

Whether it’s a state of the art combat jet or a prop fighter from WWII, it doesn’t seem to alter Stuge’s domination in BFM! Whether it’s a state of the art combat jet or a prop fighter from WWII, it doesn’t seem to alter Stuge’s domination in BFM!

Burning Skies’ first PvP event offered some great action with eight Me-109 pilots squaring off for a chance to win a Tacview Pro license and bragging rights!

This competition ran on a double elimination format, meaning that each participant had a chance to play again after loosing first match. The roster was a mixture of western and eastern pilots with the participation of reigning DCS air-to-air world number one, Stuge.

We had also Croncat in the house, recent MVP of the last F-5 vs MiG-21 Grudge Match event.

The Me109, also called Bf-109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. It was interesting to see how DCS pilots would handle her in a 1v1 scenario.

Stuge was obviously the man to watch after winning the last two Top Gun tournaments in an emphatic fashion aboard his dreaded black F-15C Eagle from the 104th fighter squadron. With that being said, The Eagle and the Me109 are very different machines, and wondering whether Stuge would pull it off in a prop plane tournament was therefore a valid question.

The competition proved to be very stiff and Stuge had to work hard from the very first rounds. He almost lost against a relentless Maler in the big finale as score was 2 rounds a piece when both men squared off for a tie breaker.

Maler seemed to have the upper hand, getting almost his guns to bear before both Messerschmitt’s collided, which forced the round to be replayed! It’s hard to say whether the mid-air collision was an accident or provoked by Stuge as a last ditch effort to stay in the match but in all cases, what an unbelievable twist that was as it gave Stuge an unexpected recovery.

Now with the fight restarting on neutral terms, Stuge appeared more determined and aggressive from the initial merge, gaining angle by angle in the grueling nose-to-tail turning fight that ensued; Under increasing pressure, Maler ended up making a costly mistake after he went vertical while Stuge was pressing for the kill.

Stuge did not miss the opportunity and took out his adversary after scoring direct hits with his cannon, literally snatching one of the biggest victories of his career from the jaws of defeat and most importantly, brought his new BFM winning streak to 16 victories against no losses since his first appearance in Top Gun 2.

Very few other players could really threaten Stuge in past BFM events but just like Maler, they could not emerge victorious no matter how tight the margin was at the end – it seemed like Stuge was always one step ahead and able to prevail even when the odds were stacked against him.

Video of the FINAL FIGHT: Stuge vs Maler

This is a breathtaking fight for survival between two highly skilled DCS pilots that know how to push the 109 to the edge of the enveloppe. It’s also nerve-wracking as both players need to stay aggressive but cool-headed at the same time with almost each round exceeding the 5mn mark.

The proficiency of Stuge and Maler in the 109 are closely matched and there is simply no room for error! Let me have the pleasure to invite you to feast your eyes on it and maybe share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!

If you’re keen to watch other fights, you’ve got to head over to Eekz’s Youtube channel, there were some other really intense battles that are definitely worth a watch!

Credits

Amazing and flawless organization from tournament director and Burning Skies server provider and manager, Eekz.

If you own a WW2 DCS module and would like to take her for ride, try Burning Skies server; Eekz is running some interesting missions in there and he is also very responsive to feedback from the community so if you have suggestions, let him know on ED forum. Eekz is also one of the very few DCS server owners that runs a live player statistics page that enables you to track all kinds of relevant data when you fly on Burning Skies server.

Many kudos go to Virtuoz for providing free Tacview Pro licences to the top 3 participants. Tacview is a must have for every flight simmer, it’s being constantly upgraded with new features and it has now the ability to feed you with live data as the mission unfolds. The interface and 3D objects have also been dramatically improved to the point where you can almost think you’re watching a game of its own rather than an ACMI track.

There are currently 3 different versions: the Free version, Home edition then the Professional edition, make sure you check out all 3 before you decide which one suits you. Obviously if you want total access to all features, then the Pro version is the way to go! if you havent got Tacview yet, you’re denying yourself a valuable tool that would help you analyse your sorties in great depth and make your flight simming experience 10 times better.





Brackets

Milestones and Breakthroughs

Not only Stuge is still firmly in the lead of the SA air-to-air Rankings but he has widen the gap after his victory in Burning Skies’s 1v1 Open as well as a positive performance during Round 2 of the GM series.

With now over 7000 points lead over the competition, Stuge is almost certain to dethrone his fellow squadron mate, Maverick in the race for the longest stay at the top of the A2A Rankings as only one month separate the two at the moment…

Stuge is also top 104th squadron player as well as top Finnish player. Needless to say that it’s mostly because of Stuge’s outstanding performances that both his clan and country comfortably lead respectively in the Squadron and Country rankings.

Other players have also been in the spotlight lately; Croncat is now in the top 15 DCS players after giving the best performance of GMS2. Croncat is also now the leading German DCS player.

Maler, the man who gave Stuge a run for his money in the finale of the Me109 1v1 competition moved up to the 24th place in the rankings and alongside McLOUD, brought the Firmament Fighter squadron to the 7th place of the Squadron rankings.