Fighter Combat

242 SECTION TACTICS, TWOVERSUS-TWOas illustrated in Figure 5-3, is still the primary method of attack. In thiscase each section should normally attempt to bracket the other. Thesection with the widest initial lateral separation, or the section that commencesthe bracket first, generally has the advantage. Figure 6-1 illustratesthe use of the bracket against the three standard fighter formations: combatspread, echelon, and trail.In each case the friendly section (bottom of the figure) begins in combatspread, since, as explained earlier, this is normally the most effectivepre-engaged formation. At time "1" in the first example a hostile section isdetected approaching head-on, also line abreast. Assuming that none of theFigure 6-1. Bracketing a Section