Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS 79
Figure 2-12. Turn-Performance Effects on Nose-to-Nose Turns
potential angular advantage, and turn-rate capability has only a minor
effect in nose-to-nose turn situations.
Actually, both turn radius and speed play significant roles in generating
advantage in nose-to-nose turns; their relative importance is a function of
maximum separation between opponents. This maximum separation
occurs as the two fighters reach parallel headings in the maneuver, which
in Figure 2-12 (case 1) happens at time "2." Figure 2-13 illustrates the
significance of this factor in nose-to-nose geometry.
In each case the attacker (in the fighter nearer the bottom of the figure at
time "I") is slower and therefore has a tighter turn radius than the bogey
fighter, but about the same turn rate. In case 1 the engagement begins with
the fighters side by side and separated by a distance less than the turn
radius of either aircraft. Note that very little turning is required by the
attacker for him to gain a very good angular advantage at time "3," as the
faster bogey essentially just flies out in front of its opponent. When maximum
separation (time "1") is less than the larger of the two turn radii,
relative speed is the primary factor in determining advantage.
Figure 2-13. Effects of Flight-Path Separation on Nose-to-Nose Turns