Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

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SECTION TACTICS, TWO-VERSUS-ONE 205 Figure 5-3. The Bracket double attack maneuvering; or both fighters may choose to disengage from the attack together for a hit-and-run maneuver. Throughout World War II, fighting wing was the tactical doctrine of the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) in the European theater. A few highly experienced teams, however, recognized the limitations of these tactics and developed their own variations, generally along the lines of double attack. Probably the most famous of these teams was made up of Captains John Godfrey (16.33 victories) and Don Gentile (19.83 victories). These pilots' success was so astounding, and their methods so revolutionary, that Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Herrmann Goering supposedly stated he would trade two of his best squadrons for their capture. The following encounter sounds suspiciously like a double attack bracket. Godfrey and Gentile are flying P-51B Mustangs against the lone Me 109. "Break! Break! One coming in at 4 o'clock to you!" "Okay, break starboard," said Gentile. They broke together and the 109 made a head-on pass. "All right, Johnny," said Gentile, "when he comes back around on the next turn you break right and I'll break left." They circled and the 109 came boring in for another head-on attack. He looked mean and vicious. He was bold enough to joust with two Mustangs. As the planes bored straight at each other's spinner, Gentile ordered the foxing maneuver: "Now!" Gentile broke sharply to the left; Godfrey to the right. They honked their sticks back, climbed and came barreling down on the 109's tail. 1 Defensively, the engaged fighter—free fighter roles also can become somewhat blurred. Whenever one fighter becomes defensive, the other fighter should immediately attack the bogey. In this case there will be two engaged fighters until the bogey can be placed on the defensive, releasing the original defensive fighter to become free. This situation is depicted in Figure 5-4. In this scenario the right-hand fighter is threatened by a bogey detected at its six. The threatened pilot breaks to the right, away from his wingman, to defend against the attacker. If the bogey continues to press
206 SECTION TACTICS. TWOVERSUS-ONE Figure 5-4. The Sandwich the attack, as shown here, it quickly becomes sandwiched by the second fighter. The sandwich is an ideal defensive maneuver when the threatened fighter can be identified early in the attack. This identification is made easier by the wider cruise formations available with the double attack doctrine. When the bogey does not commit clearly to one fighter early in its attack, a "defensive split" may be used to force the attacker's hand. This technique is illustrated in Figure 5-5. In this scenario the fighter section is cruising in combat spread, line abreast, when a bogey is detected closing from six o'clock at time "1." The attacker's position between the fighters, and the relatively long range, makes it difficult to determine which of the fighters the bogey pilot intends to attack. Therefore the fighters take a defensive split north and south, turning away from each other. Assuming the attacker is still beyond the range of his weapons, these turns can be of the energy-sustaining variety rather than break turns. The defensive split quickly forces the attacker to commit to one fighter or the other, and, in pressing the attack on one fighter, the bogey must turn its tail to the other, often causing the attacker to lose sight of the free fighter. In this engagement the northern fighter is engaged more heavily and is definitely defensive. The defender can expect to be fired on around time "2" if the bogey is carrying all-aspect missiles, and he almost certainly will be required to perform a guns defense at about time "3" against a gun-equipped attacker. The bogey's overshoot between times "3" and "4" leaves the engagedfighter pilot (assuming he has survived to this point) with the options of either continuing his turn, as shown, or reversing nose-to-nose, setting up
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Fighter Combat TACTICS AND MANEUVER
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Preface ix Acknowledgments xv Abbre
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CONTENTS Vll Single-Side Offset 353
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X PREFACE tactics varied greatly, a
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Xll PREFACE current void of informa
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Acknowledgments Much of the credit
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Abbreviations AAA anti-aircraft art
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Fighter Combat TACTICS AND MANEUVER
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2 FIGHTER WEAPONS although fixed to
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4 FIGHTER WEAPONS some firing range
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Table 1-1. American Aircraft Guns T
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8 FIGHTER WEAPONS angle is also dep
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10 FIGHTER WEAPONS the ballistics o
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12 HGHTER WEAPONS often bars of lig
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14 FIGHTER WEAPONS This system has
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16 FIGHTER WEAPONS required firing
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18 FIGHTER WEAPONS With a disturbed
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20 FIGHTER WEAPONS We were both fly
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22 FIGHTER WEAPONS The predictor LC
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24 FIGHTER WEAPONS The next best th
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26 FIGHTER WEAPONS tracking G, shor
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28 FIGHTER WEAPONS defender's inten
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30 FIGHTER WEAPONS and acrobatic ma
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32 FIGHTER WEAPONS Missile Propulsi
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34 FIGHTER WEAPONS Missile Guidance
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36 FIGHTER WEAPONS straight path. T
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38 FIGHTER WEAPONS target to correc
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40 FIGHTER WEAPONS sensor systems,
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42 FIGHTER WEAPONS Since CW radars
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44 FIGHTER WEAPONS Missile Fuzes Th
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46 FIGHTER WEAPONS prised of many i
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48 FIGHTER WEAPONS The maneuvering
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50 FIGHTER WEAPONS racy being about
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52 FIGHTER WEAPONS then slowing the
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54 FIGHTER WEAPONS Shooter and targ
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56 FIGHTER WEAPONS will exhibit lar
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58 FIGHTER WEAPONS (RWR), that an e
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60 FIGHTER WEAPONS barrel-rolling a
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2 Basic Fighter Maneuvers I fly clo
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64 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS the comb
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66 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS himself
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68 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS speed ad
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70 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS pursuit
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72 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS Figure 2
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74 Figure 2-7. Low Yo-Yo BASIC FIGH
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76 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS The pote
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80 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS In case
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82 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS capitali
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84 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS one (the
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86 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS his exte
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90 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS the boge
