Who said something about real World War II pilots running when outnumbered. Theres hundreds perhaps thousands of cases where pilots have been outnumbered and still come out as the victors. fdiron
They did it all the time, every day and every side. Particularly when seperated from the rest of the flight/squadron. Though, in situations like a fighter sweep, where a specific mission objective wasn't at stake (protect or shoot down the bombers, etc.), not engaging was a habit mentioned frequently (they didn't see us, we kept going). If you reread most of the "outnumbered stories you'll typically find two things:
1. They couldn't escape and had to fight,
2. or, they had a position of advantage at the start of the fight (e, surprise, much better plane) and the ability to disengage at will if things got really tight.
Many BoB fights took place without these conditions, but the "do or die" nature of the battle, the fact the outnumbered RAF pilots were at least engaging in squadron strength (to provide additional encouragement) and the fact that they were only a parachute away from their homeland certainly helped. The only pilot I have read about who seemed to try and state: "I never avoided a fight, unlike other aces..." was Stanford Tuck, who spent most of the war in a POW camp (a little too much recreational strafing for no strategic value).
Charon
