Fighter Combat

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT 153bogey visually. Once he reaches a vertical attitude, the pilot of the high-T/W fighter can roll slightly one way or the other if necessary to align hisaircraft's wings perpendicular to the bogey's position, then pull slightlypast the vertical toward the bogey. During the remainder of the zoomtoward time "3," the energy fighter pilot should ease to a zero-G or slightlynegative-G condition in order to achieve the highest possible zoom altitude.Simultaneously, he should begin to drift toward a position almostdirectly above the bogey. Care should be taken, however, not to positiondirectly above and in front of the opponent too early. If altitude separationat time "3" does not exceed the bogey's effective guns range the opponentmay squirt out some lead at this point, force a defensive maneuver, andseize the offensive. When its maneuver is timed properly, the energyfighter will drift over the bogey near the top of the zoom, with maximumvertical separation, just as the bogey pilot is becoming more concernedwith controlling his aircraft at slow airspeed and less concerned withaiming his guns.After establishing the proper zoom attitude and beginning the drifttoward the bogey, the energy fighter pilot may choose to roll his aircraft inthe unloaded condition to point either wingtip at the bogey. This tactic,known as "profiling," reduces the presented area of the energy fighter asviewed by the bogey pilot, making it more likely that the enemy will losesight. It also may facilitate the task of the energy fighter pilot in watchingthe bogey, and reduce the possibility of his flying out in front of theopponent's guns.At time "3" the bogey runs out of airspeed and its nose begins to falltoward the horizon. Allowing the bogey to begin its pull-up first alsoensures that it will top out first. Once he reaches a slightly nose-downattitude, the bogey pilot rolls upright to regain sight of the energy fighterabove, and begins a nose-low, unloaded acceleration. On seeing the bogey'snose start to fall through, the pilot of the energy fighter needs to assesswhether sufficient vertical separation exists for a successful gun attack. Ifnot, the zoom can be continued until the required separation is available.Once this separation has been created, the energy fighter pilot should gethis nose pointed down at the bogey very quickly to cut his opponent'sacceleration time to a minimum. This may be accomplished by configuringfor greatest lift (flaps, slats, etc.) and using maximum available G todrop down into the bogey's rear hemisphere for a diving gun attack.When flying at very slow airspeeds the energy fighter pilot may chooseinstead to push over the top or to employ a "rudder reversal" at the peak ofhis zoom. Also sometimes called a "hammerhead turn," the latter maneuvercauses the aircraft to rotate about its vertical axis, pivoting sidewaysfrom a nose-high to a nose-low attitude. In most aircraft the rudderreversal is performed in an unloaded condition by applying full rudder inthe direction the pilot wishes the nose to fall.This technique apparently was first used in combat by Max Immelmann,a World War I German flyer who was one of the world's first fighteraces. (He won his fifth victory within a few days of Oswald Boelcke's,another great German air fighter and tactician.) One of Immelmann's