For the first time in a month; I had a chance to wing up with Thunder last night for a little Ponys in Pairs dancing, and had a blast. Salute again; Thunder, for a great set of sorties.
During one sortie; we came across Kbman capping a freshly killed Vfield, and since we rolled into the area a mite higher and a whole lot faster than he was; he beat a strategic retreat towards A8. Now; thru 2 sectors, the race is on.
Tracking in slightly below and behind him; I closed into the the race, set the zoom and watched carefully. He doesnt break turn at d1 like most do; so I pull a little 'e' off to kill the overshoot, center him up and slide on in for a blindside six kill. Kbman holds his E, and just as I'm about to toggle the guns, he breaks at d500.
I jink up and flick into a half roll; putting him under me and watch for the split 's' to develop, but with Thunder sitting back d2, Kbman keeps the F4U's e up and continues toward A8 and saftey. Now above him again; I start back down and wind up in the same place as before.. d1 and closing; slightly below and behind. As before; Kbman continues, waits till I'm less than 500 yards back and then rolls out.. and again I think 'split s' and flick back up and roll inverted, watching for the move.
Again; Thunder has that box closed and Kbman rolls upright, drops the nose some more and roars on toward A8 and saftey. A check of the map shows us now deep in injun country and we are gettin mighty low. Again we all resume our positions in the race, and I slide on down into a firing position. Now knowing what the 'trigger' numbers are for his evasives, I box him up from the low six again but this time at d600; Ma Browning gets her chance to speak and I snipe a good long burst into him. No apparent damage; but this time his evasives are more violent and his 'e' suffers a bit. Now I'm close enuff to do damage and proceed to try and outsmart the micro warps by anticipating where the system will display him; and get lucky with my third burst; plucking the right wing off.
Kbman is now damn close to A8; we're on the deck and Thunder has pulled over the low pursuit to provide high security. Kb's still flying; rolling; sliding, and the jinks and micro-warps continue as I stay saddled up at 250 yards. Several bursts in convergance miss him.. even crippled he is not an easy kill.. if anything; he's even tuffer to get boxed up than ever before.
Again and agin; wrestling with the warps and the nose bobble, I get 'good' shots out, but am rewarded with very few hit sprites. Finally; I track a sideslip uncoordinated skid just right and pluck off his left wing.
Relieved of the assymeteric drag of having only one wing; Kman actually accelerates with his two stumps and an intact tail.. and is lined up perfectly on the runway at a8, now looming large in front of us. The race is almost over.. the acks are reaching out... I line up one more time (he's still; incredibly; manuvering, jinking.. but boring in on that runway..) Ma Browning speaks again and a long burst goes home. He explodes just in front of the runway threshold.
Inches off the deck I make a flat low reverse turn; ruddering hard; rolling a little; dodging big tennisball-sized ack shells drifting past the canopy and manage to get clear at last.. Thunder executes the one defensive cap and we manage to head back to friendly airspace intact.
Salute Kbman.. one heluva race! And Salute to Chance-Vought.. that F4u's performance with one wing; then no wings is absolutely peerless.
That was a very intense; sweaty-handed 15 minutes, and yah made that kill as tuff a one as I've ever had.
Hang
