Fighter Combat

150 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFTfor turn rate to accomplish much of the heading change required in maneuveringto a gun-firing envelope, and in a steep diving attitude the energyfighter has to oppose less gravity than it would when performing a levelturn. It should be noted, however, that while the guns approach may be asteep dive, the firing pass itself usually is more successful if it can beshallowed somewhat, as discussed later. Even with these advantages,however, the pilot of the energy fighter should not expect a lengthy trackinggun shot against a well-flown low-wing-loaded fighter with a substantialinstantaneous-turn advantage, since this bogey nearly always cangenerate enough turn performance to keep the energy fighter out of steadytracking parameters. The major exceptions to this rule occur when thebogey pilot loses sight of his attacker or the bogey is near stall speed attree-top altitudes. Although the energy fighter pilot can work at creatingthese conditions, a lethal snapshot opportunity often will be achieved first.Obviously, an energy fighter must have a substantial altitude advantageover its opponent immediately preceding an effective high-side or overheadgun pass. The exact amount of this required advantage depends onmany factors, but in general the altitude advantage should be about equivalentto the minimum instantaneous turn radius of the energy fighter. Thatis, a fighter that can generate a minimum horizontal turn radius of 2,000 ftat engagement altitude and optimum speed (i.e., below corner speed)would require about a 2,000-ft altitude advantage for an effective overheador steep high-side gun attack. A well-flown angles fighter can be expectedto deny such an altitude advantage, if possible, whenever the energy fighteris near guns range. The bogey pilot may do this by zooming with the energyfighter or by saving enough airspeed to allow a vertical pull-up, if necessary,to meet the diving attacker nearly head-on.The pilot of the high-T/W fighter, therefore, needs to build an energyadvantage sufficient to allow him to zoom higher than the low-wingloadedbogey by the required amount. Then if the bogey pilot engages in azooming contest, the energy fighter pilot simply waits for his opponent totop out in the climb, and then pounces on him from above before the bogeycan dive and gain sufficient airspeed for effective defensive maneuvering.This sequence was discussed in conjunction with Figure 2-15.There are at least two pitfalls in this tactic, however. The most seriousof these is the possibility that the zooming contest will occur before thehigh-T/W fighter has a great enough energy advantage. The results of thiserror were described under guns-only angles tactics in this and the precedingchapter and are depicted in Figures 3-3 and 3-8. The other possibility isthat the bogey pilot will refuse to join in a zooming contest, but rather willuse his free time during the energy fighter's pull-up to build energy for alater defensive move or a "baiting" tactic like the one shown in Figure 4-4.These are just two of the factors that make this energy fight a very difficultone.Engaging with an Initial Energy Advantage. Depending on relative performance,the energy fighter pilot may be able to assure the desired energyadvantage at the first pass by attaining a speed that is well above themaximum capability of the low-T/W bogey. This is common when a