Evasion Tactics

[Ras 0]

When in trouble ( this is survival of the fittest) I often head for the nearest friendly airbase when being chased by the enemy and land and let my foot soldiers take care of the problem. And it works if you land at an army base also. They really open up on the enemey as they continue and dive and try and strafe my plane as I sit on the ground. I also found that if have no friendlys around, you can land in an open field and hide among the trees. Does anyone else do this? I do when run out of ammo or am damaged.

[Vasco 3]

Welcome to our world!

 

The bottom line is you do whatever it takes to survive. I've had to nurse a damaged aircraft back across the lines at under 2,000' on many occasions, skimmed trees and dropped her right on top of our communication trenches.

 

Whatever it takes!

[Check Six 2]

Ras,

 

I have only used this once. I was damaged and needed to find a safe landing place pretty quickly. I had three Albatrosses harrassing me, and I was jinking about the sky as best as I could in my crippled crate.

I landed at a friendly Aerodrome (not my home, but good enough). I checked by scrolling through my F4 and got a pretty good view of the three enemy circling around, swooping on me (but NOT firing - good sports, those chaps), and stunting over me.

 

They were getting only sporadic fire from the aerodrome as I was at the other end of the aerodrome. After working out they weren't going to get shot down or leave me alone, I fired up the engine and was going to taxi to the huts and hangars in the hope this would produce more concentrated fire and either shoot them down or convince them to go home, then I could choose to end my flight there, or try to limp home (I was going to opt to stay there, I really was shot about pretty bad).

 

Well, the inevitable happened. Ground loop. Dead.

 

Still, it DID work, they DID leave me alone and didn't strafe me on the ground, and I DID enjoy the stunts they were performing over me (at first I didn't, thought was a dead man).

Edited July 13, 2009 by Steve Drew

[Olham 164]

The airfield tactic is one I use, when out of ammo. But I don't land - I lure them to follow me around and around,

until the ground fire finishes them off. When I come back on the last drop (and that happens often - my brain is

like a sieve; I keep forgetting to fill in the right amount), I have even had to make a landing in a forrest. There

was just this one road cutting through it. Ever tried to land in a narrow alley way?

[Waldemar Kurtz 1]

last night I had to use every trick I could think of (which wasn't as much as I had hoped it would be). I was flying a Nieuport 11 on a recon patrol when my flight of three got attacked by six Fokker Eindeckers from above. I didn't even see them, as I was busy firing rockets at trucks and infantry on the ground. but I suddenly turned around to make another pass and I saw a huge furball of a dozen planes twisting around just above the hill tops! I found one guy and shot him down and found myself under fire.

 

I turned hard to the left, and that didn't shake him, then reversed direction and that had no effect. this Fokker was all over me for some reason. I then tried kicking the rudder bar around and turning again-- same result. only this time I fell into a spin! I had maybe 500 feet and a huge mountainside beneath me... I was pretty sure I was gonna die. so I cut the engine and rolled even harder to my left. then I pulled back on the stick and got ready to die... but I head a loud crack and my machine bounced harshly off the downward slope of the hill and I firewalled my engine and started to climb. just barely crashing into another ridge on the mountainside.

 

I gained some alt, hoping the Fokker had ignored me or thought me dead--but no such luck. this time he came at me again--but he was far enough away I could gain some altitude. I held down hard left rudder and began a slight right hand turn, and then reversed that. I could see he was getting even closer. my hope was that he would overshoot me. but he just started climbing. so then I began pulling the nose up and down to bleed off speed. that got his attention, he tried attacking, so I began to dive. as he got closer I pulled up as sharply as I could and kicked the rudder over hard left and fell into another spin.

 

I tumbled over three or four times and then recovered at his 4 o'clock low. since I was already in a pursuit attitude I climbed up behind him and emptied 80 rounds into the guy and killed him. but by now I had three other fokkers to worry about. so I was weaving in and out of the hill tops. every time I went over a ridge I'd see how safe it was to dive-- the dive full out with hard rudder to one side or the other. the AI tends to (like people) not always account for side-slipping, so that saved me a dozen times over on this mission.

 

your evasion tactics should vary from plane to plane. if you can turn better than most of your adversaries than a flat or rolling scissors might be the key to getting out of trouble. if you can outclimb then climb. if you're in an SE5a against a Dr.I a very shallow high-speed climb is the best way to get out of there. or, for example, the Roland C.II is technically supposed to be about 10 mph faster than the Airco DH.2 at low altitudes-- so this tactic should work in that situation as well.

 

I understand full well the strategy of flying towards the nearest friendl landmark bristling with machine guns. on the very next mission I was foolish enough to chase a low flying Fokker near an infantry position and I saw at least 6 machine gun nests open up on me. the air was filled with so many tracers I could barely see! so I let fly with all of my rockets (didn't even try to aim) and ran the hell away. I didn't want the German THAT badly!

 

it's terrible, I know, but I've been taken prisoner behind friendly lines so often (just becaus EA were nearby) that sometimes I just put the machine down somewhere flat-- put the throttle on 10% and jump into the observer's chair and open fire on anything that gets close enough for me to kill! it's preposterous for me to land 3 miles behind the front lines and be declared a POW just because there's three enemy aircraft overhead. so, if I know that I'm doomed and have to make a dead-stick landing-- I usually try to jump into the observer's chair as quickly as possible and just start blasting people away.

[Duce Lewis 3]

your evasion tactics should vary from plane to plane. if you can turn better than most of your adversaries than a flat or rolling scissors might be the key to getting out of trouble. if you can outclimb then climb. if you're in an SE5a against a Dr.I a very shallow high-speed climb is the best way to get out of there. or, for example, the Roland C.II is technically supposed to be about 10 mph faster than the Airco DH.2 at low altitudes-- so this tactic should work in that situation as well.

Good advice

Always fly to your strengths and make the other guy fight your fight

 

I was returning alone from the front in my D7 when 4 Camels approched head-on

Turned 90 Deg and tried to run, a good tactic as the D7 has a speed advantage

But they had a big height advantage and caught me

 

Wow, what a wild melee! turn, turn, turn, snapping off short bursts

A lot of wing overs and immelmann's as they either maintin or gain altitude

And if there's a short free moment, just pull up & grab air

Eventually, the tactics plus degrading their performance put me on top

 

Now the defensive fight turned offensive

Ended up snagging 3 ...one must have slipped away at sometime during the scrap

The schnapps tasted especially gute that night, though I didn't pour it with the steadiest of hands

[Mr. Lucky 0]

Many people use the word 'immersion' too loosely or don't know what it is. We know.

I've many a time had to hedge hop or fly down roads between trees to evade one or more tenacious enemies.

I hate when your trying to land a crippled machine (anywhere) and the b@$tard$ keep stitching you with lead before you can land safely.

One time, I managed to land, but I was too close to the front to feel safe, so I taxied further on, over hill and dale, then I shut down the engine and ended the mission like Olham, a little shaky and loaded with sweat. One time, I was in a DR1 chasing an AI SE5A and he was actually hedge hopping to get away. Surprised me no end. Hairy stuff.