RE: Why do you fly combat?
Pull up a chair, let me tell you "Why I Fly Combat" . . .
In the beginning there was CL combat in Winston-Salem in the mid '70s. I thought I could never have so much fun doing anything else. Then came foamies and bell-crankers and it wasn't the same.
Fast forward a couple of years and I flew my first R/C combat with .15-powered, 3-foot wings. Ah the thrill was back again.
But then a heavy, heavy workload pretty much killed all R/C activity.
Finally, a move to the Raleigh area and a group started flying scale and SSC. That eventually wore thin - I guess for all the usual reasons.
However for the past couple of season we started developing standards for E-combat. WOW! Life is good again!
But to answer the original question "Why I Fly Combat"; no, its not about "competition" for our group. We rarely can remember who got what cuts and never keep score. What happens is that frequently we are all laughing and hooting at each other - a thing that never happens at any other time on the flight line. That's what's the most fun - sharing the light-hearted taunting of each other, praising a good pass, or even better - a short cut off a streamer ("kills" or string cuts are not considered your best effort).
And now with E-combat mid-airs are rarely dramatic enough to ground an airplane for the rest of the day. And any damage is quickly repaired with 5-minute epoxy and popsickle sticks and ready for the next bout - that is, if the two planes don't just bounce off and keep flying. But the best part of our local E-combat is that the plane, motor, battery, and props are all the same! Nobody has the advantage of hottest .25 or the tightest turning FW-whatever. Pilot skill is the great equalizer.
Thus endeth the "answer".