01-July-2008 - 5 Kill Sortie
I had just gotten my rudder pedals back from repair and was itching to try them out. I decided to visit Mid-War, since the new tour just started and Early-War was looking a little sparse since it was Titanic Tuesday when I went online.
As I always do when I first enter an arena, I took a couple of minutes to check out the map to see where the action is and get an overall picture of things. There was lots of action clustered over two areas of the map; large dar-bars and lots of little dots everywhere. Just as I was about to join in, I saw a base come under attack way out on the outskirts of an otherwise quiet section of the map.
"Excellent"...maybe someone's trying to pad their bomber score." I upped an Fw190 to intercept. I was climbing through 8,000' over the water in no-man's land between bases when I found the con. It was an F4U Corsair, inbound approximately 5,000'. Not bombers, but at least an opportunity to practice Boom-N-Zoom.
I throttled back and started to turn into the Hog. When I felt the time was right, I started my dive. He must have been watching me, because he easily defeated my first pass. I started my zoom to set up another pass, keeping my eye on him the whole time. I reversed and started my next run in. The con made a move, but not enough of one...I pinged him, but not enough to damage any critical parts. He seemed to be a little timid, and after getting pinged began to run back to his base. I followed but was out of position. Unable to get a gun solution, I broke off before getting in range of the base ack. I returned to base, disappointed but satisfied with having learned a little about B&Z attacks.
Hoping he'd up again, I climbed into a brand-new, shiny A6M5b Zero and headed out towards his base. I leveled out at 7,000' and saw his dot on the horizon. As I closed to icon range, I saw that he brought an Fw190; he must have thought I'd still be in mine from our previous engagement. Much to my surprise, he was flying co-alt at the merge and tried to turn with my Zeke. After two turns, he was riding the silk. Kill #1.
"This might turn out to be fun!" I continued inbound to his base in my still-shiny Zeke. As I approach, I zoom in to look over the field - dang, no uppers. I fly a lazy arc around the base, hoping to see someone jump in a plane. After less than a minute I see a plane spawn onto the runway. Yes! As I watch, he rolls down the runway and takes off; it's a P-38 Lightning. I look away to check my instruments - airspeed Ok, altitude Ok, ammo Ok, plenty of fuel. I look back and see TWO cons - a P-51 Mustang has upped too!
"Nice...gonna have fun now!" The P-38 climbs up and when he's 1.5k out, I reverse down to defeat any gun solution he thinks he has. As his tracers fly harmlessly past my six o'clock, I'm already beginning to stabilize my G-load and am getting ready for my shot. After a quick check on the Mustang - he's still 2.5k out - I zero in on the Lightning and squeeze off a short burst from my cannons. I put some rounds into him but again, like with the Corsair earlier, only scratched the paint. Again, my opponent fails to extend, but rather tries to turn with me. At this point, the Mustang is closing so I break off the P-38 and avoid the P-51 with ease. He overshoots, so I again concentrate on the P-38. These guys are obviously not communicating with each other and are flying as individuals, so I'm able to avoid one while engaging the other. I switch back and forth between the two, avoiding one to take shots at the other as opportunities presents themselves. I get a couple more rounds into the P-38, and separate his port tailboom from the rest of his plane; he's going down. Kill #2.
Now it's time to concentrate on the P-51, who's trying to saddle up on me. With a quick flick of the joystick and left rudder, I break hard left to avoid his guns. These guys don't know much about ACM or their aircraft - he's pulling max G's in a flat turn; struggling to turn with me. I pull up slightly to get out of plane and make quick work of saddling up on his six. A couple of 20mm rounds make short work of his Mustang. Kill #3.
By this time, the other guy had upped another P-38 and was closing. We tangled for a minute or so, where I spent the last of my 20mm rounds to no avail. All I've got now are my little 13mm BB's. It's time to think about returning to base. But he's only 400 yards in front of me, so I decide to smoothly close in and put as many BB's into him as I can from 200 yards. I score lots of hits, but he's still flying. After another circle or two, I put another long volley of rounds into him and he goes down. Kill #4.
I turn and start making a bee-line to home base. As I look behind me, I see an Fw190 climbing off the runway. I'm already 2k out and extending, so I continue low and level at 1,000'. I keep checking behind me every few seconds to see if he's gaining. I notice that he is making progress. We're now in no-man's land over the ocean between bases. His buddy is nowhere to be seen - he's all alone. I check behind me and see he's now 1.5k out. I need to do something; he's gaining on me. I pull up and bank hard left to reverse and am now closing. I set myself to close at an angle offset to the right, so there's no chance of a head-on gun solution. I have no intention of engaging him, although he doesn't know this. He turns hard to try to get on my six (did I mention he had no idea about ACM and his aircraft?). I easily out-turn him and continue to extend back to my original heading back to base. He's 2.5k out and is trying desperately to get to me. When he closes to 1.5k once again, I turn back into him "to engage" again. Once again I get him turning hard, and as I extend back towards base, I hear an explosion - he lost control trying to pull too hard and augered. Kill #5.
The sky is clear and I have a pleasant 5-minute flight back to base, during which time I'm able to get my heart rate back down towards normal. I made a perfect landing in my still-shiny new A6M5b. This was the most fun and exhilarating time I've had thus far in my short few months online with Aces High II. My only regret is forgetting to start filming at my first encounter with the Fw190.
