Back in late AH 1 or early AH II...me in an F4U-1D and my opponent in a YAK...we scissored on the deck over the ocean bleeding energy, each of us, trying for the shot...extending, pulling flaps, going WEP, dropping flaps, pulling G's to bleed energy...then back to extending, flaps up...flaps down, WEP, extend...crossing....no shot...flaps up...flaps down...throttle up...throttle down...and then...in a blink...I squeeze the trigger and see hits in the cockpit...pull up flaps...hit wep...ocean waves very close...Yak still up...and then.....as I pull up flaps and extend into his kill zone...he hits the water... I was a very new AH Player.
What is memorable to me is the fight; and, the only opportunity I had for a shot, taking the shot, and being rewarded with the kill just nano seconds before my opponent maneuvered me into his kill zone before he hit the water.
What stands out to me in this fight is the words he said to me after he hit the water..."this has been the best fight I've had in AH a long time. " It saddens me that over the years I've forgotten this Gent's handle. But! I've not forgotten the fight, nor his eloquence in saluting me in a fight that in mere nonoseconds he would have won.
From this one encounter I learned not only how to win a fight, but how to lose one, with dignity.