they wont disengage, well because IL2 is mostly about Russians versus Germans well like in Real retreating was cowardness. you only may return in cause of Plane malfunction/damage.
Like I red about a Uboat commander getting executed for beeing a coward I think it also counted for the aircraft pilots. Bombers may return after they dropped their bombs.
Also...If you noticed, if your in the combat area where the AI planes fight. but as soon as they are out of the area returning to base sometimes 2 escape, if you follow them they arent trying to dodge you or counter attack. another thing of the AI is that if they get damaged on some places they just try to belly land without bailing out when the plane itself if you try will get you back to base. for example the ME262 if you lose 1 engine you're perfectly fine you can get back to base if you be carefull enough you might slow down because you do not have the full potential but instead of doing that the AI just belly land his plane on the ground.
the counterpart to get high kill ratio is the damage model done on the aircraft. yesterday I was flying when some russki shot a big gap into my left wing. now I thought its nothing but as soon as I make a sharp turn my plane goes into a spin and heading to the ground. as I was flying straight or turned a bit my plane went into a spin. I put my flaps into combat position and that helped a bit so I could take normal big turns and return my plane back to base. also Engine is a nasty part to get shot in. or the Flaps on every wing. but the worst that can happen is losing the controls of the wings. that you only can go up and down but turning left and right is imposible because the controls are broken.
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