Air Combat 4b

How to Live and Die in the Virtual Sky by Dan "Crash" Crenshaw, www.deltahawks.org
	CHAPTER 4: DEFENSIVE BFM, Part 2 F-14 Tomcat © Neville Dawson If the bandit is inside your turn circle when you begin BFM, there is a much different scenario that plays out. First you need to determine how serious the pilot behind you is. If he intends to get in on your 6 and take a shot at you, he will have to fly Lag Pursuit to get to your entry window. If he pulls into a Lag Pursuit, he wants to party and you better be ready. Your best shot here is to pull a high G turn at Corner Velocity. At this point it is imperative you are at Corner Velocity. You want to keep his nose in Lag. Your best chance for survival is to keep turning hard and see if he can get around on you for a shot. If he can, get ready for Guns Defense. There is also the school of thought that you should unload and extend (release the G and accelerate for distance). The problem here is that the bandit will quickly get deep into your 6 o’clock and probably take a missile shot at you. Figure 4-2 shows a well executed Lag Pursuit entry. Figure 4-2 Now you can not count on the bandit to do everything you want him to. And he may try to trick you into making a mistake as well. He may try to go vertical. Keep pulling hard and put your Lift Vector on him. As you start to climb, watch him. If he pulls down, back into a Lag Pursuit as you climb, you got a hot shot on your hands and he will quickly move in for a gun shot. But if he continues going up, keep your pull and follow him. You should be able to hang onto enough speed to be able to pull your nose around on him and take a shot (most likely a snapshot, but a shot never the less). See Figure 4-3. Figure 4-3 Now you have probably gotten into a "Scissors" fight. Better than having him on your 6, now the odds are much more even. A "Scissors" is when you and the bandit are in a Line Abreast or side by side situation. Both planes pull towards each other as they try to bleed speed and thus, get behind the opponent. The fighter that can slow his aircraft the fastest usually wins this one. Use every trick you know to do this, airbrakes, flaps, barrel rolls. I know I don’t recommend it, but if the fight gets slow enough, throw out your gear ... just get behind him! Figure 4-4 is a Scissors. Figure 4-4 Then again, the bandit may try a Lead Pursuit immediately. He may overshoot you, but still get a snapshot. The trick here is to pull for all that you are worth. Be at Corner Velocity ... any faster or slower and he will be able to keep behind you. And pull G’s till it hurts (or in this case, until the screen goes black). A quick side note about how many G’s to pull. When the 209th went into the first FALCON 4 test session, we all immediately turned on the blackout. This surprised some of the unseasoned folks there. But what really confused them is how we managed to maintain awareness while looking through a little circle in the middle of a black screen. It isn’t a matter of maintaining awareness at this point, it is about survival. Situational awareness is important, but if you unload G’s to lessen the blackout effect, the other guy is gonna pull his nose on you and shoot. When I say HIGH G anywhere in these lessons, I really mean HIGH G’s. O’kay, the last thing that the bandit may try this close is a Pure Pursuit. If the bandit has his nose on you and has not launched a missile, you have just met your next Kill Tally. He is maneuvering in HUD BFM ... he is always looking through the HUD. This is VERY common in sims when you are flying H2H (since this is usually the primary view used by most people). At close range, it will lead to an overshoot and suddenly you will find yourself on his 6 ... now you can go back and try stuff you learned in Chapter 3. You are in control and on his 6. OVERSHOOTS We have talked about overshoots in several places now. Lets describe what an overshoot is and why it is important to you as a defensive aircraft. There are two basic types of overshoot, the Flight Path Overshoot and the 3/9 Line overshoot. Figure 4-5 shows a Flight Path Overshoot. Click to continue . . .		Figure 4-5 A Flight path overshoot can be a minor error for the attacker, or a fatal error. If the path causes a minor overshoot as aircraft A in the figure, this will usually mean very little to you as a defender, and very little stress to the attacker. However an excessive overshoot, like aircraft B, could easily give the defender the opportunity to reverse his turn and cause a line abreast situation (which would result in a Scissors) or even on the attackers 6, turning the tables. A 3/9 Line over shoot, as shown in Figure 4-6 puts the attacker in front of the defending aircraft. A quick reversal by the defender and the hunter becomes the hunted. Figure 4-6 When the bandit over shoots, you have 2 basic ways to reverse your turn. If the bandit is going to overshoot with a high line of sight rate (he is going to pass you very quickly), you will probably want to do an "Unloaded Reversal". You need to release the G load on your aircraft (ease off on the stick), roll your aircraft so that your lift vector is on the bandit and then pull maximum G at him. Only use this method if you are sure he will over shoot. This move will not force an over shoot, but it will get your nose on the bandit quickly when he does. The other type of reversal is the "Loaded Reversal". Use this move to force an impending over shoot into an over shoot. This is simply maintaining the G’s on your aircraft as you roll you lift vector onto him. Pull for all your worth at maximum G. Figure 4-7 shows a Loaded Reversal. Figure 4-7 There is one little issue you must consider in a Loaded Reversal. If the bandit doesn’t over shoot, you will have him clawing at your underwear, do a quick check to make sure you know where the EJECTION strap is. You will have almost no airspeed after this maneuver, so if he stays behind you, you will have no maneuvering ability. This brings us to the Rules for Reversal. 3 quick thoughts to consider before you decide to reverse on this guy as he over shoots. 1. When in doubt if the bandit will over shoot, don’t reverse. 2. Best results are when you reverse when the bandit is within your turn circle with a high line of sight. 3. Do not reverse if the bandit is outside your turn circle. He has way to much room and time to correct. GUNS GUNS GUNS Hawks during gunfight © Neville Dawson Now your down to the wire. He has closed in range for a gun shot. You need to know the two types of gun shots and what to do. Snapshot A Snapshot is when a bandit is passing you at a high line of site rate. To defend against this type of attack you need to break out of plane. The tough part is to decide when to make the break. Early is better than late ... so watch him close. Tracking Shot This is where the bandit has maintained control, is on your 6 and tracking you for the kill. This will require multiple "jinks" out of plane. These "jinks" must be rather severe, a 70° or more break is what we are talking about here. Do not lose sight of the bandit, once he begins to line up again, and trust me – he will, you need to "jink" again. Make the "jinks" random in direction, sudden, and severe. This concludes the basics of Defensive BFM. In a nutshell, you need to pull hard with your lift vector on the bandit. Watch him to see if he makes any errors, if he does, jump on the opportunity to turn the tables. If you fly perfect BFM, and the bandit does as well, you will end up defending against his guns attack (not really a consolation prize, but better than already being shot down). Above all, if you are in a defensive mode, never give up. Do whatever it takes to cause as many problems or the attacker as you can. If he is going to kill you, make him work harder than he ever has before for a kill. Of course, the best Defensive BFM is not to let him on your 6 in the first place. Go to Part V: Head On BFM Back to MENU
This material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted in any form without permission of the publisher. Last Updated November 22nd, 1998 This article was originally published at the Combat Simulations site

 

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