Fighter Combat

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT 149fighter performs an out-of-plane guns-defense maneuver, nose-down inthis case (essentially a high-G barrel roll underneath). Once the bogey'snose is observed to fall behind a proper lead position, the angles fighterpilot can reverse, forcing an overshoot at close range (time "6"). Such anovershoot, with the bogey co-energy or below, should provide the lowwing-loadedangles fighter with a valuable offensive position advantage. Itremains only to press this advantage to a lethal position, as discussedearlier.Now that several likely angles-fight scenarios have been presented,some attention needs to be paid to the end-game. When faced with animpending gun shot by a low-wing-loaded opponent, the pilot of a high-T/W bogey will often attempt to defend in the vertical. If he feels he canout-zoom his opponent, he is likely to try it. As discussed in the lastexample, when the angles fighter pilot feels he has energy parity, zoomingwith the bogey might be appropriate. Otherwise, the tactics illustrated byFigure 4-4 are safer.When he is caught at slow speed with some altitude available, the pilotof a high-wing-loaded bogey is more likely to attempt a defensive spiral. Asdiscussed in Chapter 3, this can be a very effective guns defense, andskillful use of decelerating tactics may even gain an offensive position forthe bogey, particularly if the angles fighter pilot attempts to press for a gunshot as the spiral develops. If the angles fighter pilot allows the bogey someinitial vertical separation, however, he can maintain an offensive position(above the bogey). The pilot of the angles fighter then simply waits andnails the bogey during its pull-out. Judging when to pull down after thebogey can be a very close call, since following too closely can result in avertical overshoot, and excessive delay may allow the defender to dive outof range.Should a vertical overshoot occur, however, and the angles fighter pilotfind himself level with or below the bogey in the spiral, decelerating tacticsshould not be attempted. Instead, the low-wing-loaded fighter pilot cancontinue the spiral to defeat any guns solution while slowly pulling out ofthe dive at full power and maximum lift. The turn-performance advantageof the low-wing-loaded fighter should allow the pilot to shallow his diveangle more quickly, causing the high-wing-loaded bogey to overshootvertically, again becoming defensive.The Energy Fight: Guns OnlyEverything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one-seater ... islost, for it cannot shoot to the rear.Baron Manfred von RichthofenThe preceding scenarios of angles tactics should make the task of theenergy fighter pilot evident. The pilot of the high-T/W fighter must avoidgetting shot until he can build a large energy margin, allowing him to zoomwell above his opponent and position for a high-to-low gun attack. A steepapproach to a high-side gun pass helps the high-wing-loaded fighter compensatefor his turn-performance deficiency. Roll rate can be substituted