Morning all!
{The Gun Fighters} flew, we found, and from what I saw, everyone that dove on the NOE bombers died.
We were tasked with defending A-61, and were flying a mix of KI-43's and A6M5's. Our objective was to spot bombers, and engage fighters. It is said that no plan survives first contact, and this one was characteristic.
After the squad dropped I stayed high to mix it up with a P-39 I saw. I figured he was a JABO, and I wanted to get him to pickle his bomb so I could get a “Mission-Kill”. He ran from me flat out, and I struggled to catch up to him in my little KI-43. As I chased he must have been screaming for friends, because one came in and started to make passes on me. Then it became two of his friends that were trying to scrub me off his six. I jinked, held my alt, and we mixed it up at 22K for about 2 minutes before he called in even more friends! At one point I was 7, or even 8 to 1; the hard way. They could not turn with me, and I could not chase them down. It was a stale mate. I put it out on range where the bad guys were, and at what alt, and the cavalry came to my rescue in the form of the JG54.
Once they came in high, the balance of power tipped, and the JG54th started knocking ‘em down before I could even turn my nose about to get a guns solution. So it was that I squirted about 102 rounds – mostly to induce bad guys to break off a friendly – and connected with no one.
A special <S> to Raynos who was engaged 3 V 1 the hard way, on the deck, and with his forgotten drop tank still attached. He survived long enough to realize he was carrying the drop, shed the weight, and started killing things (You steely eyed killer!). After seeing a couple of their buddies go down under the guns of this lone-wolf, they lost their nerve and ran for home.
InCrypt.