Philosophies for surviving knife fights

[Changeup]

What are some short philosophies you live by while flying that you believe new folks should pay heed to in order to help them live a little longer, learn something they can use right now and decrease their ramp up time in getting competitive.

"If your opponent is slower than you to start, don't try to finish it turning with him"

Slower planes make smaller circles and the smallest circle wins in a knife fight

[Tank-Ace]

First thing would be "Read yourself sick on BFM, ACM, the theory of fighter combat, and just learn the lingo"
You need to understand terms like "break-turn", "E-fighting", etc. otherwise you can't understand whats being told to you.


Second "don't get mad, ask your opponent what you did wrong"
Your opponent beat you for a reason. It might be something obscure like turning right in a plane with a left-spinning prop, or as simple as you were an idiot and tried to turn fight an A6M at low speed. Ask and most people will be more than glad to help you out.



Finally, "Pick a plane and make it yours"

Try 'em all out, pick the one you like the best, and focus on that for a while. Learn its strenghts and weaknesses, and how to fly it under extreme situations without going into a stall, or a spin. Why you want to do that is because when you're new, you're learning how to fly the planes almost as much as you're learning how to fight. If you stick with one plane, you'll learn how to fly it, and be able to focus more on the learning to fight.

[Soulyss]

Look for landmarks in the terrain so that you can orient yourself to N/S/E/W w/out having to look at the map.  Then pay attention to which direct home is and which direction the nearest enemy field is.   

In a furball, or in a tight 1v1 always knowing what the most likely path the friendlies are inbound from as well as what the most likely path the bad guys are coming from can go a long way.  When SA get's tasked or overloaded this little bit of information can help "cheat" a little and pay a little more attention to those two parts of the sky. 

[Changeup]

Prioritize your opponents...

In a furball situation, read the battlefield....who is the biggest threat and eliminate them first by managing your relative position. 

If you have altitude against your targets, who poses the biggest threat at getting up to you. 

[Changeup]

Being cornered by German iron?  Don't sweat it....turn flat, hard right

[titanic3]

WEP on above the horizon, WEP off below the horizon.

Be careful of overshoots. 

[Latrobe]

It is always safest to attack your opponent from behind. Fly towards their 6 and shoot them in their rear. 

[Hazard69]

Don't try to pull your gunsight over the target. Instead try to make the target fly into your gunsight.

[The Fugitive]

Don't get target fixated. Keep your SA up. If you spend more than a second lining up your shot your probably already dead.

[FLS]

"If your opponent is slower than you to start, don't try to finish it turning with him"

Slower planes make smaller circles and the smallest circle wins in a knife fight

This is only half right. A smaller radius is an advantage in a nose to nose turn fight. If it's a tail chase then rate has the advantage over radius.

[Changeup]

This is only half right. A smaller radius is an advantage in a nose to nose turn fight. If it's a tail chase then rate has the advantage over radius.

Only if I choose to continue to lag chase.  Lead chase I own you as long as you stay in your turn.  It's not possible to be moving faster in a turn than your opponent and out turn him if he's slower. 

[FLS]

Only if I choose to continue to lag chase.  Lead chase I own you as long as you stay in your turn.  It's not possible to be moving faster in a turn than your opponent and out turn him if he's slower. 

I'm not saying you can't win from a disadvantage but when you turn in the same direction then higher turn rate is an advantage. Your statment that a slower aircraft can't be out turned is incorrect. Turn rate is always a combination of speed and load factor. The slower aircraft may have a high enough turn rate that it can't be out turned but it's not a general rule. Your best bet if you only have a radius advantage is to reverse to make it a nose to nose fight.

[Changeup]

I'm not saying you can't win from a disadvantage but when you turn in the same direction then higher turn rate is an advantage. Your statment that a slower aircraft can't be out turned is incorrect. Turn rate is always a combination of speed and load factor. The slower aircraft may have a high enough turn rate that it can't be out turned but it's not a general rule. Your best bet if you only have a radius advantage is to reverse to make it a nose to nose fight.

A 51B or D on the deck and slow after turning with one con will out turn a zeke that jumps him, momentarily, if the Zeke comes in fast.  All I'm saying is that if you're the Zeke in this example, maneuver so that you don't try to twist it up with the 51 while youre fast and hes not.  If he knows what he's doing, the zeke loses and the Zeke has all the turn advantage.

[cactuskooler]

Minimum altitude split-s is a good move against a higher speed enemy, or an enemy with a larger turn radius for whatever reason, on your six.  If he follows your split-s he will auger, if he doesn't he'll have to break off and you'll be clear.

[FLS]

A 51B or D on the deck and slow after turning with one con will out turn a zeke that jumps him, momentarily, if the Zeke comes in fast.  All I'm saying is that if you're the Zeke in this example, maneuver so that you don't try to twist it up with the 51 while youre fast and hes not.  If he knows what he's doing, the zeke loses and the Zeke has all the turn advantage.

That's an odd example since the Zeke has both a better turn rate and a smaller radius and wouldn't be fast in a knife fight so you aren't proving your point. I understand what you're saying here about speed affecting the radius and I got your original point but your original statement is incorrect and my concern is that it's misleading to people reading this for advice.  

The smallest radius is at corner speed and when you're below your best sustained turn speed going slower makes the radius bigger. The fact that radius favors nose to nose and rate favors nose to tail is simply physics. It doesn't mean you have to make that choice to be successful in a particular instance, it just makes success more likely in general.