Originally posted by Saxman
There's a Channel 200? 
I agree with the (seemingly) minority opinion that it's a mistake to pass BnZ off as "timidity" out of hand. It takes a certain amount of aggressiveness to BnZ effectively (I certainly qualify as "over aggressive," as I'll take my F4U straight into mid-speed E or turn-fight against about anything).
That's a good point. Being selectively aggressive is an artform unto itself, too selective and you become too timid to get kills, too aggressive and you become too reckless to land them. There's a dichotomous balance between the two. Too many people don't keep flexible about how they think and fight. Remaining flexible in your approach is the key to success, take shots of opportunity, don't over-comit to one enemy or in a bad situation, abort an attack when any possible shooting opportunity is blown, pull up in a complex engagement to regain E and re-assess the local tactical picture before re-engaging, all of this is what makes for a good MA fighter pilot, sound fighter tactics.
There's a million ways to E-Fight, E-Figthing by its very nature is more subtle than angles fighting, the rope is a great example of the finesse required, too much rope and the fish gets off the hook, too little rope and he pours lead into your hanging plane. BnZ'ing is really just one form of E Fighting, BnZ'ing is actually one of the most blatantly aggressive form of attacks there is, time is of the essence with a BnZ pass, the average person checks his 6 o' clock every 8 seconds, that's your window of opportunity before he manuevers radically. Unlike the rope or a subtle Immelman turn the BnZ pass requires 100% commitment by the attacker. There is a point of no return from which the attacker loses so much energy he cannot sustain an advantage so must kill, egress or co-E fight a presumably more manueverable plane. I think what alot of people call timidty is a BnZer who decides for whatever reason to not pass that point of no return, basically he aborts his attack.
Do not assume just because someone has the advantage but is not attacking you he is timid. I for one have a favorite pattern I follow when hunting. For example if there is just me higher than several enemy and few if any friendlies in the vicinity I will deliberately not attack right away. I'll deliberatly take some half-arsed passes to keep their heads down. I'll often just hang there until they have forgotten about me, then BAM! Often I'll drag a few away from the rest to friends. That's not being timid, that's just tactics...
The sad fact is better than half of the MA pilots have really bad SA, they don't realize other reasons that guy isn't engaging them, he may be setting them up, he may be keeping them from gaining altitude until help arrives, there may be other enemy that are just waiting for him to commit to pounce he is aware of. A big source of the timidity complaints are people who choose to fly really slow planes that turn really well. A) A slow plane only gets a fight if the enemy chooses to oblidge them and B) If your plane out-turns every other plane in the air not many are going to want to get in tight with you, they'll cherry or BnZ you when our SA is down instead, as they should. So, if you want a 'less timid' opponent fly a faster plane that doesn't turn so well and your wish will be granted.
Zazen
