Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT 149
fighter performs an out-of-plane guns-defense maneuver, nose-down in
this case (essentially a high-G barrel roll underneath). Once the bogey's
nose is observed to fall behind a proper lead position, the angles fighter
pilot can reverse, forcing an overshoot at close range (time "6"). Such an
overshoot, with the bogey co-energy or below, should provide the lowwing-loaded
angles fighter with a valuable offensive position advantage. It
remains only to press this advantage to a lethal position, as discussed
earlier.
Now that several likely angles-fight scenarios have been presented,
some attention needs to be paid to the end-game. When faced with an
impending gun shot by a low-wing-loaded opponent, the pilot of a high-
T/W bogey will often attempt to defend in the vertical. If he feels he can
out-zoom his opponent, he is likely to try it. As discussed in the last
example, when the angles fighter pilot feels he has energy parity, zooming
with the bogey might be appropriate. Otherwise, the tactics illustrated by
Figure 4-4 are safer.
When he is caught at slow speed with some altitude available, the pilot
of a high-wing-loaded bogey is more likely to attempt a defensive spiral. As
discussed in Chapter 3, this can be a very effective guns defense, and
skillful use of decelerating tactics may even gain an offensive position for
the bogey, particularly if the angles fighter pilot attempts to press for a gun
shot as the spiral develops. If the angles fighter pilot allows the bogey some
initial vertical separation, however, he can maintain an offensive position
(above the bogey). The pilot of the angles fighter then simply waits and
nails the bogey during its pull-out. Judging when to pull down after the
bogey can be a very close call, since following too closely can result in a
vertical overshoot, and excessive delay may allow the defender to dive out
of range.
Should a vertical overshoot occur, however, and the angles fighter pilot
find himself level with or below the bogey in the spiral, decelerating tactics
should not be attempted. Instead, the low-wing-loaded fighter pilot can
continue the spiral to defeat any guns solution while slowly pulling out of
the dive at full power and maximum lift. The turn-performance advantage
of the low-wing-loaded fighter should allow the pilot to shallow his dive
angle more quickly, causing the high-wing-loaded bogey to overshoot
vertically, again becoming defensive.
The Energy Fight: Guns Only
Everything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one-seater ... is
lost, for it cannot shoot to the rear.
Baron Manfred von Richthofen
The preceding scenarios of angles tactics should make the task of the
energy fighter pilot evident. The pilot of the high-T/W fighter must avoid
getting shot until he can build a large energy margin, allowing him to zoom
well above his opponent and position for a high-to-low gun attack. A steep
approach to a high-side gun pass helps the high-wing-loaded fighter compensate
for his turn-performance deficiency. Roll rate can be substituted