Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT 145
Figure 4-2. First Pass: Case 2
situation is to get inside the bogey's turn, build some flight-path separation,
and lead-turn the opponent at the next pass. The farther the angles
fighter can get inside the bogey's flight path during the lead turn, the
more separation will be attained and the more effective the early turn
will be. The pilot of the angles fighter, therefore, should "bend it
around" in a tight, high-G turn to aim as quickly as possible at a point
estimated to be the center of the bogey's turn, as depictd in Figure 4-3. In
this particular illustration, the resultant heading initially places the angles
fighter nearly in pure pursuit (i.e., pointed at the bogey); but depending on
the geometry, lead pursuit, or in some cases even lag pursuit, may result. A
precise visual determination of the bogey's center-of-turn is almost impossible,
but it can be estimated accurately enough by noting that it will lie
very nearly along a line perpendicular to the bogey's fuselage axis and at
some distance from the bogey itself. Pulling a few degrees of lead on a
Figure 4-3. Dissimilar-Aircraft Angles Fight: Mid-Game