I agree with all those, that hate HO's when the guy doing it has all other options at hand.
The worst HO's this way, come from LA7s and Spits.
I simply dont understand when anyone with speed and alt goes for the HO, when he has all the chances to bleed my E and get me from dead 6.
In other situations i consider a HO a valid tactic, especially fo rplanes with hvy weapons (P47, Tiffie, A8 with 4 cannons), that lag some performance issues (like turn) and have to get everyshot they need.
In the defensive, it can be a desperate last move for any plane.
Also i found that evading the HO is very easy when you start it early enough (that requires experience on ur connet, abd ur usual lag). For me this is around D1.4-1.2, than i execute a barrel roll and if the guy still goes for the HO, he will need to pull some very bad Gs. Against higher nmes, i especially liek to dive to there 11 or 1 oc pos. If they go fo the HO, the pull neg G and will gain way more speed than they want. If they dont take it, i will have either enough speed to get seperation or to reverse into them once the go for the tail chase.
And cause i am flying mainly the FW190, i will very offen go for a front quarter shot. But i try to time it so that my tgt cant bring his guns inline with me. Those shots are as good as low angle tail shots, but they give you the advantage that you can usually fire at the engine.
If there si the likely chance my tgt will get around to bring his guns on me, i will not take the shot. Instead i will go for a new guns solution.