Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

144 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT
acceleration and max-speed performance. If the bogey pilot decides to stay
and fight by pulling back up steeply vertical, however, the pilot of the
angles fighter should ensure he has minimum vertical-maneuvering speed
before following the bogey up. Such a maneuver should result either in a
repeat of the sequence of Figure 3-2 or in a rolling scissors. In the latter case
the low-wing-loaded fighter normally has an advantage because of better
slow-speed controllability.
Throughout the fight, the pilot of the angles fighter can be somewhat
less concerned with overshoots than he would be in the case of similar
fighters, since the bogey's larger turn radius and higher speed make it more
difficult for its pilot to gain advantage after an overshoot by the angles
fighter. Gross vertical overshoots still should be avoided, however, since
they may allow the bogey at least a temporary advantage, and possibly a
snapshot, after one turn of a rolling scissors. Minimum verticalmaneuvering
speed should be observed whenever the angles fighter is in
close proximity with the bogey to guard against zoom maneuvers. Greed is
the angles fighter pilot's greatest enemy. He should avoid trying to grab
angles faster than his aircraft's performance permits. Once further angular
gains can no longer be made at speeds greater than that required for vertical
maneuvering, the high-wing-loaded fighter must have bled its speed down
to or below that of the angles fighter, so the bogey should have little
vertical potential remaining. In this case the pilot of the angles fighter can
safely bleed to slower speeds and finish off his opponent.
Don't let the [enemy] trick you into pulling up or turning until you lose your
speed.
Major Thomas B. "Tommy" McGuire, USAAF
In the case of dissimilar fighters, the high-wing-loaded bogey pilot is less
likely to allow the angles fighter the advantages of nose-to-nose geometry.
By being uncooperative, the bogey pilot can make things more difficult.
For instance, he may choose to reverse his turn direction after the first
pass, reinitiating a nose-to-tail condition, as shown in Figure 4-2.
The reaction (reversal) of the pilot of the high-T/W bogey depicted here
is likely to occur at some time after the first pass, when he observes the
angles fighter's nose-to-nose reversal. A reversal at this time requires the
bogey pilot to "kick his opponent across the tail" and usually results in a
protracted blind period when the angles fighter is out of sight. Such a
maneuver performed well after the pass may cause the bogey pilot to lose
sight of the angles fighter altogether, particularly when small, high-speed
fighters are involved, so it is not without risk. The pilot of the angles
fighter can increase his chances of being lost at this point by making a
radical change in his maneuver plane (i.e., zooming or diving). Figure 4-3
shows one possible mid-game approach in this situation.
In this top view the fighters are initially positioned at time "3" as in
Figure 4-2. Because of the bogey's late reversal and the low-wing-loaded
fighter's better turn performance, the angles fighter already has a significant
angular advantage at this point, but it is probably well outside effective
guns range. The task of the angles fighter pilot in this nose-to-tail