Combat Maneuvers
Because air combat involves dynamic movement in three dimensions, one could conclude that it is an infinitely variable maneuver/counter-maneuver process. But such in not the case. A fighter pilot has only a limited number of options with which to meet a given situation. Which one he uses will be dictated more by the relative positions and energy states of himself and his opponent than by any potential technical advantages that his aircraft may possess. He will strive to deny his adversary the initiative, knowing that air combats are lost more often than they are won.

The pilot who holds the initiative can push his opponent around the sky, keeping him under constant pressure. The longer the pressure continues, the greater the stress on the defending pilot becomes as his life is threatened. Stress breeds mistakes and the first error may well prove fatal. Even if the defending pilot makes no errors he is likely to be forced into a series of energy-dissipating maneuvers that deplete his very maneuver capability and render him ever less capable of defending himself.

The maneuver phase proper generally begins when a pilot realises that he is about to come, or already is, under attack. His first priority is survival; turning the tables is secondary at this stage. The opening moves are thus defensive with with the attacker conforming predictably to the defender's movements. Each maneuver has its counter. However, it is the precision and timing of a maneuver which is important; the ability to out-fly an opponent. The most technically advanced fighter in the world is only as good as its pilot.

If, however, the defending aircraft can achieve an early sighting the pilot should be able to maneuver using normal turns to prevent the attacker from positioning in the lethal or vulnerability cones. Having negated the attack, the defender should  disengage (for instance, on an attack sortie the primary aim must be to complete the bombing mission) or alternatively continue maneuvering into an attacking position.

The aspiring fighter pilot is taught basic air combat maneuvers, some defensive, others offensive. They are: the Break, the Scissors, the High-G Barrel Roll, Jinking, the Spiral Dive, the Vertical Rolling Scissors, the split S, the High Speed Yoyo, the Vector Roll or Rollaway, the Lag Pursuit, the Low Speed Yoyo, the Barrel Roll Attack, the Vertical Reverse, the Immelmann and various versions of and counters to these.

Pairs Maneuvers
 

 The Scissors
 


This is a series of turn reversals preformed with the object of forcing the overshooting attacker out in front to a position of disadvantage. The initial turn is reversed when the attacker has definitely overshot and has drifted sufficiently wide as to prevent him from pulling back into the cone of vulnerability when the defender reverses. Timing the reversals is absolutely critical. The basic rule is that if the attacker is overshooting fast, reverse early, but if he is drifting slowly wide, take time and make sure.

Full power is used throughout the scissors but with the nose trimmed high to reduce the forward velocity vector. Airbreaks can be used to force the flythrough but if they are used too early they will advertise the defender's intentions. The scissors may turn into a stalemate with neither side gaining the advantage. The stalemate can be broken by one fighter rolling inverted when passing through the adversary's six o'clock and diving away to gain speed before pulling back up, preferably into the sun by surprise. Scissoring for more than a couple of reversals is not recommended against an opponent who is able to turn faster and/or tighter, and it should not be attempted if there is more than one attacker, either. Fighter pilots recommend that unless the advantage is gained after three reversals, the pilot should, aiming to pass head-on the attacker, since this would put him at a disadvantage in having to turn back toward the defender as he runs out.

 

A single aircraft in a hostile environment is extremely vulnerable. Therefore fighters fly in elements of two. Although larger formations are often used for specific tasks, the pair is the basic element. Combat spread, also known as wide battle, is the most commonly used formation. Combat spread is a widely spaced formation, 5,000 to 9,000ft (roughly 1,520 to 2,740m) laterally, with between 3,000 and 5,000ft (900 to 1,520m) of altitude separation, exact distances depending on the visibility conditions prevailing at the time. The The high man is always the pilot flying furthest from the angle of the sun.

 

 

A pair working as a team is much more effective than two fighters working individually. They guard each others visual blind spots and, hunt as a coordinated unit. The wide spacing is dictated by two factors: the long reach of contemporary weaponry, and the large amounts of sky needed for maneuver at high subsonic or transonic speeds. There are few set maneuvers for the pair, just a few general tricks to meet certain situations.

