If you hold all the cards why fight? Whats the fun if you go into a fight with all the advantages KNOWING that you can't lose? The other side of that coin is staying in a fight even knowing your at a DISadvantage and sticking it out to see if you CAN beat the other guy. You give the other guy all the advantages and still turn the tables on him and win. How much more fun could it be?
If being at a disadvantage floats one's boat, then wouldn't an adversary in a fast plane with altitude and position + a few friends be your ideal situation?
You know what is kind of funny? The disparity between the air game and ground game as far as "fighting" goes... in the MA, the best way to get a <S> or some props on 200 is to fly something slow that turns well.
On the OTHER hand... if you are running GVs, apparently there is some sort of convoluted square dance with a list of unwritten rules that must be followed... you need to grab a tank, go find a spot to "camp" (And woe unto you if you are in someone else's spot!) and TURN OFF YOUR ENGINE!!! Your mobility is a distant second to your "allies" being able to hear the enemy spawn in!!
So, my taking an M3 with the 75mm gun was apparently a huge faux pas. Now, I will say that doing the "Dukes of Hazard" dixie thing over ranged every time I launched a hill at 50mph may have been excessive.
On the other hand, I cleaned up rather well:
M3 (75mm):
M-18: 9
M4A3(75): 6
M4A3(76)W: 2
PzKpfwIV-F: 16
PzKpfwIV-H: 10
T-34/85: 1
Unfortunately, even at point blank range, I was unable to hole a Königstiger with multiple shots at 6', but it was still fun to scare them.
I was like 10:1 K/D until they figured out could disable/kill me with a .22 Deringer. Was still fun after that!
Anyway, the lesson learned here is that the way to win friends and influence people in the air and on the ground are basically polar opposites... on the ground you want a heavy, stationary turd, and in the air you want something slow that floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. No one really cares about the skill required as far as marksmanship goes in the air, take as many cannon as you want!!
You guys can talk smack about the P51 all you want... I'm too much of a crack addled spidermonkey to pull off the E-management required to successfully scrum at MA altitudes in a Bravo while maintaining a safe speed. The climb rate is meh, the turn rate is quite short lived, and the acceleration ranks right up there with a Toyota Sienna... without a decent amount of altitude, you aren't regaining speed anytime soon. In fact, once you bleed enough to saddle someone and kill them with 4 .50 cals (Again, talking about my ability here, not some of the bad tulips out there) 80% of the plane set has "all the cards".
I do notice one thing though... I can roll through a furball all day in a Ki-84, which is staggeringly easier to fly under MA conditions than the P-51B, and merrily de-wing opponents all day long with no grief... but man, bring a Bravo to the fight and you up your chances of a whine on 200 by several orders of magnitude.
It's too bad all the yahoos that fly the La-7 are posers... if a few of the greats were to take that as their chosen ride, they would have to upgrade the BBS code to keep up with the sky is falling whines.
