Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

2
Basic Fighter
Maneuvers
I fly close to my man, aim well and then of course he falls down.
Captain Oswald Boelcke
Probably the World's First Ace
German Air Service, WW-I
Basic fighter maneuvers (BFMs) are the building blocks of fighter tactics.
They may be classified as primary maneuvers, which can be performed
without regard to an adversary (e.g., accelerations, climbs, turns), and
relative maneuvers, which must be described or performed in relation to
another aircraft. The physics and techniques involved in most primary
maneuvers are discussed in the Appendix and therefore are not covered
here.
No guts, no glory. If you are going to shoot him down, you have to get in there
and mix it up with him.
Major Frederick C. "Boots" Blesse, USAF
10 Victories, Korean Conflict
Pursuit Curves
Pursuit curves were discussed previously in relation to missile trajectories;
they are equally relevant to fighter maneuvering. The three forms of
pursuit—lead, pure, and lag—are technically defined by the orientation of
the attacking aircraft's velocity vector ahead of, directly toward, or behind
the target aircraft, respectively. Since the fighter pilot does not always
have an indication of the precise direction of his velocity vector, his nose
position is usually substituted as a reference. In maneuvering situations
these two references (velocity vector and nose position) vary by the
amount of the attacker's angle of attack and sideslip, which are generally
not great enough to be of importance. So, what is called "pure pursuit," for
instance, may actually involve a small amount of lag.