The Break

This is used when an attacker is first seen or is already in the cone of vulnerability. Its purpose is twofold: to spoil the attacker's aim and to force him to overshoot. The break is always made towards the direction of attack. This generates "angle-off" as quickly as possible which makes the defender a difficult target. The attacker may be able to cut inside the turn but he is forced to pull lead. To do this he must tighten his turn, which increases his angel of attack. It is difficult for him to pull his nose around at high angels of attack to achieve a firing solution. The defender should also alter his plane of flight to make himself a more difficult target.

Two forms of break are possible. Depending on the circumstances of the attack. The defender can use a maximum-rate sustained turn in which he does not lose speed, or the hardest possible turn in which he almost certainly does. The speed loss attendant on the turn aids his chances of forcing the attacker to overshoot, as does the smaller radius of the turn, but oftquoted maxims such as "speed is life" act as an inhibitor. If the break succeeds in forcing the attacker to overshoot, the next manoeuvre is the Scissors.

The High G Barrel Roll
 


This maneuver is used against an attacker closing fast from astern. It starts with a break, then a roll in the direction to the break. The fact that it is a high g maneuver means that quite a lot of speed is lost, up to 100 knots in some cases, particularly if performed "over the top."

If the attacker is closing fast and is caught by surprise he may easily fly through and end up in front, the postions reversed. If he attempts to follow the barrel roll, he will probally end up high and wide of the defender who can then turn in towards him, forcing him down and in front. But woe betide the defender who attempts a barrel roll in front of a slowly closing attacker who will follow him through the manoeuvre, ending on his tail easy gun range. His only recourse in this event is to jink.

The High G Barrel Roll is a difficult maneuver to execute successfully, and is in fact easy for the attacker to counter. It will only work if the attacker has been led into, or is in, a high angle-off, high overtake situation.

Jinking
This is a defensive ploy against an attacker who is sitting on the defender's tail within gun range with little or no overtaking speed. It is a series of random turns, skids, pitch-ups and yaws to spoil the attacker's aim. While the attacker is able to retain the advantage, the longer he is forced to concentrate on attaining a shooting position, the more nervous he is likely to become about what is going on behind him.

Obviously, at this point the defender is in a desperate situation, about to be shot down, following a break with rapidly decaying airspeed. What is called for is application of full reheat, max g in one plane for about 3 to 4 seconds, followed by max minus g in another plane held for 3 to 4 seconds. Speed should have increased by this time. Hopefully, now out of gun range, the defender can now start jinking , separating them by 30 to 60 degrees to avoid the missile envelope-or he can turn back in for a front missile attack (if he has missiles), followed by escape.

The Spiral Dive
 

When all other maneuvers fail, the spiral dive is a last-ditch attempt to shake off a resolute pursuer. This involves maintaining the highest possible rate of turn in a dive steep enough to retain maneuvering airspeed. If the attacker follows the spiral the defender should throttle back. This tends to flatten out the spiral and reduces the rate at which height is lost. The defender will slowly lose speed. As it is extremely difficult for the attacker to notice early enough that his opponent has reduced power he may start to overshoot at this point. If he does, a hard rolling reversal and pull-up by the defender will force the attacker out in front.

The Vertical Rolling Scissors
 


This is similar to the scissors, but it is carried out in either a steep climb or dive and the reversals are often carried out by executing a complete barrel roll. The ascending vertical rollingscissors places the fighters with the better zoom climb (or the higher initial energy state) at a disadvantage at first. Otherwise the fighter with the best sustained rate of climb will have the advantage. If in a descending vertical rolling scissors the defender finds himself forced below his adversary he should attempt to place himself directly beneath his opponent and manoeuvre in phase with him. In this position he cannot be seen and can pick his moment to disengage with a split S.


The Split S
 


In this the defender rolls inverted and dives away vertically, pulling out in a direction opposite to that of his opponent.

Most defensive maneuvers are designed to counter an attack coming from astern, mainly by forcing an attacker to overshoot. What are the attacker's needs? Much depends on weather he is planning a missile or gun attack. A missile attack should be fast, deadly, and conclusive. But, as WW I German Chief of Staff von Moltke observed many years ago: plans rarely survive contact with the enemy. The fighter pilot should be prepared for his attack to fail and know precisely what he will do next, either enter into a maneuvering combat.

