Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

190 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT
As a fighter, the helicopter is the very epitome of a low-T/W, low-wingloaded
aircraft, being blessed with exceptional turning capability but very
poor energy performance when compared with fixed-wing fighters. Therefore
angles tactics, as described earlier in this chapter and in Chapter 3, can
be applied by the helo in their purest form. Helo weapons useful in the
air-to-air arena most often include flexible guns, manually aimed or turretmounted;
fixed, forward-firing guns; unguided rockets; and heat-seeking
AAMs. A helo's gunsights, however, are seldom optimized for the air-toair
arena, so unguided weapons require lots of Kentucky windage for use
against high-speed fighters.
Once the immediate priorities of getting to low altitude and turning
toward the attacker have been accomplished, the helo is faced with defeating
any possible firing attempt made by the bogey prior to the first pass.
The attacker's job is made more difficult if the helo is not flown directly
toward the bogey, but at an angle of 30° to 45° instead. This tactic forces the
attacker to turn in order to establish lead for a gun shot, unguided rockets,
or bombs (that's right, bombs!), or to track with a boresight missile. Once
the bogey is established on the proper heading for releasing its weapon and
is approaching firing range, the helo should turn sharply toward the attacker
and pull him across the nose to the opposite side. This forces the
bogey to turn in order to reestablish the proper lead or boresight heading.
As the attacker approaches the proper heading again, the helo can pull him
across the nose once more, keeping the attacker's nose out of phase and
spoiling the shot. One or two of these jinks should be all that are required
before the bogey reaches minimum firing range. Helos equipped with
forward-firing, turret-mounted guns may be able to bring the attacker
under fire during much of his approach, even during this jinking process.
The opportunity to fire an all-aspect missile head-on should not be passed
up either, probably as the bogey crosses the nose during a jink. The helo's
look-up angle should provide better target discrimination, making this
shot more effective than the similar, but look-down, firing by the attacker.
A few dozen unguided rockets thrown up in front of the attacker prior to
the pass can also have a startling effect on his marksmanship.
Being under fire is bad for the nervous system.
Captain Willy Coppens
Leading Belgian Air Force Ace, WW-I
37 Victories (36 of Which Were Tethered Balloons)
Although no self-respecting fighter pilot would carry a bomb, there is no
telling what kind of low-life may be met over a battlefield, so such an
attack must be considered. Should some sort of ballistic projectile be seen
falling from the enemy aircraft, the helo should immediately turn away
from the predicted impact point and make tracks to gain separation as
rapidly as possible. The chances of actually being hit by such a bomb are
small (especially when it is dropped by a fighter pilot), but the fragments
from typical bombs can be lethal more than 2,000 ft from the point of
detonation.
Approaching the pass, the helo pilot should try to generate some flight-