<S> to Wilbus for a fun engagement.
I was flying towards a10 in my F4u-1C. There was a con hovering over a10 looking for hapless victims and I figured I'd give him a go.
As I neared the base.. I saw the con. It was a 109 about 5k above me and I was still climbing with my dt attatched. I jettesoned the DT and leveled out to pick up some speed. I knew I had no chance of out-running him and the damn 109s climb too well to fight when they have e. Any decent 109 pilot will rope-a-dope an F4 all day long.
I did have an ace in the hole. AKWabbit had come up from a nearby base also. He was still a sector away when the engagement began. My job was to keep the con low and keep from getting killed until AKWabbit showed up.
The 109 descended 3k quickly coming in on my still level flying 6. He was closing rapidly so I dove (knowing the 109 isn't too good with compression). I headed towards my ack since that was a good way to indicate I meant buisness.
He followed for a bit of the dive, then broke off. I went verticle as soon as he broke the pursuit.. trying to hold as much alt as possible. The 109 began flying away, climbing rapidly.
What began was a series of exchanges where the 109 would dive towards me then bank slightly to dodge the HO and go verticle.. hoping to get me into a rope-a-dope climb with him. This happened at least 4 times before AKWabbit finally showed up with alt and a fast p51.
It looked like the 109 was going to try to egress. AKWabbit had about 5k of alt on him and was about 7k behind him. I think Wab would have caught him eventually. There was no need however, as the 109 reversed and tried yet another series of rope-a-dopes on me.
I simply refuse to chase a 109 in the verticle. Its suicide. I didn't follow any of the rope-a-dopes, but rather proceeded flying level then turning after some separation was acheived.
About this time, another AK came up at a10. Wab was having some trouble getting the 109 in his sights due to a tad bit too much e and some excellent piloting on behalf of the 109 pilot. Unfortunately for the 109 pilot, the fight was beginning to lower in alt.
The 109 pilot must have realized he was in a tad bit of trouble, because he dove in on the lower AK and pursued him for a few turns. I dove in on the 109 with way too much e and was not able to come near folling his turn. I climbed and tried to set up another aproach.
I dove in on the 109 a couple more times... though this time he pullued up into my split-s depriving me of a firing solution. and making me overshoot 2 more times. Wab seemed to be having the same problems.
Then the 109 pilot made a mistake. He attempted to rope-a-dope the low 51 just as I was turning on him. I could not believe it as he was inverted (at the top of the rope
) and hanging there as I closed in closer than 400 yards. I fired a volley where very few cannon rounds missed. The back half of his plane came off. It was actually the first time rounds had been fired by anyone the entire engagement.
It took 2 of us.. and later 3 some 7 minutes to kill that lone 109. He gave us all a run for our money. It was truly a great fight. <S> Wilbus for that one.
I went back to view the film I made of the engagement (well most of it) and noticed something that I hadn't seen during the fight. Wilbus had been taunting me because I wasn't pressing the attack more. He didn't seem pleased that I wouldn't try to follow his climb.. and that I had dove toward the ack on the initial engagement.
I was so enrapped in the engagement itself, that I wasn't paying attention to channel 1 and didn't notice the comments at all. When Wilbus finally died... he asked who the F4 pilot was. I replied with an <S> for it was an exciting flight.
He accused me of fighting cowardly. Then he told me I fought smart. I issued an "LOL!" and explained why a lower/slower f4u does not climb for a 109. I didn't engage the argument at all. He later came on private comms and apologized to me for the initial remark and complimented my on my patience.
We had a pretty good discussion on some of the tactics and ended with a few <S> and both went on our merry ways.
It is one of the best recordings I've ever made.
Here it is.
AKDejaVu