If his attack is form head-on, much will depend on the maneuver potential of the two opponents. The more maneuverable fighter will have the edge in a turning fight. (The more maneuverable fighter at this stage is frequently the one travelling slowest rather than the one most aerodynamically capable.) If this is the attacker he should endeavor to pass wide of his opponent to give himself turning room. If there is any doubt about relative maneuver potential he should pass close to deny his adversary turning room, then pullhigh in the turn. In either case he should pass down-Sun so that his next change of direction forces his opponent to look into the dazzle. If after a head-on pass both aircraft pull high a vertical ascending scissors may result.

A missile attack from astern is normally made at high closing speed. If the attacker must zoom climb to dissipate his excess speed if he wishes to continue the fight, although it is easier and probally safer to disengage at this point. A gun attack should be made with am overtake speed of about 50 knots (just under 90 feet, 27m per second). This gives time to track the target in the sight, minimises the risk of overshooting and retains an energy advantage for maneuvering combat.

The defensive maneuvers described earlier place much stress on forcing an attacker to overshoot. It is obviously important to avoid overshooting, so how is it done?

 

An overshoot is caused by one of two factors. The first is an excessively large angle substended between the fuselages of the respective aircraft. The second is excessive closing speed. This is difficult for the attacker to spot until he is fairly close in. Either way the attacker is faced overshooting. His first remedy is the High-speed Yoyo

The High Speed Yoyo

When the attacker realises that he is unable to stay on the inside on the defender's turn, he relaxes his angle of bank a little, then pulls high. As he comes over the top he is inverted, looking down at his opponent through the top of his canopy. His speed falls due to the climb, and this diminishes his radius of turn. The 1g of gravity is utilized by turning in the vertical plane, which reduces the radius of turn still further. The attacker should the be well placed to slide down into a firring position.

The high-speed yoyo is a very difficult maneuver to preform well, and demands perfect timing and precise execution. If it is commenced too early, the defender can counter by pulling up into the attack. If started too late, the attacker is forced to pull up at an excessively steep angel to avoid overshooting. This allows the defender to disengage by diving away. A common fault in executing the high-speed yoyo is not pulling the nose high enough. This can result in the attacker ending directly above the defender. Some pilots find that they can obtain better results from a series of small yoyos than one large one. A variant on this maneuver, used to prevent overshooting or to reduce the angle-off is the rollaway.

The Rollaway
 


As the attacker reaches the top of the yoyo, he rolls in the opposite direction to the defender's turn.This has the effect of pulling him tighter behind the defender.

A perfectly executed high-speed yoyo is very difficult to counter. However, there are a few tricks that the defending pilot can try. If his energy state is high enough, he can pull up into the attack, but would risk depleting his energy reserves to the point where he can no longer effectively defend himself. Alternatively, as the attacker pulls up his nose, the defender can relax his turn and spiral wide at full throttle. This would hopefully increase his speed and widen the distance. Then when the attacker comes down, the defender breaks and the situation returns to square one. However, if the attacker has misjudged his maneuver and rolls out close astern but high, the defender relaxes his turn to maintain speed; then, when the attacker drops his nose and dives, the defender is able to reverse hard up into him. The second answer to overshooting is Lag Pursuit.

Lag Pursuit
 


This can be used when the primary cause of overshooting is excess speed. Basically it consists of maintaining position astern but outside the turn radius of the defending fighter. In this manner both speed advantage and initiative are retained, the attacker matching the defender's rate of turn id degrees per second while remaining concealed in the blind spot beneath the defender's tail. Lag persuit is best countered by tightening the turn into a spiral dive. The temptation is to reverse and commence scissoring, but this is a good way to die if the attacker is on the ball.


Low Speed Yoyo
 


Another combat situation which can arise is a stalemate in either a tail chase or turning match. To break the stalemate, a low-speed yoyo is used. This is based on the age-old concept of trading height for speed. If the pursuer finds that he is unable to close to within shooting range in straight flight, he can gain extra speed in a shallow dive. This will allow him to close the horizontal distance and takes him into his opponent's blind spot at six o'clock low. When a suitable position and overtaking speed can be attained, the pursuer can pull up and attack. The counter? Keep a good lookout behind!

