23.06.2009, 20:25
-The battle took place on the UK 1 Dedicated server, on the Ploiesti mission, i had my IAR 81 C with no bombs, 50% fuel and 800m MG and gun convergence.
I was at ~6000m above Talpoca(on the Balaton map) and climbing when I saw a formation of 2 Mustangs and a Thunderbird which were about 1500m higher than me and judging from their bearing were heading straight towards the refineries. I hoped that they wouldn't spot me, but my hopes soon dissapeared as I saw one of the Mustangs drop his bombs, break out of the formation and beggining to dive towards me. I started to dive, with the engine at 0 power. When he was at about 400 I saw him in my mirror and applied the combat flaps and full elevator up. I saw his tracers above me, but i heard no hits, so I kept pulling up. I thought that I was going to fly straight through his rain of bullets, but to my luck, he didn't mannage to score a single hit on my plane. After that I leveled the plane and i saw him go about 1000m bellow me, then he started pulling up. At that time i had about 400KM/h at ~5200m. I started a near vertical climb as he was on my tail about 700m bellow me. I stalled at about 6100-6200m, and he was still climbing. I decided to turn the engine down and hope he is going to stall before I pass him. To my luck, his plane stalled about 150m away from me. I fired about 1,5 seconds and I was his engine stop and put his fueltank on fire. In the same time I saw he had a P51, model C after the bubble canopy.
-I hoped that was it, and that his comrades left, going to the refineries, but I soon realised they were diving towards me. I pulled up and I was in a vertical flight as I tried to scored some hits on the enemy planes. The first one, the P47 fired a volley of 50cal about 4 seconds long, but at that time my plane wasn't following a vertical flight and the plane was starting to stall. I engadged the landing flaps as i was strugling to keep the plane to a relative horizontal flight at 140km/h. Because of my near stall, the enemy Thunderbird didn't mannage to hit anything except my right elevator, which stayed in his place but lost most of its usable surface. The Mustang pulled up and tried to dogfight me on the horizontal plane. I accepted his offer and i waited untill he was about 300m away from me. When the moment arrived i engaged my combal flaps and started a thight turn. The mustang had a superior speed, and tried to turn with me. He soon realized that he wasn't going to be able to stay with me, so he broke the turn and decided to pull up. I dived and he started to dive after me.I had about 470Km/h and I realized that he is closing in, but this time he was doing it too slow. I engadged the combat flaps again and i pulled up as hard as I could.He pulled up , but he wasn't able to get a shot on me as i was pulling up at a better rate than him. I decided to chance the fight from a vertical one to a horizontal one so, at the middle of the looping i tried to rotate 180 degrees, but before starting to rotate i saw that from the oposite dirrection, the enemy P47 heading towards me. He was about 1.500m and closing in fast. I decided not to rotate and keep flying up-side-down for the imminent head-on. Mili-seconds were passing fast as I was trying to lock him on the center of my gunsight. When he was about 900m away from me I started firing. After half a second, when he was at 350m away from me I saw one of my 20mm shells hit his right wing. I scored about 4 hits on him, 1 on his right wing, 2 in his engine and 1 in his right elevator. This, to my surprise mannaged to break this right wing, destroy his elevator and mannaged to make his engine release a thick black smoke. I pulled the stick towards me as hard as I could, making my plane to pull down and avoid the enemy hulk of steel that was begginging to dive to its death. Amazed I entered a small dive before starting the second loop . The enemy mustang kept following me. I kept the engine at full power and the combat flaps engadged. He expecting me to keep diving probably released his flaps. As was making my loop i realised that he was loosing "ground" at an increasing rate. I rotated 180 degrees and I started a thight turn. He tried to follow me in my turn, but to his demise, he stalled and entered in a spin. I broke my turn and flew straight ahead for about 500m, then i turned and tryed to take a shot at him. I pulled down a little and estimated where his plane would be in teh next half second. I fired a short burst, mannaging to hit his plane on the left side, right under the canopy and in the engine. I killed his pilot and disabled his engine. I turned towards home base, leaving the enemy Mustang spin to his death.
-But my return home wasn't easy as while I was about 10km away from home base and at about 4500m on cruise speed(420km/h) with my engine running on vapors,as i latter realised that the enemy Thunderbird punctured one of my fueltanks, and that tank was refusing to auto-seal. To add to the stress I was getting chased by another Mustang(either B or C, can't exactly remmember) but to my luck the guy wasn't quite a hot shooter as, in 5 dives he didn't mannage to score a hit. On his fifth pass, "the gods smiled in my favour" as when he was about 700m behind me i saw him slow down and finnaly begin to dive.I made a loop, and I started to dive towards him. I realised that his engine ran out of fuel. I slowed down, aimed and fired a small, MG only burst to "mark" him as my kill, then I waved away with my wings. I was about 8km away from home base. On the way home, about 2km away and at about 3000m my engine stopped. Why?! No fuel. I glided home, and mannaged to have a normal, on-wheels landing.
