Fighter Combat

28 FIGHTER WEAPONSdefender's intentions after he successfully defeats the attack. A nose-highturn usually results in a greater overshoot and may allow the defender togain an offensive position by reversing back toward the attacker as theovershoot occurs. If the defender plans to disengage after defeating theattack, a nose-low barrel roll usually places him in a better position tobegin a nose-low extension, as described earlier.In some cases when an attacker is detected closing rapidly to guns rangefrom the rear, defenders prefer to delay a break turn until the last possibleinstant, hoping that this break at close range will prevent the shooter fromgaining enough lead for a snapshot and possibly cause an overshoot.Although this method can be effective, it cannot be recommended. Snapshotsat high angle-off are relatively easy to defeat with out-of-plane"jinks." An attempt to avoid such a snapshot by delaying the break maygive the attacker an even better shot if the break is misjudged, and itgenerally results in a more defensive situation for the defender after hebeats the shooter's first pass.One problem with out-of-plane maneuvers is that they require a goodamount of angle off nose or tail to be effective. If the attacker is detectedtoo late to generate AOT, or if he attacks from head-on, a turn in anydirection is essentially an in-plane maneuver. When the shooter is locatedwell to one side of the target (i.e., has a "beam aspect"), relative targetmotion and lead requirements are created by the target's speed, whilerelative motion head-on or tail-on must be generated by target G. Thedefender therefore must turn hard in any direction (using either positive Gor negative G) long enough to change his flight path significantly, but notlong enough to allow the shooter to correct his aim and track. If thedefender can maintain sight of the attacker, he can estimate when theshooter has repositioned and again quickly change the plane of turn. If not,the defender must estimate the time for each new break based on what heknows of the attacker's sight system and maneuver capabilities. The cluehe would like to avoid is the sight of tracers ripping by the cockpit. Ineither case, each jink should be made in a plane at least 90° from thedirection of the previous jink. The pattern of jink planes must not be toopredictable or the attacker, particularly if he is unseen, may position earlyfor the next jink and wait for the defender to fly into his sight. Thedefender's roll rate and technique are of great importance in this maneuver.If the attacker has better roll performance, he may be able to track thedefender from a stern position regardless of his evasive attempts.When he saw me behind he began to whip back and forth, left and right, asviolently as he could. I followed, but it was hard to line him up for a shot.Finally, as we kept whipping back and forth, right and left, I began to shootbefore he whipped and he had to fly through my fire.Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAFThis jinking procedure should be continued until the attack is terminated,usually either when the shooter closes to min-range or the defenderopens to outside max-range. If the attacker already has closure and cannotbe outrun, closure may be increased to hasten his passage through the