I think of corner as the speed where all things considered I can get the maximum degrees per second in the movement of my nose.
The problem for me with sustained turn rate for most planes is that you're going to bleed you airspeed down to a point where wingloading and engine power and all that come into play and it's too much of a pain to figure it out with all the different planes I fly. I just try to keep my speed as close to corner as I can by putting the nose down if I have to get my speed up an if I do get jammed I'll go into a scissors or split-s if I'm slow an their fast etc.
Personally I think rate is what wins fights because even if the guy has a better radius I can still get my nose around faster if I have more degrees per second at corner. That is until I run out of energy. I could probably be a lot better if I studied the doghouse plots and stuff but I don't care to be the bestest. I just like to have fun...
Yes, a successful tactical doctrine would be to consider corner velocity as the slowest speed you want to reach during combat and if you go below corner velocity and find yourself stall fighting, you have already messed up. Speed is life!
Combat at or above corner velocity requires a pilot to prioritize energy management over immediate nose position. When you operate under that doctrine you should focus on executing vertical maneuvers and lag pursuit to preserve energy and force an opponent into a defensive disadvantage. Tactical Principles involve avoiding flat, horizontal turns in favor of oblique or vertical climbs (like a High Yo-Yo). This uses gravity to naturally slow the aircraft down toward corner velocity while storing that excess speed as potential energy (altitude) for later use.
Employ Lag Pursuit by avoiding pointing the nose directly at the target as that requires higher G loads that bleed energy too quickly. You maintain a lag pursuit flight path, allowing the turning radius to remain large while maintaining a speed advantage. That way you can force the fight into the vertical, where an aircraft with the energy advantage can exploit it while looking for an opportunity to create turning room so you can slice back in for a guns pass at corner velocity where you have the maximum turn rate to hold lead for a tracking solution.
That approach is most successful in faster aircraft with good guns. If you fly alone that approach can get you a good K/D ratio, but if you can work with a wingman and you both know wing tactics a two ship formation can be extremely difficult to beat if you choose your fights.
Of course, getting slow usually calls for an extension to regain energy and reset the fight. That's the downside. Flying that way can give you a higher K/D ratio, but it takes time and patience. Diving into a furball and stall fighting gives you more adrenaline packed fun, at the price of more frequent, but perhaps more glorious, deaths.
However, even if you have the patience and skills of a hunter, there will be times when someone surprises you from above and forces you to fight at a disadvantage. More and more pilots simply bail in that situation, but if you learn to fight from a disadvantage, equalise the E and stall fight effectively, you can sometimes turn that disadvantage into a victory.
Learn to do that and the high you get from pulling it off is well worth the effort it took to learn. Start with one aircraft, preferably your favourite high speed fighter. Learn to fight it ultra slow, and before you know it you'll be racking up kills and feeling like a teenager with an "all you can eat" pass to a cathouse.
That's worth putting in a bit of effort, don't you think?
Badboy
