Fighter Combat

112 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, SIMILAR AIRCRAFTdiscussed here is inherently safer than angles tactics. As long as the bogey'sangular advantage is limited to approximately 90°, and a vertical move isnot initiated with insufficient energy advantage, separation and terminationof the engagement are possible throughout the fight.By comparison, the angles technique does not afford sufficient opportunityto assess the opponent's energy. Once the vertical move is begun,the pilot of the angles fighter is "betting the farm" on his ability to forcethe bogey back down first. If he is unable to accomplish this because ofinsufficient energy or because of adept maneuvering by the adversary, theangles tactician may find himself at the top of his zoom, out of airspeed andideas with nowhere to go but down, and with an angry enemy above. Someinsurance against this condition is provided by the angles fighter maintainingat least enough airspeed for a vertical zoom climb.With any of the tactics outlined here, whenever the opponent makes aforward-quarter approach, consideration should be given to attempting ashort gun burst at the pass. Although this is generally not a highpercentageshot, it is useful in establishing offensive and defensive psychologicalsets between the opponents, and it may disrupt the adversary'sgame plan. The pilot should assess the possible value of this shot againstits effect on his own maneuvering requirements and ammunition supply.Every time your opponent attempts to dive at you or attack you in any way,the best thing to do is to turn on him, pull the nose of your machine up, andfire.Lt. Colonel W. A. "Billy" Bishop, RAFUnless a pilot has extensive training in energy methods, the cautioususe of angles tactics is probably preferable in this scenario. With similaraircraft, however, it is often necessary to take what the opponent willallow. For instance, if the enemy appears tentative in the first turn, theexperienced fighter pilot will generally "go for the throat" with aggressivebut controlled angles tactics. On the other hand, faced with an aggressiveopponent, the best course might be to "finesse" him with energy tactics.In the one-versus-one-similar scenario, it quite often becomes advantageousto switch tactics during the engagement. For example, if the fightis begun using aggressive angles tactics and the opponent matches anglefor-anglethrough one or two turns, odds are very good that the engagementwill quickly degenerate into a dangerous slow-speed flat scissors at lowaltitude. The outcome of such an engagement often rests on which pilotfirst loses control and crashes or runs out of fuel. Normally the anglestactician should not allow the engagement to reach such a stalemate; heshould make the transition to an energy fight instead. This is usuallyaccomplished by converting to a nose-to-tail turn at the next pass andrelaxing the G to the minimum value required to keep sight of the bogey.This turn is continued, allowing the aircraft to accelerate toward bestsustained-turn-rate speed (or climbing in the low-G turn if the aircraft isabove this speed), adjusting G and climb/dive angle so that the enemygains about 90° by the next pass. At this point excess airspeed is traded foran altitude advantage by the methods detailed previously. If a fighter is