I think time has changed the makeup of those in this game. Now someone coming into the game for aerial combat with little experience will get eaten alive by those here that still love to fight. The few fighters that are here have years of experience at their craft. The learning curve is too steep. As it should be but that prevents new fighter jocks.
I started in 99 here. At that time people were moving over from WB. And the AW people. Back then there were no GV's in WB. EVERYONE FLEW. The caliber of fighters was very good and the numbers were high. Still had the gangers with altitude and the empty base takers, but the fighters were many and you found them in the fur..
As Kong said, once in a while there is some good fights. A couple of weeks ago....yes a couple of WEEKS, there was a similar fight when I was a rook. What a great time. Had a FM2 and was tearing it up. Good half hour of fun. I wish I could do it every day. You could do that back in the day.
My stable is a SpitV, FM2, Seafire, Yak3 and occasional Brewster. I flew the 51 out of boredom.. Cant fly it worth a damm but I'm grasping at straws..
Fly 10 minutes, die, rinse and repeat and then log.
Love to do it StepSis, but you have to know, I suck

They tried the early war, mid war, late war thing back in the day. People logged and waited for late war. Personally I like mid war plane sets but go figure.
Rant over (I think) and the cat is going to live.