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71 EAGLE RAF - AIR COMBAT TACTICS PAGE 6.

SITUATION AWARENESS

Understanding. Understanding of what? I believe what many if not most WarBirds pilots fail to acknowledge is the understanding of a dogfight. A person can fly for years in WarBirds, even get familiar with some really amazing ACM skills, but until that pilot understands the dynamics and intricacies of a dogfight and what is happening around him their pattern of constant dying will not change.

1.If you have the urge for a HO shotÉ STOP! Only under the most adverse conditions should a HO shot be encouraged. If you have multi bandits on you and no chance to run, then a HO gamble may be your only bet left.

2.Collision. Watch your closing speed when diving on bandits 6. Colliding from a 6 position is the worst way to die Imo. Also beware if you remove the horizontal stabilizer from the bandit he will begin to flip over and over in your flight path.

3. Don’t follow a bandit in long drawn out drag (Each second you stay on 1 bandit your chances of survival decrease. Make the kill quickly. If not consider getting out and grabbing more altitude and live to fight another day

4. This is minor but can be a pain. Beware of field resets. Notice that if the arena may be getting ready for a reset you might think about taking extra fuel and playing conservative. Nothing worse than having to fight through 3 sectors of hi inbound bandits just to return to base.

5. In my option the worst altitude to be at is 14k to 20k. At this alt you are very noticeable and an attractive kill to any bandits with altitude. Either stay lower, to which the high bandits usually will avoid or grab a few more K in order that you hold the advantage. Like a strategy game or chess, it is so very important to set yourself up beforehand with the ability to achieve an air combat victory.

Versatility: Due to the dynamics of the Main Arena, the need to fly various types of sorties arises. With this comes the understanding of sortie types and what to expect. I will describe three of the most common sorties I fly.

Hi-Alt Sweeps: These are my favourite. These missions are the longest and the fights are not as often. Furthermore because these missions flight paths will take you behind enemy lines much fuel and altitude in required. I almost always will roll from a rear field and will not begin my hunt until I have reached at least 20k, possible even 25k. Some of my rules I have for myself are:

Evade (don’t get into fight) where bogey holds the altitude advantage. If I’m at 20k 2 sectors from any friendly airbase and I run into a bandit at 25k, and I begin to lose the fight I have no options/no possible OUT. Therefore as soon as I see a bandit with alt I begin to evade. I rarely if ever will follow a con diving or into a diving split S. Each 1k of alt you lose behind enemy lines increases your chance of death drastically.

Making the kill in one pass is a must. Two passes for 1 kill can not be an option with this type of sortie.

At this altitude you may find that you are up against a better opponent and every advantage you can grab prior to the fight must be help onto. Also chances are increased that you will be facing multiple bandits, and in fact the odds are that you may have to fight your way out by keeping alt and/or speed advantage. When fighting multiple bandits, SA is king. My skills are limited to only fighting multiple bandits when I have the advantage. At that point analysing and reanalysing which bandit is the more serious threat is key, of which the whole time you have your back to the door, ready to run. Against multicons your gunnery has to come through for you. The longer you Play around with alt and not make the kills the more chances the bandits have to kill you.

Furball Hunting: Furballs are fun for quick combat. With the proper understanding of what is happening they can also be less risky than most other types of sorties. I tend to take off from the closest base to the furball. I will attempt to grab at least 2 to 3 k altitudes OVER the furball. I have found if I grab too much altitude over the furball 2 things may happen.

I will attract those bandits that are sweeping with their alt.

At hi alt it is difficult to dive and make the quick kill in a furball. Also tracking low bandits ACM and E state becomes more difficult.                               

Circle over the fight and pick out the kill bandit very carefully. If bandits are inbound with altitude, go level and avoid. One thing to remember is try and stay centre over the furball or more toward your base. Notice that most inbound bandits arriving with alt toward a furball will dive into it almost immediately. This tends to put their flight path going away from their base. These tend to be easy kills. Always take the time to regain altitude. That 2k advantage sure helps allot. I think of altitude as a filter. All the bandits below me are of no real threat, so I just need to be aware of bandits inbound with alt. The less I have to count bandits that may be a threat the more I can focus on making a kill.

Field Defence Interception: Many of the same rules of Furball Hunting apply here. Many people believe in order to defend your base you need to fly a spit or zero and fight off the enemy at 500 ft over your field. Besides not living long the outcome will not change. The enemy needs to be engaged prior to their arrival of your base. Once the heavies drop their ordinance it does absolutely no good to make the kill in the name of field defence. The most likely targets will be bandits inbound to your base from alt of 6k-10k. I tend to look for the bandits that may be carrying ordinance. Grab about 12k of alt and circle about 30 seconds out from your base, in the direct flight path of the inbound bandits. Now at this low alt many times you will be chased away by bandits with high alt. But more often the bandits will not likely be above you. This requires timing. Make all your attacks toward your base. Try real hard not to bleed any excess E by turning your aircraft. These type of strikes will bring many bandits on your 6. Speed, energy, and a possible wingman are your only friend. In fact amongst my squadron many of us practice these kinds of attacks. Where as the wingman will position himself about d60 away inline with the flight path of your attack. After you make the pass, dive toward this intersection where your wingman awaits for the bag. After the pass, extend away until you’re safe then re-climb.

To summarize, I would just like to point out that my acknowledgement of moderate ACM skills is not an attempt to be humble or under estimate myself but more so to reaffirm the importance of Situational Awareness to my well being. In the game of WarBirds there are some incredible killers out there. If you happen to be one of them well then you already know most of this information, but if you are new to the game or even worse yet believe you are better than you truly are then Situational Awareness from the minute you roll to the time you exit should be implemented. If you fall into the latter category and now wish to have decent k/d ratios and begin to return to base more often try some of the following.

Understand where your ACM strengths and weaknesses are, and adjust your SA appropriately.

Learn to analyse the high-risk situations and what actions led you to be there.

Acquiring a thorough understanding of basic flight manoeuvres will advance your SA zone

Practice, practice, and more practice. Getting a kill in 1 pass or performing a perfect lag kill will boost your SA zone.

Patience. Need I say more

Look around your country, squad, or go to the Training arena to ask and observe proper SA tactics. By far the most influential training for me with regards to SA have been to wing with some SA greats. I spent about 3 months flying with DKFI and other squaddies. I watched DKFI spend 20 minutes over an enemy field (of which we were the only friendless) getting about 6+kills. When it was time for him to go, he just left. That easy. His SA was never in danger and his ability to prioritise targets and make the quick kill kept him relatively safe.

After a sortie, re-evaluate what occurred. Decide if you were ever in danger or your SA was compromised. What were the reasons and what could be avoided? Basically ever time you roll you should be prepared to learn something.