Actually I do get it, and you are the one obfuscating. By the time someone realizes that this is no ordinary P-51 they are turning with, they will be dead, Latrobe's gunnery being what it is. Your average player in a Spit, Corsair, 109, etc, will upon seeing a P-51 icon thinks "easy kill in a turnfight" and will wade head-long into an angles encounter. Then the P-51 pilot will have them right where he presumably wants them in this case, locked into a close dogfight they probably cannot extend away from.
(The only fly in the ointment is that these planes, flown by a stick of equal competence, will usually defeat the P-51 in turnfights. But if one REALLY doesn't care about winning and losing and is only looking for the challenge of the fight, then my solution to the runner problem remains perfect.)
See, I don't have problems finding people willing to attack me or hang around and maneuver with me, and I'm generally happy with the game. The reason is because I don't typically fly something much more maneuverable, but also much slower than typical LW rides. IOW, I don't give other players every reason in the world to run away. When I take the Fm2 up though, I do often have people run from me. But do you see me complain about it? Nope, having the prey sometimes slip away is simply the price one pays for flying a highly maneuverable but slow ride.
(BTW, it is almost completely impossible to sneak up on a non-AFK person 1v1. You may have noticed we have these neon red-signs hanging over our planes? So that was a completely fatuous thing to bring up. In almost all fights the opponent will spot you and maneuver to defeat your purpose. Yay icons, I say. I've flown in iconless environments before. An air war where 90% of kills are made on unaware opponents may be historically accurate, but it gets tedious after awhile.)
Nope, the problem with my idea is NOT that hopping into a P-51, D9, or LA7 to forestall running makes the dogfight too "easy" somehow. The problem is that heavy-wingloaded LW monster planes potentially make the dogfight too hard. For instance, given equal pilots a fight between a 109F and the ubiquitous SpitXVI is pretty close. Some would even say advantage to the 109F. Take a P-51D up against a competently flown SpitXVI from an even break OTOH, and it is very likely that even a well-flown P-51 will lose that fight. The Pony or a plane like it simply won't make a pilot "look" as good in stall fighting as something like a 109F will, and it is even possible for a vet in something like a Pony to find themselves *gasp* defeated by a competent but lesser player simply because the lesser player chose a Spit or something. And we can't have that, can we? ;-)
P.S. You know Fugi, this attitude you take with me, as if you were talking to a person who knows not whereof he speaks...it begins to wear a bit thin. I've posted sufficient film of myself fighting more maneuverable planes in a Mustang to dispel any ignorance you may have had on this matter. Thus you are now verging on vindictive falsehood. I will leave you with a bit of advice: If you quit blaming the "dweebery" of others for your lack of effectiveness and turn your gaze towards yourself, you may begin to progress as a fighter pilot. Take this attitude: If you get shot down, it is your fault. No matter what happened, somewhere along the line YOU made wrong choices for that situation. If you maneuver into an advantageous position but the opponent runs away, it is still YOUR fault. You should have shot better, lured him in better, or picked a faster plane. Still can't find action? Take a P-51, D9, or Jug and fly it below the crowd. I guarantee that there will be many, many planes willing to attack you. Survival and victory will depend on your reversal and gunnery skills, but you're up to the challenge, right ace? You might also try studying a little bit of the aerodynamics related to ACM, as mistaken notions there can lead to one making wrong choices in dogfighting.
This is where you prove you don't get it.
What you describe above is called "picking", not "fighting". What Latrobe does is called fighting. He doesn't sneak up on people and shoot their plane down. He flies right up along side, wiggles his wings, tosses a quick wink and then gives them his six and says, "Lets fight!".
Guys like these "mouths" we have on the boards banging their fist on their chests and proclaiming how awesome they are compared to any one else will come and go by the hundreds before we see another like Latrobe.
Fair skies Latrobe, hope to see you soon!
