CMichael, I don't necessarily disagree with anything that you've said but unfortunately the facts are that a sticky LE has been the standard of combat for at least the 10 years that I've been flying combat and it's probably not going to change and for a couple of good reasons. I won't bother to go into them because I'm sure that there are several others that will want to discuss this at length.CMichael wrote:Well,here is the reason I brought up the subject,after what i have to say here,I will probable be looked upon like a turd in a party punch bowl..
Last weekend at the Battle over Malta..Exeter California, this was the first real high count pilot event that I ever been in..Each of those heats was INTENSE!! Those 5 minutes seemed like 30 seconds and 35 minutes at the same time!!
During world war 2 dogfighting combat relied on a pilot to manuver behind the foe,out think him and be able to get behind him in order to "get the shot"..To have 5 kills(cuts) and you became an Ace..but it was one of the most difficult thing a fighter pilot could do..most of the time it would take months if ever to become an ace..
Then during the late 50s and 60s, radar guided missiles were installed on combat planes were all the pilot had to do was aim the missile in the general direction and the radar did the rest to shoot down the foe..the art of air combat was lost because of it.. the pilots relied on missiles too much..
So here comes the turd part..The use of sticky fluids and ribbon that tears at the slightest tug..are we losing the skill of hard fought and won air combat battles..
During Exeter's event the cutting of ribbons , I feel was more done with the use of the sticky stuff and a ribbon too easy to tear. The actual prop cut were you had to manuver behind your oppenent to "get the shot" was not there very much..
Also there were several rounds were all planes were running around without any ribbons..we just flew around till the time was up
To me a cut should be a very hard thing to do..only the best pilots are able to actually cut your foe's ribbon with his prop..
And with that every cut will be a very memorable event..does anyone remember how many cuts they had in the 3rd round in your last event??..To become an Ace (5 cuts) in an event should have its own plaque reward..
All right so if I was king for a day and could change the rules for one event..no sticky fluids and real forest supply tape..The stuff that takes a spinning prop to cut..
I guess the final word is..A cut should be like a diamond(very rare and hard to come by) in your hand not grains of sand....Mike
(Edited by Lightning to clean up formatting errors with the new software)