Originally posted by Squire
If it was such a heavy useless POS tub, as some are keen to make it out, why wasnt it swept from the sky? Nobody seems to be able to answer that one.
Well it may sound a bit harsh but I don't think that real life experiences doesn't really apply in AH (except maybe in FM, DM and Gunnery). The pilots back then had a completely different and more thorough training in both flying normaly and in air combat than most folks arround here probably got. In exchange we gotta learn from the mistakes we do since we don't actually die as real pilots did if they made a mistake. So very lucky and very cautious ones survived and were able to become aces (as Hartmann put it you had to just survive your first dogfights and you would just automatically become an ace "We either got an iron or wooden cross, nothing in between"). Once achieved that state they seemed quite invincible due to their superior experience in comparison to most other fighter pilots they encountered, those poor guys were then most likely not able to make any further experience since the ace actually killed them (or became POW).
So the big mass of fighter pilots back then had a lot of theoratical knowledge but very less practical experience how it actually would work. Additional most of the time they had their mind more occupied with keeping the formation, managing the engine, estimate the type and range to a plane they saw just by the shape and size of the sometimes vague form of the plane they saw in the sky (the visual conditions of AH are also quite rare in real life theaters like the ETO, dunno about the PTO there though) and a lot of other real flying stuff. Things that you don't have to take into account in AH (thanks to simplified engine management, trim help systems and hawkeye's icons
), now not mentioning the G-forces and how different it actually is to keep the orientation if the world really is turning arround you that fast in all those maneuvers.
On the other hand we sim aces got a heck of alot more first hand dogfight experience than any fighter pilot of WWII learning the necessary theory just by the way in a try'n error manner. It's like the entire Arena would be filled with pilots at least equally skilled as Hartmann, Bong or whatever real ace else. So if it comes to dogfight you are nearly always pushed at an harder level than 99% of any real fighter pilots had to do for winning their dogfights in real life, since it was quite rare if they were aces to meet another ace as opponent. Most sim pilots arround here don't seem to be that good normal pilots though. Flying sailplanes in real myself I also keep wondering how I always keep notorious coming in for the landings below the glide path here (you shouldn't do that IRL or you get grounded for at least 2 weeks
), but well it just doesn't concern you as much here as it would be if your live really depends on it.
Bottom line is: If you want to compare real life dogfight experiences with those of a sim you either have to have an arena entirely filled with 1 week newbies or it ain't work.
BTW I once met a real life jet pilot in warbirds. He has flown the F-104 (Starfighter, hope I haven't spaced the number) I think and accumulated a lot of flight hours in that crates (also as test pilot). He also met Hartmann once and could look back on a very accomplished carreer in the real Air Force (german) with I think quite some accomplishments in several drill flights and simulated real life fights (remembering him saying once how they enjoyed to have beaten the USAF in one NATO drill once
). Then after he retired he came to warbirds and I enjoyed dogfighting him. Funny thing was that it actually was a piece of cake to blast him out of the sky easily no matter what he or I was flying and what E state we got. At that time I just had about one and a half year dogfighting experience in warbirds and he was to nearly zero still getting used to the view system and such basic stuff we wouldn't bother to talk about. He had to learn as every usual newbie and now (after about 1 or 2 years) he is also quite a good ace in warbirds (still flying there) and I think he would get me now quite frequently in dogfights, but it took him just as long to get the hang of it as it took everybody else to learn the game. So it still is just a game and not reality guys...
