[bw_wolverine]

Very nice and thoughtful postings, Viper.

I find much more enjoyment with a combat flight sim playing it in the style of the real life encounters and events than trying to push the supposed accuracy of the simulation in general to my advantage or someone else's advantage. Because of that, minor differences or inaccuracies in aircraft performance tuning generally don't bother me, because you're right about the situations being about the pilot, his training, and what has happened in the past being much more an influence than his specific knowledge of just how far he can push his crate. (That said, I do like realism, and I wouldn't MIND if they tried to get it as accurate as possible, It's just not that big a factor in how much I enjoy the game itself).

I think we like to romanticize the actions of pilots a lot, and that's fine (we wouldn't be playing flight sims if we didn't!) but I think there's a reason that most war heroes and such say "I just did what I'm trained to do" etc. Circumstances beyond their control push their abilities, rather than them consciously trying to ride the bleeding edge.