Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS 81
plane of the intended turn, before the pass. Generally, this may be achieved
by making a small turn away from the bogey before meeting it in forwardquarter
approach situations. This separation has considerable impact on
the success potential of an early turn, as shown, and it also may reduce or
eliminate the blind period occurring at the pass. A very close pass can
result in a considerable blind period for the attacker if the bogey crosses the
attacker's tail and flies toward his belly-side during the nose-to-tail maneuver.
Passing slightly above or below the opponent is not as effective in
reducing this blind period as it is with nose-to-nose turns.
Nose-to-tail turns, in general, result in greater separation between opponents
during the maneuver, increasing the possibility of losing sight of an
opponent in a smaller aircraft, and offering the opponent a better opportunity
to escape if he desires. The greater resulting separation may, however,
facilitate satisfying weapons minimum-range constraints.
So far this discussion has been limited to nose-to-nose and nose-to-tail
turns in the near-horizontal plane. Obviously these maneuvers may occur
in any plane, and the near-vertical case is interesting, particularly for
nose-to-nose situations. Figure 2-15 illustrates this case. Here the fighters
meet essentially head-on and both immediately pull straight up vertically,
creating a nose-to-nose condition. Both fighters have similar turn rates,
but one has a considerably smaller radius because of less airspeed. From
the previous discussion it would be expected that the tighter-turning
fighter would gain an advantage from this maneuver, and indeed it does at
time "3," where it has generated some flight-path separation.
If the tighter-turning fighter is equipped with a weapon that can be fired
effectively from position "3," this may be the end of the story. This
generally is not a good gun snapshot opportunity, however, unless the high
fighter is very slow and separation is minimal. Likewise, the rather close
range and high aspect involved would cause minimum-range problems for
most missiles.
If he is unable to fire, the attacker must reverse for a lead turn to
Figure 2-15. Nose-to-Nose in the Vertical Plane