Living: Walter Mitty Wins a Dogfight

Dreams come true for those with nerve -- and cash

I eased the control stick back for a gut-wrenching turn and climb, then rolled my fighter above the enemy plane. The California desert spun dizzily when I came zooming down behind him as he tried to shake me.

"Get your pipper on him! Shoot him! Shoot him!" yelled my copilot, Denny ("Dooley") Jackson, as the enemy tried to break left. But I had him in the 100-mil circle of my gunsight. I squeezed the trigger, and felt the stutter of the machine guns and watched the plane belch smoke. The world was in color again; the G-forces had receded; my stomach...

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