The long and short of it is that after all the books have beed read, once you strap on the airplane, it's basically an instinct game. You have to "read" what's happening in 3 dimensions in real time and make instantaneous decision based on multiple data point input sometimes adjusting several factors at once.McDonnell-Douglas wrote:This is an interesting thread for me.
I would like to see the community discuss these things more often, in the same relaxed manner. Providing an overview of air combat, maneuvers, theory etc. a couple of defensive and offensive scenarios would be good material for beginners.
There are a lot of aircraft out there, so books can only offer you the theory which which to apply. Stories and scenarios of the applications of these concepts is interesting. I would like to see energy comparisons graphs between the main fighters and tips on how to defeat an energy fighter or angle fighter. For example when is trading energy for a tracking solution worthwhile, obviously you have to make it count more if the opponents aircraft is a superior energy fighter. How can you take advantage of your ability to pull better angles. And Vice Versa - How do you beat an angle fighter, obviously by using your energy more efficiently.
I am studying a fair bit of aerodynamics atm and I would quite like to be able to apply it.
Colin
Shaw just about covered the necessary "Bible" with his excellent book. I knew Boyd personally and have read all the work he did with Christie and Rutowski on EM for the initial Viper project. All good stuff!
I remember asking John how he managed to convert every one of his famous 40 second head to head "bets" while flying the Hun against all comers. He couldn't explain it.
ACM is such a fluid and dynamic thing that it defies verbal explanation. You read up on all the science and physics, then you go up and rely on your instinct to take over. If you have to think about it you're already dead.
Bottom line is that there are fighter pilots out there who can quote you chapter and verse on ACM but don't have the instinct to make all that work in the fight. They will eventually become statistics. Then there are fighter pilots who have read all the books, can't really explain it in detail all that well but have the instinct to make it work in the fight.
THEY are the killers who will survive and win.
Dudley Henriques