Avoid the HO or How to fly like a champ

[Dawger]

   

The number one reason folks get in a "Head On" situation is because they are actively pursuing a head on situation.

If both pilots are pulling for a guns solution, the end result is what is commonly called a HO.


Turning the "HO" against the other guy is a simple attitude change. Beat the other guy by flying and only use the guns to let him know he lost.

Here is the Dawger method for teaching yourself to avoid the HO and turn it to your advantage if you can't get with a trainer that can teach the techniques required.

Step 1: Takeoff
Step 2: Fire all of your guns until they are empty
Step 3: Go find a fight and fly your best game with the knowledge that you can't shoot him.

Rinse and repeat until the only bullets that hit you are after you have have blown all your energy and are down on the deck with no more options.

It works like a charm if you have the balls to do it.

You will learn that if you concentrate on avoiding the other guys guns and work for a position to safely shoot him that the Head On/Front quarter shot is easily avoided.

Once you develop the attitude of fly first/ shoot later then you can fly with ammo in the can and score some kills.

[Bruv119]

that is genius  dawger. 

A couple of runs with no ammo to spray might help change ones flying style forever.

Guys are much easier to hit from 200 dead 6.  Some people wonder how many kills you can get from one run.  It is just as you describe.  Closer you are the more chance of hitting, less ammo required per kill.

Sadly I think people just accept the fact that they will never be a true "ace"  so just succumb to taking any shot they can manage.   

[Sonicblu]

Similar thing when you run out of bullits and have to acm your way back to base.

I like the auger kill the best, the earth works well as one shot one kill. and does it count as a HO if he hits the dirt face first

[ink]

Similar thing when you run out of bullits and have to acm your way back to base.

I like the auger kill the best, the earth works well as one shot one kill. and does it count as a HO if he hits the dirt face first

"....that damn ground just HO'ed me..."




 

[Ghosth]

If your going to do that you might as well fly the D3a1 val. With 2 .30 cal forward firing guns your not exactly a threat.

However if you ping them once before you fly them into the ground you'll get the kill. Plus the guns can be
used to distract the other pilot, rattle his cage etc. They really won't do much damage, not unless you have 5 minutes of uninterrupted fire time.

But hey it flys like a champ, is amazing in the vertical, floats like a butterfly, stings, well like a very small ant, not a bee.

But nothing is perfect.

Fly the Val, learn to avoid the HO shot, use the vertical, setup good merges.

I've been trying to encourage new guys to make it their plane of choice for as long as we've had it.
But it just doesn't seem to catch on.

Still trying though. If the A6m is a knife fight in a phone booth then a Val fight would be razor blades in a suitcase.

[humble]

Ghost,

I agree completely but favor the SBD. It offers significant firepower if the shot is well constructed combined with pure turn performance about equal to the A6M2. In order to keep the gerbils running you need to fly it primarily in the verticals. Its very possible to maintain 1/1 or better K/D ratio in the MA's in an SBD...

[Ghosth]

Well Humble the SBD suits your skill level. It takes a really good stick to win in that bird.

D3a1 is a lot more forgiving in some respects, although not nearly as tough as the SBD.

Still the point is, if you really want to learn how to fly, and not depend on your guns to survive.
Pick a plane like the D3a1 or the SBD and just fly it for a tour or 2. (if your ego can stand it)

You'll learn tons.

[Lepape2]

I Like Ghosth's suggestion.

+ the satisfaction of landing multiple kills with the D3A every once in a while will surely boost your confidence, especially if they are clean kills. And since it can be taken up from a CV, some travel times are not that long to bomb a couple of GVs and return safely (which will be a hard thing to do... D3A is as attractive as a low bomber approaching a CV target.)

Everything happens twice as fast in such a ride. Your SA must be top notch (thanks to external view) and your altitude very precious. So faster, heavier birds will be a piece of cake if you can master one of the slowest planes in the game. A6M2, SBD, Hurri1, 109E, SpitI all fall into that category IMO. Its good for patience, raw practice, humility, and perks

Actually... that makes me want to try it again 

Although this tread is about avoiding the HO in order to become a better stick, relieving your plane of ammo is as much a drastic measure as flying hardcore Late Arena planes like the D3A.

[humble]

Worst thing you can do is fly in external views, IMO it seriously compromises your ability to accurately judge angle off and relative lift vector orientation.

[cattb]

A stuka is fun to!!!

[Stones]

relative lift vector orientation.

Can you explain this terminology please.

I have learnt what lift vector is.  If I understand it correctly , it is directly upwards.  If I Look straight up when in the cockpit, my lift vector is pointing to the centre of the screen. 
I think I understand angle off.  This is the angle drawn from the imaginary centre line
running nose to tail of an enemy plane.

[humble]

It's important to understand how your planes performance matches up with your opponents and your position relative to his strength (or weakness). Here is a relatively simple example, if I'm in an SBD fighting a spitfire I've got a smaller turn radius but less power. So while its possible for me to cut inside his arc it's also possible for him to fly a wider circle that covers more degree's per second or to switch to a climbing turn that the SBD can not duplicate. So if we're engaged in a flat turn and my lift vector is in plane it's more then likely that I'm scrubbing E & losing angles. If I have altitude to work with a nose down low to high yoyo may allow me to manipulate my E state enough to apply pressure (ping him a time or two) to force an error. The better the pilot the less likely he is to fly in the pure horizontal or vertical as he looks to achieve an optimum blend in relation to his relative position to his opponent and his objective.

This film might help. It illustrates a lot of stuff thats referred to in the other HO clip. One of the hardest things for a newer pilot to grasp is how to judge which shots to take and which shots to pass on. Sadly a lot of people who should know better don't help with idiotic comments like this one...

If you put yourself in front of the other guy's guns you deserve to get shot.

It is that simple.

The reality is that very often you put yourself in front of the other persons guns in order to begin the process of killing them. Every good reverse begins with some sort of opening gambit that is based on enticing a poor decision from the victim. In many instances this is followed up by "no way your X can out turn my Y" or " I was going X fast and you pulled a 180 and caught me you #$#$". Most of this goes back to understanding the concept of relative lift vector's and in and out of plane maneuvering.
http://www.az-dsl.com/snaphook/P40vN1ki.ahf 

Here is an SBD clip that shows some stuff as well...
http://www.az-dsl.com/snaphook/SBDinthemorning.ahf   

[Obie303]

that is genius  dawger. 

A couple of runs with no ammo to spray might help change ones flying style forever........

So does flying a Hurri 1 for a complete tour.   

[mtnman]

I actually had some pretty serious fun last month (?) flying the C47 purely for dogfighting.  I was amazed at how well it maneuvers, and how long I could stay alive even against multiple opponents.

I admit though, I was trying to ram folks; but even when I got behind them I couldn't keep up.  I intended to just try it for a hop, but it was so much fun I kept at it for a while.  Our field was partially capped, so just getting clear of the ack was challenging, lol!

Saber was still flying his F4U, and when he'd get slow (I remember one fight where he was on the deck vs 2) I had a blast chasing his opponents around and distracting them!  He eventually died, and then I did too, but it was quite a long fight, lol!

[Tupac]

i did something like this to become a better shot, i shot all the .303s in my mossie and waited until i only had 100 cannon left, my goal was to get 5 kills with that 100 rounds. I finally did after a couple weeks, and my hit percentage went up dramatically