Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

158 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT
Any angles you give the bogey on the first pass will haunt you for the rest of
the fight.
Lieutenant Jim "Huck" Harris, USN
Unlike in the previous example, the fighters here are assumed to have
approximately equal energy (co-speed and co-altitude) at the first pass.
Because of his aircraft's greater T/W the energy fighter pilot could pull up
immediately and out-zoom his adversary, but this generally is not advisable.
One reason for this is that the bogey may be faster than assumed.
Another is the timing involved in a zooming contest. The first fighter to
begin a zoom normally will peak first. Even if the low-T/W fighter cannot
quite reach the same altitude, it will be considerably more maneuverable
in approaching the top of its climb than the first-zooming energy fighter,
which may have already peaked. At this time the energy fighter will be
very slow and vulnerable as it begins to accelerate or starts back down. If
the angles fighter can get close enough to threaten an attack at this point,
the high-wing-loaded fighter could be in serious trouble.
To avoid this situation the energy fighter pilot accelerates to best climb
speed (or, if he is faster than that, he glows by climbing steeply) and climbs
straight ahead at full power. Turning during this segment should be limited
to the minimum required to keep sight of the bogey. In this way the
energy fighter gains separation from the bogey to preclude being menaced
at the top of a subsequent zoom and also builds an energy advantage while
the bogey is turning and most likely bleeding energy.
Once the bogey completes its turn and is pointed back in the general
direction of its opponent (time "3"), the energy fighter pilot begins a
wings-level, sustained-G pull-up to gain further vertical separation. Before
its pilot commences this pull-up, the energy fighter must have at least
vertical-maneuvering speed. If this value is faster than best climb speed,
the climb between times "2" and "3" may have to be eliminated or cut
short to allow for acceleration to the required pull-up speed. As airspeed
decays in the zoom, the energy fighter pilot should constantly be reducing
G to approximate the sustained-G capability of his aircraft at that speed,
otherwise valuable energy will be lost in the vertical maneuver. Approaching
the top of the climb (time "4") the energy fighter should be slightly
faster than 1-G stall speed and be pulling only about 1 positive G while
inverted.
The separation between the fighters at time "3" and the vertical maneuver
of the energy fighter give the bogey pilot some breathing room between
times "3" and "4." He can be expected to use this period to regain some of
his energy deficit by accelerating or climbing. But since it has lower T/W,
the angles fighter cannot offset all the energy margin gained by the high-
T/W fighter during the earlier climbing extension. Assuming the energy
fighter does not bleed energy in the zoom, it should arrive at time "4" with
a significant energy advantage.
Approaching the purely vertical attitude in his pull-up between times
"3" and "4," the energy fighter pilot needs to study the bogey's position
and maneuver. The object is to arrive at the peak of the zoom, time "4," as