Fighter Combat

SECTION TACTICS, TWOVERSUS-ONE 235prolonged engagement with any one aircraft of a bogey section. Instead thesingleton pilot should maintain high energy and use his aircraft's superiorspeed to separate from the fight whenever the opportunity is presented.Time "3" in Figure 5-15 is such a point, following successive forwardquarterpasses with both bogeys. The high-T/W singleton may be able toextend away from both bogeys (broken flight path to point "4'"), takingcare to watch at least the more threatening opponent, probably the one onthe left (original southern bogey) in this case. Against guns-only bogeys,escape may be possible here. When the opponents are missile equipped,however, it soon may be necessary to defend against a weapon, passthrough the bogeys once more, and attempt another extension. This processcan be repeated (i.e., attempting to get outside a bracket and passingeach bogey in turn as nearly head-on as possible) until the singleton canescape ... at least theoretically. Problems most often arise when the singletonpilot temporarily loses sight of one of the bogeys and then isseriously threatened. Maintaining adequate energy is another problem,especially when a singleton is required to defend against hostile missiles.In addition, limited combat endurance may force an escape attempt underless than optimum conditions.In a scenario in which the single fighter has a very great T/W advantageover bogeys that are not equipped with all-aspect missiles, the pilot of thesingle fighter might choose to remain offensively engaged by employingextension/pitch-back tactics as described in the last chapter (Figure 4-7).As long as both bogeys can be kept in sight, the singleton pilot may be ableto make repeated passes through the hostile section at high speed, takingforward-quarter gun or missile shots as they become available.Summary of One-versus-Two ManeuveringAlthough one-versus-two is certainly not an attractive scenario, there arenumerous examples throughout air combat history in which a singleaggressive, well-flown fighter has successfully made a shambles of anenemy formation. The necessary ingredients include attaining an offensiveadvantage by a surprise hit-and-run attack, maintaining high energy,and knowing when to disengage. When he is caught in neutral or defensivesituations, the singleton pilot should maneuver to avoid brackets by keepingboth bogeys on the same side of his aircraft, try to keep track of bothopponents, maintain high energy, and watch for escape opportunities.Forced to maneuver against two well-flown adversaries, the pilot of asingle fighter must be particularly aggressive in an attempt to cut the oddsquickly. Engagements prolonged by tentative maneuvering inevitably leadto more serious defensive situations for the singleton.Notes1. Grover C. Hall, Jr., 1000 Destroyed, p. 209.2. John T. Godfrey, The Look of Eagles, pp. 107-8.3. Ibid., pp. 83-84.4. Group Captain Reade Tilley, "Fighter Tactics," USAF Fighter WeaponsReview (Summer 1981), p. 10.