Getting shot down, under any circumstance, is ultimately your fault as the pilot.
The truth is that, from an ACM perspective, turning is and always will be inferior to energy fighting tactics (of which BnZ is a subset of). When everyone makes the same poor choice and turnfights, all is fun and well because everyone is doing the same thing (flying poorly and bleeding energy, from an ACM perspective), so no one can claim an advantage. However, all it takes is one smart pilot to realize that turning is tactically dumb, and then all he has to do is use energy tactics to decimate the furballers.
Furballers don't like this, because it means they have to use actual ACM instead of the pseudo-gamey turn and stall and loop routine that appears to have been the standard for so long. It seems to be slowly dwindling away (thank God) and there may yet be hope for this game.
No turnfighter is good enough to engage 2+ competent opponents using turn tactics. Sure, you can engage inferior opponents using turn tactics and probably win, but all it takes is one competent energy fighter and you're done. The myth of "being able to take on 3-5+ guys in a turnfight on the deck" is just that: a myth. If you're routinely beating multiple guys in one vs many turnfights, you're either flying a much better plane than they are, or your opposition is terrible. Sure, an occasional win is possible, but statistically you won't survive.
To make matters worse, the above myth is repeated ad naseum until enthusiastic, yet inexperienced guys (like MAGIC58/mikev above) hear it and accept that myth as truth. They then think something is wrong with them and their flying because they can't survive 3+ opponents in their Spitfire I. They then go to the forums, asking for help from the "AH gods," who then reiterate to them that turning better on the deck is the key to winning and having fun! At the same time, these same "AH gods" are getting killed by energy fighters, and so they come to the forum and decry using BnZ, HO shots, roping, etc., all because they can't be effectively countered by turnfighting. This is called a "clue"... and it's a joke.
If your flying prevented you from dying while allowing you to shoot someone else down, that's a good thing. If the other guy died, that's his fault. Who cares if you avoided several enemies and targeted a single pilot in a slower aircraft? He died, you lived. Who cares if you didn't get into a turnfight on the deck? Your opponent is in the tower, not you. So what if you exited a fight when someone else started to gain the advantage? Do you think pilots in WWII thought "Oh well, this A6M Zero in on my six, what honorable flying! Now I'll let him kill me because diving away would be dishonorable." No, the pilot fought with every resource he had until his opponent was down or until he was able to escape with his life.
There's nothing dishonorable about not getting shot down. It's tactically (and logically) ridiculous to enter and a furball and go into a turnfight, all for the sake of some non-existent honor. The honor in a dogfight goes to those who survived it. If you want a 1v1, go to the DA.
The MA is an all-out war. If you die in there, it's your fault. To the newer players like MAGIC: Don't let anyone's preference for a certain style of flight decide what you'll fly or how you'll fly it. Fly what you want and fly it to its strengths.
-=S=-
