I think the adage “the good old days were never the good old days” is appropriate here. Boelcke, Richtofen, Hartmann, Bakhorn, all said the romanticism associated with aerial combat was a fictional product of authors and not the reality of piloting a fighter.
Marsielle even stressed the secret of becoming an ace for a 109 cadet is low speed handling, not fancy manoeuvres. The biggest danger for a pilot who thinks he can dogfight is himself and his own plane.
Hartmann said to hide in the clouds when possible and use Boelcke’s dictum of letting your enemy fill the windshield before firing.
Rall says just do your job and don’t be stupid or delusional. A dogfight is where you made a mistake and have to spend a few minutes trying to shake an enemy who should’ve already killed you.
When asked how an Me-109 dogfights against a P-47 that dives on him, Rall gave a frown with some genuine confusion and replied, you shoot him down. I think that characterises the illusion of dogfighting nicely.
Media, including documentarians do like to sensationalise. It is misleading. From what I gather famous dogfights just worked out that way by chance and happenance.
Our modern view is confused I think because of the distinction since the advent of AAMs that we have BVR and CWC phases of engagement. We now tend to use dogfighting as a generic term to characterise CWC combat. Considering prior to 1950 all aerial combat was seeking gun kills, that would make every engagement by modern reckoning a dogfight.
But surprise and pack tactics were always the preferred method, the majority of kills never knew what hit them, or went down in the opening phases. Others were lucky, and usually because they ran. Successful aces were accurate shooters, not necessarily phenomenal pilots. It was always that way, since WW1 pilots talk about exactly the same thing.
Good post with good points about romanticism. After all, it’s about killing people or getting killed yourself. Another pilot described it in four words or so: “F*cking heavy, painful and bloody” (if I remember correctly). At least that is one side of it.
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