Agreed. The game should be combat, not playing "Where's Waldo" as Mr. Magoo.
But the fact is that aerial combat IS a game of Where's Waldo, in that the large majority of fighters that were shot down by other fighters (bomber gunners, ground fire, etc, notwithstanding) were shot down by planes THAT THEY NEVER SAW. Ambush, both in the era of visual engagements and even now in the era of Beyond Visual Range combat, is both the preferred and the most common method of dispatching your enemy.
Also, as someone who has flown several thousand hours, sighting other aircraft in flight is NOT infallible, effortless, or even easy. Canopies get dirty, they get scratched (if they weren't before you got in, they will be by the time you've taken off), and aircraft are really rather small objects, and are very difficult to see at any significant range, especially those that are against a cluttered background (e.g. the ground). I once spent 3 hours orbiting an objective in Afghanistan, with a Predator drone 1000 feet below me in an overlapping orbit. Even having a rough idea of where to look for it (thanks to TCAS), and the fact that it was painted WHITE over a tan and green ground, it was over an hour before either I or the other pilot sighted it, despite coming within less than a mile of it repeatedly.
Mike