 

More often, the low-speed yoyo is used to break a stalemate in a turning fight. The attacker drops his nose to the inside of the turn, then cuts low across the circle before pulling up towards his opponent's six o'clock. The gain is often marginal, but repeating the process nibbles off a few degrees of angle each time, due to maneuvering in the vertical plane. The pull-up should be started when a position of about 30 degrees angle-off is reached. It is important that the angle of cut-off is correct or the attacker will arrive in a fly-through situation with too much angle-off as he approaches the target. If this happens then he must endeavour to pull up into a high-speed yoyo.

 

 

Defence against the low-speed yoyo takes two forms. The first is to copy the maneuver while remaining in phase with the attacker. This maintains the stalemate. The second counter is more positive, The defending turn into his opponent.

 

 

If the attacking pilot has tried to lead the defender by too much or dived too low by being greedy, the defender can also pull up and barrel down onto the attacker.


The Barrel Roll Attack
This maneuver differs from the defensive high-g barrel roll in that a great loss of speed to force an attacking fighter to overshoot is not necessary. The g forces can therefore often be quite small. Closely resembling the rollaway, the barrel roll attack is used to alter the angel of approach to the defender without losing a lot of speed. It is used when the attacker becomes aware that he is going to overshoot a turning target. He rolls away the wings level, pulling the nose hard up, then rolls away from the direction of turn. This three-dimensional maneuver is completed by sliding in astern of the target.

The counter to a well executed barrel roll attack is for the defender to dive away and increase speed. While doing this he must keep a sharp lookout for a missile attack and be ready to evade it. If he reverses his turn, he will probally set himself up for a gun attack.


Skills Needed to become a Combat Pilot
 

The foregoing are the basics of air combat maneuvering. Many variations on the described maneuvers exist, but they are precisely that: variations. No air-display-type aerobatics have been included, because they are irrelevant to air combat. But, however skillful a pilot may be at air combat maneuvering, his ability must be backed up by knowledge and awareness of other factors affecting the contest.

 

 

The first essential is to know the strengths and weakness of his own machine and be able to compare them against the fighting qualities of his opponent's aircraft. For example, it would be foolish for a Phantom to engage in a prolonged turning contest with a MiG-21 at about equal airspeed as the MiG-21 has by far the better turning capability.

 

 

We must always remember that air combats are lost rather then won. Air combat maneuvering is not a series of magic formulae, one of which can be plucked from a hat to meet a given situation and guarantee a successful engagement. Rather is it a means to an end. It is important to avoid making mistakes, and equally- if not more- important to force the opponent into making mistakes by keeping him under pressure, If the opponent can be forced into a series of energy-dissipating hard turns, he will become increasingly unable to defend himself effectively. Pressure is kept on by positive and decisive maneuvering.

 

 

The term aggressive has been deliberately avoided, as aggression is a double-edged sword. Too much aggression can lead to mental tunnel vision: total preoccupation with obtaining the kill. If other hostile fighters are near, this can easily prove disastrous.

 

 

Probally the most common fault of a novice fighter pilot is depleting his energy state to a level where his ability to maneuver has all but vanished. He should endeavour to keep his speed up near the corner velocity for his aeroplane if at all possible. The old saying, "out of altitude, airspeed, and ideas" is very true; every fighter pilot has at one time or another been faced with a situation where he has run out of ideas. In this situation, his only recourse is to attempt to point his nose at the enemy.

 

 

Also, trite though it may sound, he should never give up. This is not as peculiar as it first seems; the records of air warfare give many examples of flyer's who did give up and presented their victor with an easy target. The extreme emotional, physical, and psychological stress of air combat accounts for this phenomenon. With a bandit neatly trapped at the six o'clock, the position may appear hopeless, but he has not lost yet. The attacker has still to solve the problems of closure rate, range and deflection, missile firing limitations, and even setting the correct switches. If the defender can keep the attacker busy by just staying in a favourable position, the defender's chances of survival increase considerably.