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264:. "Lead pursuit" in a turn occurs when the nose of the attacking aircraft points ahead of the enemy. Lead pursuit is used to decrease the distance between aircraft, and during gun attacks when the cannons must be aimed, not at where the defender is, but where he will be when the bullets get there. "Pure pursuit" happens when the nose of the attacker points directly at the defender. Pure pursuit is when most missiles will be fired, and is the hardest position to maintain. These are known as pursuit curves.
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when aircraft were initially used to spot enemy troop concentrations, field gun positions, and movements. Early aerial combat consisted of aviators shooting at one another with hand-held weapons. The first recorded aircraft to be shot down by another aircraft, which occurred on
October 5, 1914, was a
139:
Pilots soon learned to achieve a firing position (while avoiding the threat of enemy guns) by manoeuvring themselves behind an enemy aircraft; this is known as getting onto an aircraft's "six o'clock" or onto their "tail", plus a wide variety of other terms, usually coined by air crew. This type of
212:
There are five things a pilot must remain aware of when contemplating aerial engagement; of these, seeing and keeping sight of one's opponent are the most important. In
Southeast Asia, over 85 percent of all kills are attributed to the attacker spotting and shooting the defender without ever being
275:
The turning battle of a dogfight can be executed in an infinite number of geometric planes. Pilots are encouraged to keep their manoeuvres out of the strictly vertical and horizontal planes, but to instead use the limitless number of oblique planes, which is much harder for an adversary to track.
176:
by minimizing the
Doppler signature of one's own aircraft ("keeping the enemy at 3 or 9 o'clock"), or to exhaust the kinetic energy of an incoming missile (by changing the aircraft's course from side to side, the missile, not flying directly at target but trying to forestall it, will make sharper
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inspected the plane's wreckage and learned to improve the design by connecting the firing mechanism of the gun to the timing of the engine, thus allowing the gun to fire through the propeller without making contact with the propeller. As technology rapidly advanced, new and young aviators began
259:
An attacker is confronted with three possible ways to pursue an enemy, all of which are vital during chase. "Lag pursuit" happens in a turn when the nose of the attacker's aircraft points behind an enemy's tail. Lag pursuit allows an attacker to increase or maintain range without
136:, "The great thing in air fighting is that the decisive factor does not lie in trick flying but solely in the personal ability and energy of the aviator. A flying man may be able to loop and do all the stunts imaginable and yet he may not succeed in shooting down a single enemy."
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This infinite number of planes around a fixed point about which the aircraft turns is termed the "post and bubble". A fighter that can maintain position between an aircraft and its imaginary post cannot be attacked by that aircraft. The imaginary bubble, however, is misshapen by
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vectors. A key factor in all battles is that of "nose-tail separation". While getting close enough to fire a weapon, an attacker must keep his aircraft's nose far enough away from the tail of the defender to be able to get a good aim, and to prevent an
102:
Fixed, forward-firing guns were found to be the most effective armament for a majority of World War I era fighter planes, but it was nearly impossible to fire them through the spinning propeller of one's own aircraft without destroying one's own plane.
161:. He advised pilots to attack from the direction of the sun (toward which the defending pilot could not see), or to fly at a higher altitude than the opponent. Most of these rules are still as valuable today as they were a century ago.
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The manoeuvres employed by the attacker can also be used by the defender to evade, or gain a tactical advantage over his opponent. Other components may also be employed to manoeuvre the aircraft, such as
177:
turns and will eventually have to fly a longer path). However, close-range fighting with infrared guided missiles and aircraft cannons still obeys the same general rules laid down in the skies over
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of the aircraft. Position of aircraft must quickly be assessed, including direction, angle off tail (the angle between flight paths), and closing speed. Also, the pilot must be aware of his
111:, was the first to solve this problem by attaching steel deflector wedges to the propeller. He achieved three kills but was shot down by ground fire and landed behind German lines.
172:, and automatic cannons capable of high rates of fire are used on nearly all modern fighter aircraft. New and additional types of manoeuvres have emerged, intending to break
221:, and the "corner speed" (the maximum or minimum speed at which the aircraft can attain the best turning performance). Variable limitations must also be considered, such as
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that was being conducted by enemy aircraft rapidly led to the development of fighter planes, a class of aircraft designed specifically to destroy other aircraft.
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256:", trades speed for height, literally storing energy in "the altitude bank", which allows a fast moving attacker to slow his closing speed.
305:. The defender, likewise, will use every manoeuvre available to encourage an overshoot, trying to change his own role to that of attacker.
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through carefully timed and executed manoeuvres. By using such manoeuvres, a pilot will often make trade offs between the fighter's
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91:. The pilot, Feldwebel Wilhelm Schlichting, was shot with a carbine wielded by observer Louis Quenault, who was riding in a French
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Close-range combat tactics vary considerably according to the type of aircraft being used and the number of aircraft involved.
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in the early 20th century. The master rule is still the same: get on the opponent's rear without allowing them to do the same.
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248:(airspeed), to maintain the energy-to-weight ratio of the aircraft, or the "specific energy". A manoeuvre such as the "
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during World War I, was the first to publish the basic rules for aerial combat manoeuvring in 1916, known as the
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in order to attain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. Commonly associated with
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Today's air combat is much more complicated than that of older times, as
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The tactical egg shows the effects of gravity on manoeuvring
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The Texas Air Base Where NATO Fighter Pilots Are Forged
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A pilot in combat attempts to conserve his aircraft's
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Advanced Combat
Manoeuvres – Battleground Europe Wiki
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piloted by
Sergeant Joseph Frantz. The need to stop
74:(BFM) to gain an advantage over an aerial opponent.
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233:'s position and maintain good communication.
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109:Morane Saulnier Aéroplanes
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587:Retrieved 24 August 2018.
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309:Example manoeuvring
166:air-to-air missiles
78:Historical overview
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84:World War I
68:dogfighting
860:Categories
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746:Cobra Turn
471:References
431:Cobra Turn
411:High Yo-Yo
333:Exit level
313:See also:
254:high yo-yo
174:radar lock
93:Voisin III
41:aggressors
791:Tailslide
741:Chandelle
733:Maneuvers
416:Low Yo-Yo
382:Chandelle
352:Pitchback
330:Half loop
327:180° roll
303:overshoot
250:low yo-yo
58:) is the
845:Category
817:Dogfight
781:Scissors
677:Archived
658:Archived
639:Archived
620:Archived
565:Archived
513:h2g2.com
454:See also
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377:Scissors
34:IAI Kfir
786:Split S
518:18 June
362:Split S
278:gravity
231:wingman
188:Tactics
87:German
47:in 1989
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436:Kulbit
342:Basic:
298:thrust
296:, and
238:energy
179:Europe
150:German
124:, and
60:tactic
170:radar
43:near
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393:The
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286:yaw
56:ACM
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