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92 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS subseque
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94 Figure 2-22. Defensive Spiral BA
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96 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS usually
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3 One-versus-One Maneuvering, Simil
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100 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, SIM
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140 ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DIS
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Page 215 and 216: 196 SECTION TACTICS, TWOVERSUS-ONE
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Page 229 and 230: 210 SECTION TACTICS, TWO-VERSUS-ONE
Page 245 and 246: 226 SECTION TACTICS/ TWOVERSUS-ONE
Page 255 and 256: Section Tactics, Two-versus-Two The
Page 257 and 258: 238 SECTION TACTICS, TWOVERSUS-TWO
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256 SECTION TACTICS, TWC-VERSUS-TWO
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258 SECTION TACTICS, TWOVERSUS-TWO
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7 Division Tactics The essence of l
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268 DIVISION TACTICS design began t
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270 DIVISION TACTICS so called beca
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272 DIVISION TACTICS "4." At time "
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274 DIVISION TACTICS Figure 7-8. Se
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276 DIVISION TACTICS Lieutenant Eug
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278 DIVISION TACTICS away, the free
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280 DIVISION TACTICS cloud) is now
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282 DIVISION TACTICS Figure 7-13. G
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284 DIVISION TACTICS defensive look
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286 DIVISION TACTICS In a dog-fight
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288 DIVISION TACTICS Americans empl
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8 Unlimited-Aircraft Tactics Of cou
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292 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS seve
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294 UN LIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS the
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296 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS beca
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298 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS I de
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300 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS post
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302 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS many
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304 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS poss
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306 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS posi
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308 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS may
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310 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS inte
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312 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS A go
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314 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS doct
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Fighter Missions To use a fighter a
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318 FIGHTER MISSIONS Scenarios Sinc
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320 FIGHTER MISSIONS altitude, deta
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322 FIGHTER MISSIONS agency and the
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324 FIGHTER MISSIONS As previously
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326 FIGHTER MISSIONS cruise missile
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328 FIGHTER MISSIONS pattern gives
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330 FIGHTER MISSIONS have to coordi
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332 FIGHTER MISSIONS can be turned
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334 FIGHTER MISSIONS the enemy. Suc
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336 FIGHTER MISSIONS aircraft, and
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338 FIGHTER MISSIONS point for a di
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340 FIGHTER MISSIONS become major t
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342 Figure 9-3. Fighter-Escort Miss
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344 FIGHTER MISSIONS Figure 9-6. Fi
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10 Tactical Intercepts Confront the
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348 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS Figure 10-1
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350 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS desired alt
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352 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS If the turn
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356 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS range). If
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358 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS ment, and t
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360 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS Advantages
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364 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS leader thro
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366 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS immediate l
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368 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS awareness),
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370 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS and positio
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372 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS low, traili
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376 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS also have t
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378 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS Visual Scan
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380 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS Likely thre
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382 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS be best for
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384 TACTICAL INTERCEPTS target on t
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Appendix Fighter Performance Perfor
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APPENDIX Figure A-l. V-n Diagram di
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APPENDIX 391 Figure A-2. Aircraft T
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APPENDIX 393 Figure A-4. Instantane
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APPENDIX 395 neuverability may be d
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APPENDIX 397 Figure A-7. Engine Thr
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APPENDIX 399 tends to reduce pressu
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APPENDIX 401 Figure A-11. Typical H
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APPENDIX 403 cause the Ps = 0 line
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APPENDIX 405 In theory the energy t
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APPENDIX 407 aircraft surfaces. In
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APPENDIX 409 Outside the zero-Ps li
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APPENDIX 411 factor," which is the
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APPENDIX 413 this condition occurs,
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APPENDIX 415 speed control. Many of
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APPENDIX 417 short or swept wings a
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420 BIBLIOGRAPHY Johnson, Robert S.
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422 INDEX Canard controls, 32, 398
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424 High yo-yo. See Yo-yo, high H-M
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426 INDEX Pursuit: curves and traje
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428 INDEX Turns (continued] 191, 20
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Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

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