Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

106 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, SIMILAR AIRCRAFT
Pigure 3-4. Energy Fight: First Phase
nent's speed during this period. As with the angles fight, the energy
tactician should not be satisfied with a neutral start. Flight-path separation
should be generated prior to the pass for a lead turn, as described in Figure
3-1. In this case, however, the energy fighter pilot is not looking for corner
speed at the pass, so the break-aw ay and lead turn will probably be made in
a level plane. The energy tactician should also avoid bleeding airspeed
during this maneuver to below best sustained-turn-rate speed or verticalmaneuvering
speed, whichever is greater. The lead turn, therefore, may
not be quite as aggressive as it is with angles tactics. If the bogey allows the
energy fighter a good bite on the first pass, the lead turn should be continued
in the same direction to press the advantage. The pilot of the energy
fighter might consider making the transition to angles tactics in this case,
since these methods are usually more effective against a nonaggressive
opponent. In this example, however, it is assumed that the bogey turns
into the fighter's attack, taking away all flight-path separation and generating
a neutral pass at time "1."
Aggressiveness was fundamental to success in air-to-air combat and if you
ever caught a fighter pilot in a defensive mood you had him licked before you
started shooting.
Captain David McCampbell, USN
Leading U.S. Navy Ace, WW-II
34 Victories (9 on One Mission)
After determining the bogey's turn direction at the pass, this energy
fighter pilot begins a level, sustained turn in the nose-to-nose direction. If
speed is greater than that required for vertical-maneuvering potential, the
initial turn should be at max-G, and then G should be relaxed to maintain
vertical-maneuvering speed. Since the energy tactician plans to maneuver
horizontally, any vertical separation he may allow (up to about a quarter of
a turn radius) at the pass is of little value to the bogey, so if the energy
fighter can gain an altitude advantage at the first pass, this height should be
maintained.
Once the series of nose-to-nose turns commences, the energy fighter