There's plenty of bugs in the game. I can't reply to the forum on my phone or ipad, so this is late. In that game I never saw tracers to point out that you were firing, at me or anyone else. I saw your comments, but usually when one player has a problem that none of the other players have, it's that player. If all the players have the problem, it's the server. I think you had a bad connection.
It doesn't have anything to do with rank of the players. Trust me, I get my fair share of lead. Rather it's connection related on your side; often new or veteran players will lag and jump all over the place. This can be related to shared usage of bandwith, or distance from wifi hubs, or provider problems, or the weather. I shot several planes this weekend over 20 times to no effect, and was shot down by some who were pointing the other way or had passed without me seeing them fire in my directions. It happens. Foust and Algernon are good pilots, and play a fair game. I'm always happy to see them in blue.