[Barrett]

Such events weren't entirely unheard of. CS Lewis (Sagittarius Rising) related a mock dogfight with Guynemer, which the SPAD pilot won handily. It's pretty easy to understand, especially if you've been in the company of early 20s Type A male egos in the advanced stages of testosterone poisoning. I actually know of one case in WW II wherein a correspondent visiting a marine fighter squadron insisted on interviewing the resident top gun to the near exclusion of everyone else. One of the non-scorers cornered the reporter and said, basically, "You want a story? You want to know who's the best? Tell that egotistical (expletive deleted) there's one sure way to find out: let's load the guns and have at it."
Similarly, in the 1960s two studly F-8 Crusader pilots who'd never had a no-holds-barred ACM contest approached their CO saying that one was due to rotate out of the squadron and they wanted to indulge in "one last training hop." the skipper didn't even look up. He kept signing his paperwork, muttered "No" and pointedly ignored them. Years later one of the contestants admitted, "There's no way that both of us would've landed from that flight." Unless by parachute.