thinking do I really want to risk it all for another kill. Heck yeah! I go after him and that one catches fire.
Hadn't flown a fighter much other than to Jabo this week. That and trying ridiculous things to take bases. It felt good to jump into fighter mode.