-This was one of my best days on IL2,as it is the only time when I scored 4 fighter kills in one sortie.
I was at ~6000m above Talpoca(on the Balaton map) and climbing when I saw a formation of 2 Mustangs and a Thunderbird which were about 1500m higher than me and judging from their bearing were heading straight towards the refineries. I hoped that they wouldn't spot me, but my hopes soon dissapeared as I saw one of the Mustangs drop his bombs, break out of the formation and beggining to dive towards me. I started to dive, with the engine at 0 power. When he was at about 400 I saw him in my mirror and applied the combat flaps and full elevator up. I saw his tracers above me, but i heard no hits, so I kept pulling up. I thought that I was going to fly straight through his rain of bullets, but to my luck, he didn't mannage to score a single hit on my plane. After that I leveled the plane and i saw him go about 1000m bellow me, then he started pulling up. At that time i had about 400KM/h at ~5200m. I started a near vertical climb as he was on my tail about 700m bellow me. I stalled at about 6100-6200m, and he was still climbing. I decided to turn the engine down and hope he is going to stall before I pass him. To my luck, his plane stalled about 150m away from me. I fired about 1,5 seconds and I was his engine stop and put his fueltank on fire. In the same time I saw he had a P51, model C after the bubble canopy.
-I hoped that was it, and that his comrades left, going to the refineries, but I soon realised they were diving towards me. I pulled up and I was in a vertical flight as I tried to scored some hits on the enemy planes. The first one, the P47 fired a volley of 50cal about 4 seconds long, but at that time my plane wasn't following a vertical flight and the plane was starting to stall. I engadged the landing flaps as i was strugling to keep the plane to a relative horizontal flight at 140km/h. Because of my near stall, the enemy Thunderbird didn't mannage to hit anything except my right elevator, which stayed in his place but lost most of its usable surface. The Mustang pulled up and tried to dogfight me on the horizontal plane. I accepted his offer and i waited untill he was about 300m away from me. When the moment arrived i engaged my combal flaps and started a thight turn. The mustang had a superior speed, and tried to turn with me. He soon realized that he wasn't going to be able to stay with me, so he broke the turn and decided to pull up. I dived and he started to dive after me.I had about 470Km/h and I realized that he is closing in, but this time he was doing it too slow. I engadged the combat flaps again and i pulled up as hard as I could.He pulled up , but he wasn't able to get a shot on me as i was pulling up at a better rate than him. I decided to chance the fight from a vertical one to a horizontal one so, at the middle of the looping i tried to rotate 180 degrees, but before starting to rotate i saw that from the oposite dirrection, the enemy P47 heading towards me. He was about 1.500m and closing in fast. I decided not to rotate and keep flying up-side-down for the imminent head-on. Mili-seconds were passing fast as I was trying to lock him on the center of my gunsight. When he was about 900m away from me I started firing. After half a second, when he was at 350m away from me I saw one of my 20mm shells hit his right wing. I scored about 4 hits on him, 1 on his right wing, 2 in his engine and 1 in his right elevator. This, to my surprise mannaged to break this right wing, destroy his elevator and mannaged to make his engine release a thick black smoke. I pulled the stick towards me as hard as I could, making my plane to pull down and avoid the enemy hulk of steel that was begginging to dive to its death. Amazed I entered a small dive before starting the second loop . The enemy mustang kept following me. I kept the engine at full power and the combat flaps engadged. He expecting me to keep diving probably released his flaps. As was making my loop i realised that he was loosing "ground" at an increasing rate. I rotated 180 degrees and I started a thight turn. He tried to follow me in my turn, but to his demise, he stalled and entered in a spin. I broke my turn and flew straight ahead for about 500m, then i turned and tryed to take a shot at him. I pulled down a little and estimated where his plane would be in teh next half second. I fired a short burst, mannaging to hit his plane on the left side, right under the canopy and in the engine. I killed his pilot and disabled his engine. I turned towards home base, leaving the enemy Mustang spin to his death.
-But my return home wasn't easy as while I was about 10km away from home base and at about 4500m on cruise speed(420km/h) with my engine running on vapors,as i latter realised that the enemy Thunderbird punctured one of my fueltanks, and that tank was refusing to auto-seal. To add to the stress I was getting chased by another Mustang(either B or C, can't exactly remmember) but to my luck the guy wasn't quite a hot shooter as, in 5 dives he didn't mannage to score a hit. On his fifth pass, "the gods smiled in my favour" as when he was about 700m behind me i saw him slow down and finnaly begin to dive.I made a loop, and I started to dive towards him. I realised that his engine ran out of fuel. I slowed down, aimed and fired a small, MG only burst to "mark" him as my kill, then I waved away with my wings. I was about 8km away from home base. On the way home, about 2km away and at about 3000m my engine stopped. Why?! No fuel. I glided home, and mannaged to have a normal, on-wheels landing.
-This was one of my best days on IL2,as it is the only time when I scored 4 fighter kills in one sortie.