Barrel Roll Defense / Offense

[Andy Bush]

dtango

I appreciate your frustration! This is not an easy subject...primarily because of the many variables at play.

To answer your question regarding using a rolling maneuver as a defensive move...this can be done in several ways. The objective is one or both of the following...deny the attacker a gun tracking solution, and/or force a longitudinal overshoot.

In order for the attacker to track you with his gunsight, he has to get into and stay in your plane of motion for the duration of his burst of fire. If you are rolling under moderate or greater G, this becomes very difficult since your rolling flight path is very hard to match in the level of detail needed to keep the gunsight pipper on target. For the time that you are in the roll, you are pretty much immune to a tracking shot.

The other objective is the longitudinal overshoot...a situation where the attacker loses control of his closure and literally blows by you...sorta like the Tom Cruise maneuver in TOPGUN (except it isn't flown that way!). The rolling defense does this one of two ways. First, the attacker focuses on following you in the roll and fails to note that his closure is increasing. The other and more difficult technique is to generate a gross flight path mismatch in the roll and thereby cause the attacker to fly past. Maneuvers of this type are known as High G Roll Over The Top and High G Roll Underneath.

In our simulations, these maneuvers are made difficult by two things. One, the sim FM may not model the flight control response needed to fly the maneuver (for example, the rolls over the top/underneath are essentially high G rudder rolls...if the sim does not model the rudder properly, then you will not be able to perform them). The second reason is that the sim views often do not permit the pilot to maintain a tally during the maneuver. Maintaining a tally under these conditions in real life is a challenge...in a sim, it's even harder. A well flown defensive maneuver isn't worth a hoot if the bandit can maneuver back into position in the time it takes for the defender to regain the tally.

Think it over and come back with any questions you might have.

Andy

[buhdman]

Andy,

Your explanations are great!  I've learned a lot by reading them.  I've checked out some of your pages on SimHQ.com and have found them quite informative.  I only wish my brain had enough memory to store all of the information you provide and that my recall mechanisms were fast enough for me to use the information in real time  

It turns out that I have been doing something like what you guys have been describing (defensively) for quite a while now with very good resulsts.  I've heard it called the "rolling reversal" by Knfe, my mentor.  I presume this is the same thing, as I break into the opponent, then roll with rudder either "up" or "down" depending upon my mood and/or altitude, and watch him blow by and try to get a snap shot or just plain try to extend away and get set up for the next attack (or attacker).  It's been very helpful to read about this from both the defender's point-of-view and the attacker's.  I find I have the most problems with attackers who figure out what I'm doing and zoom high just before or just after they overshoot.  Now I know why!

Thanks!

[Syzygyone]

Boy you guys sure help alot with your explanations.  At least now I know why I am dieing and peoiple giggle when they seem me take off.  

Here's my question on this issue.  Even when I don't lose much altitude, it seems that I've bled off too much E pulling through the bottom half of the loop and if the attacker does overshoot, and then zoom climbs, as they seem always to do when I try this "rolling reversal", I end up beneath him with low e, and all he has to do is a zero g push over and dive to get back on my 6.  So, what is the mistake I am making.  Am I making the roll too tight.  If it's not tight, then the attacked doesn't over shoort and can follow me through the maneuver?
Any thoughts?