Originally posted by Dead Man Flying
Of course I wouldn't pass up such an opportunity. What I absolutely would not do is drop names and misrepresent the engagement (after all, you did say that everyone you killed saw you coming and couldn't do anything about it) in an effort to extoll the virtues of one plane or another. I mean, you died and you're still counting it as if you killed me. I give sticks credit for the kill since he was still around to enjoy it. 
[/B]
Not quite accurate. You shot me up as I was turning with the original Hurricane. This hit oil. After I dispatched him, you came around for another pass and pinged me as I pulled the vertical move on you, lighting my fuel on fire. You died shortly thereafter, as I still had plenty of time before the fuel fire dispatched me. The second pass on me was the mistake... you should have kept going after smoking me and allowed my oil or fuel to simply run out. You surely would have gotten the kill.
When you were 200-500 back, according to AH film, we were the same speed (~200mph). You only remained faster than me because I turned into you and you did little to counter it.
Rather, I'd say it was you who were unlucky.
I'll post the film shortly.
-- Todd/Leviathn [/B]
This is why I want to see the film. I related the events as best as I could recall. I had a dozen or more engagements that day.
I’m perfectly willing to have any missing details provided. That said the fact remains that 95% of the time a Zero would have gone down immediately. Your Zeke survived long enough to hit me. Sticks gained the proxy when you blew up. And, what exactly caused your Zero to explode?
I accomplished my purpose anyway. The Hurri got away, and you went kaboom
Indeed, if it weren’t for the strange damage model of the Zero, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. But sometimes, those damn things won't die....
Seriously, flying the SBD as a fighter requires maximum aggression. The airplane is way too slow not to press hard. When you attack a fighter, you cannot leave anything on the table, simply because the fighter will eventually gain the advantage. You have to disable or kill it before that happens. That means boring in, committing, and leaving you virtually no margin for error. The vast majority of the time, it works. With you, it worked inasmuch as your Zero was on fire (I thought it was about to crash, which is why I made no effort to avoid you), utterly doomed at the very least. Call it your good luck or my bad luck, but either way; I would do it the same way next time.
Of course, everyone should realize that from now on any poor guy flying an SBD anywhere near Lev is gonna get his full attention
My regards,
Widewing
