Originally posted by fdiron
I just shot down a P38 in a low and slow turn fight. I was chasing a P38 and another dove on me. We were at about 1000 ft asl. The P38 ahead of me was 1.4k away, the one behind me was 800yrds and closing. They were both co-alt. I pulled up in the hardest loop I could. I then dove to the deck and the P38 was latched onto me. I started using the F4U-1s superior roll rate to try to confuse the P38 as to which direction I was going to break. Soon the P38 was within 400yrds of me. The P38 then shot off my right elevator. I deployed full flaps and my landing gear and turned as hard I as could. The P38 nearly overshot me. I broke hard again, this time the P38 overshot me and we entered into a violent scissors maneuver. Luckily I got 3 snapshots on the P38 and his tail section fell off. I thought that this P38 may have been you widewing. But it turns out it wasn't.
Interesting note: With full flaps,main fuel tank empty, and only 1 elevator, my F4U showed no tendancy to spin, even at very low speeds (90-100knts).
Sounds like quick thinking on your part reversed a bad situation. It's amazing how few pilots will pull off throttle when faced with their target suddenly slowing. It's as if the throttle was jammed. There were several things that the P-38 jock could have done, but obviously didn't.
1) Pull off power as soon as the closure rate appears too fast.
2) Roll and skid.
A flat scissors usually results in the aircraft able to slow the fastest getting the advantage. You quickly assessed the situation and did the smart thing. The P-38 jock obviously did not respond correctly. If less than 250 mph, he could have dropped his flaps to "maneuver", high yo-yo'd and retained position. You were the better pilot. P-38s bleed energy much faster than the Corsair during high G maneuvering. This P-38 pilot held every advantage, but failed anyway. He simply met a better pilot, who knew how not only to survive, but win.
If it had been Fester, Tac or Lazer, you likely would not have survived the loop. Lightnings are looping monsters, capable of multiple loops fully loaded with ord. The average P-38 pilot will lose to a more skilled pilot in a Corsair most of the time. However, there are several P-38 Experten (Fester, Lazer and Tac to name a few) who would bake your clams once they saddled up.
Tonight, the =Ghosts= flew a sortie to 45. We all took P-38s. When we left the field, we had 9 kills for 1 loss air to air, with two additional losses to ack and a flak panzer. Then again, we had some really good pilots. We were joined by Lazer and several others as we RTB's. On the way home, trailing behind to deal with a Yak, I ran across a 190D who wanted to play. His problem was that after the merge, he elected to fight a flat scissors. He never finished his second turn. Blew off his wing with 90 degree
deflection shot. I filmed it should you or anyone wish to see why you don't try a scissors with a P-38, flying anything other than a Hurricane or Zero. This 190D should have extended after the merge. He didn't, and it cost him. I remember thinking that if he did extend, he would be a pest. When he reversed hard, I knew then that he wasn't very sharp. Not only that, but he carried too much speed to make that corner anywhere near as tight as he needed to. As he came by, I hit him with a short burst that scored at least one hit. His next reverse was his last... He discovered what I had already learned the hard way.
Earlier at 33, I caught four F4U-1D fighters on their takeoff roll. They never saw me dive in an La-7. All four died, the last as his wheels came up. Opportunities like that are few and far between.
Didn't require much skill. But, vulching seldom does. My squadies got a kick out of it. I know that there was one Bish squad seriously pissed tonight.
Some days you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.
My regards,
Widewing.
