I took off of A1 on the isles map in a C.202 and started heading east, towards a big blip on the radar. I'm climbing out and the dots appear, they are at a higher altitude than I am. There are six dots, 3 in front and bit lower and really close together and 3 above and behind them. As I get closer the icons pop up and show them to be 3 B-17Gs in formation being escorted by 2 F4Us and 1 P-51D.
Now, I'm not stupid and I haven't got any plans to attack 3 B-17s in close formation in a C.202, but I think "Let's see if we can't have some fun with the escort fighters."
I slide in behind and about 5,000ft below the bombers and start climbing up their low sixes like I'm an idiot, but I'm only glancing at the bombers. Most of the time I'm watching the escorts.
Sure enough, all three of them peel off and come diving down to save their B-17s from my horrible, viscious C.202. I break turn out of their firing lanes and then the melee commences.
After a few turns I saddle up on the P-51D and riddle him with fire. I lit him up like a Christmas tree, he puts it a shallow dive and an F4U is beginning to look a bit too comfortable behind me so I break turn again. I never saw the P-51D again. He just kept on running.
Twisting and turning some more its clear these guys didn't learn from the Mustang's mistake and are deadset on underestimating my C.202. I line up on the first F4U and hold the trigger down like bullets are money and I'm a sailor on my last day of shore leave. This one breaks apart and tumbles into the sea. Death by a thousand cuts.
That seems to do the trick of snapping the other F4U back to reality and he realizes that I am going to kill him if he doesn't change tactics. Problem he has is that he is now much lower than I am, probably stalled trying to turn with me. I dive towards him as he trys to get some steam up and run. As I close to firing range he does a break turn to avoid my fire and I pull in on his tail. He's rolling and turning as best he can, but now he realizes that his F4U can't out acclerate my C.202 at these speeds and I'm too close for him to level out. He gets more and more desparate as my bursts fly around him, then he pulls it a bit too hard and does a lovely half spin and piroet into the ocean.
I decided that I had done enough and I was running a little low on fuel, so I proceeded to A1 and landed.
And that is an example of how not to escort bombers.
If they'd ignored me I would have broken off and gone elsewhere. If they'd ignored me and I'd actually been dumb enough to attack 3 B-17s from the low six in a C.202 I would have been shredded at no threat to the bombers.
Instead a single C.202 stripped a somewhat organized mission of its fighter cover because they insisted on getting a kill and underestimating the C.202. It
does have guns you know.
EDIT: That was many Tours ago.
Today I was flying a P-51D and after making an attack on an Fw190 I began to zoom climb back up. Looking behind me I saw an La-7 at 1000 yards and closing. I can see that I'm not going to out zoom him so I start to pull her over the top and stand on the rudder intending on taking it to a turn fight if I get the chance, but I'm feeling pretty screwed. I look back as I do this and The La-7 starts firing bursts at 600 yards and is still closing.
Then it says "Kill 2 by Karnak" and a chute icon appears where the La-7 was a moment before, still gaining on me for a short time but no longer firing.
Oops.
[ 10-02-2001: Message edited by: Karnak ]
