HO's werent a part of WWII?

[AN]

Speaking of headons, I came across this the other day, and
thought it was interesting.  Was about French ace Capitaine
Rene Fonck in WWI, not WWII, but here goes...

'He scored his first official victory in August 1916, his 75th official
victory ten days before WWI ended.  Twice he shot down six on
one day and on August 14, 1918 he destroyed three in ten
seconds.  The three Germans came at him head-on.  As he
crossed them he fired a burst at each and hit all three.  They fell
near the city of Roye, burning on the ground, separated by less
than 100 meters.  These brought his total to 60 victories.'

-from 'Aircraft versus Aircraft' by Norman Franks

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Dawvgrid
ofcourse you can avoid HO,,,,,,,,,,,,,over and out.

Yes, but...

Lately, I've been flying a lot of La-7 and I typically try to avoid head on shots. Maybe I should start flying the Jug and go looking for 'em. My real problem is identifying whether I'm nose to tail or nose to nose and the closure velocity. Quite often, I find myself taking hits after I've pulled my nose off. Unfortunately, my nose is now off and I can't respond in kind.

Sure... sometimes it's frustrating. I understand why certain types cry "Dweeb!" in the MA. They just need to realize that the shooter didn't make the mistake. They did.

So... I guess you can avoid any HO... or maybe Dawvgrid can. I certainly can't but I'm trying. Maybe one day, I'll be able to evaluate the situation and see the angles and closure soon enough to avoid the HO while preparing for a follow-on attack with angles and advantage. That day isn't here yet.

When I shoot you in the face, console yourself by knowing that you didn't leave me many other options and I elected to roll the dice for a way out.

That is... unless I'm doing JABO in a Mossie. In a Mossie, I won't flinch at all from opening up in your face and I've got the conversion set way way out there just to do it.

[Apache]

If you id an HO early enough, you have an easy kill on your hands.

Case in point. Lastnight while flying the Yak9U, i spot a 109 on the deck, about 2k. I'm at 8k. I fake a power dive and pull back level at around 5k. The 109 is ahead of me and begins an Immelman, then into an HO as I suspected he would. I simply nose down and fly under him. I Immelman and follow. He is back on the deck again and pulls back into another Immelman. I roll left and Immelman as well. When I'm at the top, he is at my 3 oc, nose down going for the HO, but I'm not there. I lag pursue and get the easy kill.

I pretty much expect the HO nowadays. I guess one would say I set it up so that I can avoid it for the kill, lol.

[Dingy]

Originally posted by xxbow
If those people complaining about the HO tell you they werent firing for all they were worth during the HO then they are LIARS >>> HAHAHAH. It takes two to HO. you can evade. Ive found that most people complain about the HO only after they have been shot down, but they maneuvered for HO, and ill bet you they were firing also. Just my two cents.

Actually not true....since I primarily fly the P51D, my lack of firepower precludes HO as a viable tactic.  Because of this, I evade all HOs on the merge (or try to).  Whats frustrating, are the few pilots (most of which I seemed to face at A9 yesterday after the reset) which knew nothing more than to grab a Tiff, grab 10K and yank their plane around for the HO and hope for a lucky shot.    Its skillless pilots like that which give HO a bad name.  They die more often than they kill but are satisfied with the outcome when they do manage a kill....go figure.

-Ding