I don't know why I'm posting this, but thought maybe someone would care.
I've been having fun playing AH lately. I've been playing for about 2 months and I have little to no experience with flight sims before this. I've been trying out this and that and sucking at just about every plane in the hangar. Not long ago, I discovered that (for one reason or another) I'm a decent pilot in a 190. Last night I logged on, jumped into a 190A-8 for base attack (a62 I think). I get a five kill sortie AND get to land it, which is unheard of for me. Only 1 kill was a vulch.
I replane and reup, and it turns out that the tides have turned a bit. I'm still grabbing alt when I spot a 109, two ponys and a Spit in my 12. One of the ponys was close and on the deck, so I swoop down and pop him like a zit but by this time the other three planes are closer. I zoom up as high as I can and make a flopping turn to meet the cons again (hopefully with more E). The 109 is pretty hot on me, we do a shotless merge, I dive, but he turns too well and I don't have enough of a speed advantage--he's on my 6. I dive to the deck to extend to friendlies although they're a ways off. The Spit and the other pony want back in on the action, so I have them all after me.
They're all slowly creeping up to me, so I know I have to do something fast. I remember one guy advising me over range channel once about the 190s: either keep them fast, or, in a pinch, slow em right down. I can't go fast, so I chop throttle and engage in a barrel roll with elevators and a touch of rudder. Not long after I hear zzzzzooooommmm. The pony goes shooting past me. It doesn't take to many 30mm rounds to make him regret his tactical mistake. He becomes a fireball. Apparently teaching by example is a lost art because not long after that the Spit goes careening over me as well. I land a ping or two on him, but the 109 is too hot on me now to stay steady for a shot for long. The Spit breaks off and runs (I presume because I didn't see him again) and I barrel roll at the edge of stall about 20 feet off the water. The 109, however, is matching my speed and eventually wastes me, but I don't care. He was a good pilot and deserved a well earned kill.
The 109 pilot was BigHog and I shot a salute to him over Ch1 and I love it. These moments are what AH is truly about. My second sortie was as fun as my first. It's all about fun and tension and a lot of you lose sight of that. This game is great as it provides a varied and rich world in which to pit your reflexes and skill against others. The developers work hard to bring you a good honest game and I think we all need to stop and think about it from the ground up from time to time.
