The opposite of Boom and zoom, a knife fight in a phone booth is pretty much what it sounds like.
Close in tight turning action, each trying to gain enough angles on the other guy to get behind and get a shot.
A6m's, early war spits, hurri's all do it well. You still want to use good tactics, ie immelman on merge, keep the fight somewhat in the vertical.
Knife fights tend to be more about merges, as a slight advantage coming out of a merge can be quick life or death.
Good deflection and lead shooting help, as you'll seldom have a shot where the other guy is not turning.
To me basic turnfight is where all combat should start, then as you gain knowledge and experience you step up the ladder to Energy fighting and Boom and Zoom tactics. But they all work better with a good foundation of knife fighting tactics. As most any fight has the potential to end up as a pure knife fight.
Come see me some afternoon in the TA, we'll grab a pair of D3a1's and show you what a really tight fight can look like.
