In other words:
Emil: "This is how to optimally use the 109"
Bewolf: "I agree. Let's also see what happens in a situation that arises from non-optimal use"
No need to get in a fight guys
This is the main distinction of combat styles, especially when flying aircraft that need some discipline, and it matches my personal experience.
I was never much of an onliner, but in the previous IL2 series i would take a 190A up in warclouds or spits vs 109s once in a while and that's exactly what i learned:
a) Flying carefully tends to not get you killed often, because you avoid sticky situations and
b) Avoiding sticky situations at all costs deprives you of the practice you need to turn the tables if you find yourself in one
Overall: You get killed less on the whole, but should you get in a tight spot you will most likely be shot down because you don't know how to act.
And since we have a venue with limited penalties for getting the required practice, i think it's a good idea every now and again to hop onto a DF server and "fly stupid" on purpose to get in a bad spot, only in order to practice how to get out of it
I mean, there are cases where you have no choice at all than to get in a bad spot, depending on your priorities of course.
I was always the guy that flew carefully and BnZed with the 190 and that's what i try to do with the 109 now in CoD. Well, as soon as i would get co-E Spit IX or P-47/P-51 on my tail i didn't know what to do and you will get them from time to time no matter how careful you are, because you can't watch 100% of the sky 100% successfully 100% of the time. And then, i lacked the practice and all i could do was run and drag them for a wingman to come and scrape them off my tail (if they were Spits) or just defend one BnZ pass after another and pray i survive (if they were the faster USAF birds).
Things are a bit better with the 109 in CoD because it has a lot of acceleration over the RAF birds, especially if you know how to work the pitch, so i'm not having so much of a hard time.
Just today i hopped onto ATAG for a couple of sorties and i was patrolling over Ramsgate/Manston, waiting for some 110s to come and bomb a mission target. Most of the time i have a hard time picking up lower contacts, so i descended from 6 to 2km and i still couldn't see where the 110s who needed help were.
At some point a few 110s managed to disengage and run for home while a couple more were inbound. Right then i got a radar contact report about a lone Hurri, i managed to creep up behind him and kill him and then the real fun began.
I started criss-crossing over the two airfields to keep the defenders busy and drag them away from the 110s. Well, colour me massively surprised, because i survived a prolonged encounter with 4 enemy aircraft (i think mostly Spits, maybe a single Hurri too), that lasted 5-10 minutes for sure (i was watching my fuel gauge and it was quite depleted during the course of all this).
I was anywhere between the deck and 2km of altitude, extending in a dive to get separation, getting altitude in a very slight climb at 400km/h while dragging 3-4 bandits at a time, then turning around in a sequence of mild high and low yo-yos to conserve energy and trying to get a snapshot on one of them. Then i would keep at it with a couple of yo-yos or roll reversals to cut corners by pointing my lift vector inside their turn, sometimes even with a flat turn if was feeling lucky, but i would always disengage and extend if i couldn't bring the sights on him within a couple of turns.
Cross them almost head on, turn the other way, put the nose down, engage WEP, fake some turns (roll one way and turn the other, thanks to the negative G capability of the engine, then roll level and get out) and by that time i was well out of their convergence. They were spraying a bit but i didn't get hit too much in all of this and didn't get anything important damaged, plus i scored some hits on one of them i think.
The bottom line is that i acted stupid on purpose to effect a tactical advantage to my team, i got in a tight spot, but i also learned how to manage it and come out alive. I didn't score any kills in that encounter, although i could have: it was a choice between saddling up for a few seconds more to get a clean shot and getting hit in return by their wingmen, or simply making high deflection passes, keeping up my speed and keeping them busy.
In short, get in a tight spot by acting silly on purpose, but then try to fly smart and learn how to get out of it. It was good fun and taught me a lot about how to manage such encounters in the 109. I think that with sufficient discipline and the added endurance you get when flying on a free sweep (a full tank gets me about an hour of flying or more, especially if i loiter at 5-6km on 1Ata and 2200RPM while waiting for team mates to ask for help on TS), it's actually quite feasible to use it as a solo hunter.