I got cocky :-(

[Javito1986 14]

My most recent pilot career had been going great. I had 2 confirmed kills, another claim pending and it was only my first week with the squadron. These guys I shot down were two Triplanes and one Pfalz. I'd also been fighting Albatros planes to great success, though hadn't brought one down. The pilots were from mediocre to poor squadrons and it showed. I could sneak right up on some of them without their ever looking behind them and knock them out of the sky.

But I'm dead now. Because I thought I was a little badass that could outfly and outfight anyone in WOFF. So when my squadron ran into red painted Triplanes, I didn't think twice about engaging them the same way I did the other guys.

Nah. This triplane flew circles around me, cut inside my turn and filled me full of holes. I was out of the fight before you could blink. Then he strafed and killed me after I made a forced landing, as if shooting my engine out and making me land in No Man's Land wasn't insult enough.

I SHOULD HAVE considered the situation more before jumping right in. Should've looked at that scary paint job and treated it like a big neon "DANGER" sign. Should have realized that while a well flown Sopwith Camel can outfly a Dr. I flown by someone straight out of the Kaiser's flying school, it isn't going to work out against an expertly flown Dr. I. So I became breakfast and victory #Whatever for that jerk.

Let that be a lesson: Think first!

[SteveLohr 0]

Reminds me of a saying from my early military career:  "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots."

[Shiloh 12]

I likely would have never survived that war as a pilot....I'm too aggressive. It is impossible however to project one self into the actual conflict so one can't say for sure how they would fight. For example, French pilots may have been aggressive just by the fact that they were fighting on their own soil and their families may have been in harms way. I guess what I'm trying to say is aggressive or even cocky is not always bad. Some guys fought that way and they survived to live beyond the war. It just becomes less likely the more chances that are taken.

[Hauksbee 103]

 I guess what I'm trying to say is aggressive or even cocky is not always bad.

When you get down to it, it's almost the definition of a  fighter pilot. I don't recall the actual percentage cited, but I recall hearing that the sum total of pilots who became Aces accounted for something like 60% of all planes shot down. This was in the European theater, but I would assume that it applied elsewhere.