[quote=david Cotton]Hello
I understand where you are comming from. However, I would of thougt that combat fategue would start to arode the advantage of greater combat experence.
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I read some where that only one USAAF 8th airforce pilot, with over 15 kills, was lost in air to air combat. This was Ralph Hofer. A lot of the German high scorers were lost in air to air combat against pilots who did not have the same combat hours as them.
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According to recent research, Kid was downed by Flak when straffing an airfield. Anyway, be careful with your statement. I do not know how many missions Hoffer flew and what was the time but if Preddy had some 150 missions, I suppose this would be from 450 to 750 hrs of combat flying. Having in mind that the sorties of the German aces were much shorter than 5 hrs trips to Germany, possibly an average of 45 min., those 1000 sorties will result with some 750 hrs of combat flying.
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I admit that some of these aces would of been shotdown by planes they did not even see, so no real duel would of taken place. However some of the pilots did have running battles and they lost.
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Well, having eyes around the head is a principle. But indeed a lot of pilots were downed in more less ordinary dog-fights.
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I supose that if your plane is supirior and you are a good flyer, this may out weigh the more experienced pilot in a lesser plane.
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Well, the technical difference must be quite substantial, otherwise experienced pilot should be able not to get downed but, of course his chances of achieving success are much smaller.