homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

Dux: I can hardly wait to hear it.

Here is a HWH story that I wrote tonight. It is reprinted from the SimHQ General Combat Aviation forum.

IT WAS FUN RIGHT UP UNTIL I AUGURED IN

The MiGs were especially aggressive and my wingman and I were hard pressed to keep them off our backs much less shoot one down. Every time I'd get one padlocked I'd maybe get one good squirt at 'em and then I'd get that funny feeling on the back of my neck just before my wingman shouted for me to break. No one had an advantage at the beginning and for a change we were not completely outnumbered so I had expected better luck.

When I hit "C" and asked if my six was clear all I heard was static. I pressed Ctrl-F1 just in time. I had just managed to get a MiG smoking before that key press padlocked a new MiG on my tail and glowing tennis balls were being lobbed past my ride. This reminded me I had an appointment elsewhere.

The use of that Ctrl-F1 combination is vital IMHO especially when your heroic but dispensable wingman gets so inconveniently lost or shot down. I split S'ed and got on the audacious MiG's tail and promptly shot him down. Before he had hit the ground another of his buddies caught my undivided by mussing the paint job on my Sabre's tail. Having never been properly introduced I was offended and pulled around and eventually got on his tail and returned the greeting.

That guy pulled every maneuver in the Korean Pilot's "How To Give Yankee Sky Pirates The Slip" book. At one point I was looking straight up at him and he was inverted looking down at me. Any closer and I could have read the time on his Mickey Mouse watch.

We rolled around each other. I came out of my roll on his six close enough to read his N. Korean driver's license and apparently he took offense to that and popped his speed break. I fought hard not to over shoot but it was too late and although he was in a fatal spin he took a parting shot at me as I zoomed by trying hard to get as low as I could so he couldn't see me. By now neither of us had much wiggle room and he was already headed for a dirt sandwich. I was angry at myself for over shooting and at him for nearly nailing my butt to his hanger wall. I pulled too hard to go around and watch him plow in and I stalled out way too low to recover.

That spin ended up in the weeds with me trying hard to remember the keyboard cheat that gives you an extra 1000 feet so you can mentally determine your list of beneficiaries and make the final touches on your last will and testament. Cheat...me cheat? Honesty forces me to admit that it was only my failing memory and that first good bounce that kept me from cheating my friends and I am not particularly ashamed to admit it...