Had one today in the MA. Bish on the offensive but having to defend from a large raid at one of our forward bases. Here it is in full, unedited form (so it's really long
) It was a pretty long fight though. lots of running away as you will see....
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"
Ah ha! " methinks.
This is a great opportunity for a 262 flight".
I up from a rear base and head on over at 550mph and 2 thousand feet hoping to kill a few vulchers or nice big heavies carrying lots of bombs, or even the big one:- Their goon. mmmmm goooon.
But what is this! A call over the radio:
"
enemy 262 east of the base at 15,000 feet! "
This isn't good I think. He's got at least 10k alt on me but I have the big advantage. I know he's there and he doesn't know I am. Handy thing about a 262. 5k and 550knots can turn rapidly into 15k and 200knots
so up I go turning all my speed into precious altitude.
The call was accurate, almost the first contact I find is our 262 friend, he's lost a bit of alt and is in the trying to cherry pick guys at the fringes of the fight. I hang back after giving a chk6 call staying above him an following his flight path round as he makes a pass on a friendly P38. My check six does the job and he misses by a mile. A friendly Tempest tries a high angle snapshot but their speeds make hits almost impossible and he ends up in a tail chase with the 262 pulling away easily and diving for the deck.
I loose his icon as he bottoms out at less than 200ft and 5000 yards below my nose, a fortunate splash of sunlight illuminates his airplane and I'm back on him. I start a slow decent at Vmax and soon I am gaining. The range is down to 3000yards and I get an icon, 2500... 2000... He's heading for his mainland and he's not going to make it! 1000.... now he’s doing gentle turns to put my aim off, still I hold my fire and wait for the shot.
"
Kill the SOB! " my thoughts scream as I open fire at less than 500 yards, My tater rounds fly past his wing but our speeds are so high that I've misjudged the angle. He's off! Straight up and then into a series of max-g barrel rolls. I loose sight of him slowly as I blackout and he manages to shake me from his 6. I regain visibility and see him turning into me, we merge HO a couple of times, neither one of us managing to gain an angle on the other.
But what's this! Looks like our friend has had enough. He's off, running for cover again. These Knights don't like to fight when those precious perkies are on the line obviously. (
) I look ahead past his aircraft and see a Carrier group in the distance.
"
I'm not having that! " I think. I feint a disengagement by pulling up and starting a small turn and he takes the bait pulling straight up into an immelman. We HO merge and he lets a few rounds loose but I am at the bottom of a wide barrel role and they fly harmlessly past. I flat turn early and end up back on his 6 and we're off again! Heading for this CV and all the lovely ack.
We're establishing a bit of a pattern here! There's no way he's going to drag me through his CV group so I break off. This guy is predictable, he's turned back into me and now its me leading and him in tow. Well as I'm leading I decide where we go so I head away from this CV group he seems to want me to get a close look at into some clear skies away from the furball that is forming near it.
"
That'll do " I think as soon as there is 10 miles between us and the nearest other contact. I'm in a slight climb with him in tow 2500 yards or so behind me and I'm confident I can avoid his first pass.
"
Up we go! " Straight into a perfect immelman. I've gone through it faster than I thought and we merge 250 yards away from each other, me going straight down, him going straight up trying desperately to get his nose pointed at me. I black out in the pull up and take a second to find him again... He's flying straight and level about 3000 yards away and slightly higher than me. I turn into a tail chase and I'm closing again! He spots me fairly soon and pulls a really high loop. I turn inside him easily and the range falls again!
"
Go Go Go! " I urge my steed as I fall inside 1000 yards on his 6. True to form our friend doesn't like this at all and he's off again! Back to his CV! I'm starting to get really quite miffed
with this chap.
Seeing his intention I break off early in an effort to keep the fight away from anyone else but this time he doesn't take the bait and he's flying straight for his CV on the deck at 550knots.
"
Oh poop! (Or words to that effect) " I exclaim. I let the distance grow a little before following his dot in. I reacquire our 262 friend as I close, He's turned over his carrier and is leading a conga line of three aircraft all chasing a friendly P51 away from the CV.
"
No!! " the scumbag has smoked the Pony! Bastard!
"
That’s it. This guy is going home in tiny bits! "
Every enemy contact has latched onto my 262, Zeros are diving down just to get a high deflection snapshot at me and I hardly notice. I want this guy dead!. Again I've ended up on his 6 with an E advantage. He sees me again and pulls a hard vertical scissors, I overshoot! He's in no mood for a fight but I don't care. He's heading back to his (Now CVless) bunch of ships. I'm used to playing this game now so I wait while he heads outside 6000 yards, it look like he's trying to put the ships between me and him but I know he can't keep an eye on me forever. I edge my way round all the ack the destroyers are putting up and now I've got a clear run at him.
Here he screws up. I'm watching his dot when I see it shoot straight up in the air! he's blown all his speed to grab alt to avoid my fellow countrymen who are all low but I know someone else who can zoom that high! Me! He's maybe 2k higher than me but he's blown all his speed and I can smell the kill. I head straight for him, he sees me early and manages to almost get his nose round but I've had enough. I take the chance and go for the shot I track him all the way round and at 600 yards open fire.
I beat him to it, He's still trying to get his guns on me when a single one of my 30mm rounds flies straight into his wing root and detonates. He opens fire in a futile attempt to bring me down with him but I'm past him, looking to my 6 as I see his wing separate from his fuselage and gently float down to the ground like a feather.
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These are my favourite sort of flight
. The adrenaline pumps and the 'mission face' kicks in. Nothing else becomes important other than the death of your enemy. I literally ended up shouting "Die You F*****!!!!" as that 30mm hit him.
Good stuff. Wish it happened more often.
Gatso
[edited for spelling - gatso]
