Originally posted by Simaril
Niros, deflection shooting is fiing "off angle". It requires leading your target; whereas, a HO or a shot from the dead 6 are not deflection shots.
Snap shot usually means moderate deflection with a brief firing window, as the target zips past.
Simaril, your definition of a snap shot is not correct. A snapshot has nothing to do with the amount of deflection. It occurs when you fire at a target without tracking it and, in fact, it's opposed to a "tracking shot". With less word and maybe more clearly, as Shaw says:
«
There are two broad categories of air-to-air gun-firing situations: "tracking" shots and "snapshots" The tracking shot occurs when the pipper remains steady on the computed aim point for longer than the settling time of the sight. A snapshot, sometimes called "raking guns," refers to a situation when the pipper merely passes through the proper aim point, never stopping.»
He refers to modern gunsights when he talks about "settling time", however the definitions applies to our planes, too: it occurs when the pipper (the point inside the rings in the gunsight) remains steady in lead position relative to the target for a certain amount of time (that is, when you match the turn rate of the target, while following a lead pursuit course)
Anyway, both a tracking shot and a snapshot may be deflection shots: of course, given their definition, the tracking shot will be usually a low deflection shot, while the snapshot will be usually a high deflection shot (90 or more degree off tail).
I hope it's clear, sometimes it's not easy to explain things even if you have them clear in your mind
Especially when you do that in a foreign language.
StuB, Cunningham didn't head straight to the MiG because he wanted to scare him, but, as you said in a latter post of yours, because he didn't want to give him any angular advantage:
«
As we headed for the coast at 10,000 feet, I spotted another airplane on the nose, slightly low, heading straight for us. It was a MiG-17. I told Irish to watch how close we could pass the MiG to take out as much lateral separation as possible so he could not convert as easily to our six o'clock. We used to do the same thing against the A-4s back at Miramar since the two aircraft were virtually identical in performance. This proved to be my first near-fatal mistake. . . . A-4s don't have guns in the nose.»
Plmmer... well said, sir, I guess I'll quote you in my signature!