Fighter Combat

148 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFTWhenever he is engaging in a zooming contest, the angles fighter pilotmust take care not to allow his speed to bleed below that required forcontrol in level flight (i.e., power-on stall speed). Once the nose is parkednear vertical, it is all too easy to let the airspeed fall below this value, evento zero, in an attempt to get a few more feet of altitude out of the zoom. Ifthis is allowed to happen, the nose of the airplane will soon become an"earth seeker," falling to a near-vertical nose-down attitude. Even if thepilot can maintain control during this maneuver, he will have very little Gavailable with which to fend off an attack by the higher bogey, which nowhas been placed astutely in the rear quarter.If it becomes apparent during a zoom that the bogey will top out muchhigher, the angles fighter pilot should immediately pull the nose backdown to near a level attitude in a direction as far from the bogey as possiblewhile he maintains sight of his opponent. This tactic generates separationand provides time for the angles fighter to build up some speed for defensivemaneuvering.The tactic illustrated in Figure 4-4 is more conservative and probablymore appropriate early in the engagement than zooming with the bogey onthe first pass. Here, on observing the bogey's zoom, the angles fighter pilotsimply levels his wings and climbs. An unloaded acceleration might alsobe appropriate during this segment if his speed is substantially below thatrequired for best climb performance. The climb allows the low-wingloadedfighter to build energy at near maximum rate, while the high-T/Wbogey remains at high G in its vertical pull-up, gaining little or no energy inthe process. Simultaneously, the angles fighter is creating horizontalseparation and reducing the bogey's altitude advantage.The angles fighter should continue in a straight line until the bogeyapproaches the top of its loop. Any horizontal turning during this periodmerely wastes valuable energy, since the bogey can nullify any such turnsimply by rolling while in a near-vertical attitude.As the bogey approaches the top of the loop (time "3"), the pilot of theangles fighter rolls to place the bogey perpendicular to the wings (i.e.,points the lift vector at it), and bends his aircraft around to generate about a90° AOT (time "4"}. At that time he can relax the G but continue to turnobliquely up toward the bogey just hard enough to hold it about 90° off thetail.This tactic has several positive benefits for the angles fighter. Theco-planar turn holding the bogey at 90° AOT presents the bogey with thehighest possible horizontal LOS rate, forcing it to turn mainly in thehorizontal to gain a position advantage. The bogey's shallow oblique turnat slow airspeed prevents it from gaining any great amount of energy. Theangles fighter meanwhile is turning at fairly low G near optimum maneuveringspeed and usually can maintain or even add energy during thissegment. In addition, by allowing the bogey to remain very near theangular limits of a gun envelope, the angles fighter pilot is encouraging theopponent to continue his maneuver with hopes of success.This "baiting" tactic is continued until the bogey approaches firingparameters of range and lead. At that point (time "5 ") the pilot of the angles