Help with co-E co-alt merge

[Elysian]

Hi guys,

It's recently come to my attention that after 7 tours of AH I still don't understand basic 1 v 1 merge tactics .  I fly g10s and d9s mostly, and have become fairly adept at bouncing and extending (basically air-vulching), forcing overshoots, all that good stuff... Merge tactics just escape me.

Couple questions:

1. Given an ideal situation where two identical aircraft are approaching eachothers direct 12.  Both planes at same alt and E state (enough speed for a few aggressive maneuvers).  Let's also assume neither is going to HO (ok, pure fantasy, but work with me here ).  What's the best course of action to gain angles towards the bandits six?

2.  Same situation, but this time my aircraft has better accel while the enemy has better turn radius.  I should laterally seperate to the right before merge then flat turn left hard?  Maybe with a bit of high yo-yo thrown in?


Thanks for any help!

cmorris

[batdog]

1: Lead turn OR shallow climb and extend...let HIM turn hard and bleed alot of E.

2: Climb...let him bleed his E. Get in a postion over him thus dictate the fight.


The thing to remember about the lead turn is SEPERATION. A common tactic is to nose down abit then lead turn. This give the effect of coming out more on his dead 6 I quess.

Robert Shaws book is a very good read for this. Also there are many sticks out here who can give you better advice/tips than myself.

I'm sure more will post.

xBAT

[Elysian]

Originally posted by batdog
1: Lead turn OR shallow climb and extend...let HIM turn hard and bleed alot of E.

2: Climb...let him bleed his E. Get in a postion over him thus dictate the fight.


The thing to remember about the lead turn is SEPERATION. A common tactic is to nose down abit then lead turn. This give the effect of coming out more on his dead 6 I quess.

How do I lead turn a dead 12 o'clock approach?  In my mind a lead turn involves being on a bandits six, you turn a little harder than he does to gain a bit of closure at the expense of creating drag and reducing your speed.  Do you mean initiate the turn prior to the actual merge?  Use some lateral seperation opposite the turn as well?

Also, nosing down would increase my speed and therefore increase my turn radius, I don't think I would do that unless I was slow and really needed extra speed to complete a 360 degree or so turn.

BTW, I hear what you are saying about shallow climb/extensions and getting 'on top' of the bandit.  It's more or less how I fight right now, I'm just looking for other options.  Thanks for the response!

cmorris

[Drano]

Originally posted by Elysian


How do I lead turn a dead 12 o'clock approach?  In my mind a lead turn involves being on a bandits six, you turn a little harder than he does to gain a bit of closure at the expense of creating drag and reducing your speed.  Do you mean initiate the turn prior to the actual merge?  Use some lateral seperation opposite the turn as well?


cmorris

You answered your own question. That's a good sign.

                                    Drano

[Goth]

You answered your own question. What you were thinking of was lead pursuit.

[aknimitz]

Elysian,

I think my training site would be very helpful to you.  There are many films there of 1v1s that demonstrate great tactics on the merge.  The link is below in my signature.  I suggest you take a look at the 109-G10 films - there are a couple there that show exactly how you should merge with a P-51D.

But I'll give you some ideas here as well.  First of all in like versus like.  I am a very aggressive pilot by nature.  I go for angles any chance I have.  So on a merge with a like plane, I am going to immelman hard, dont be affraid to black out.  I will chop throttle (possibly kill engine) to bleed speed and attempt to gain angles quicker by getting slower faster than the enemy.  Granted this isnt a good idea if you are going 150mph, but assuming you merge somewhere between 250-325mph, this is my tactic.  Immediatley as I merge, I am going to watch the nme plane to see what he does.  I do this just before I pull hard into my reversal.  This helps me figure out where I need to be on my reversal to get angles.  As soon as yuo get behind the nme on the first merge, its all downhill from there.  Stay aggressive, but dont be afraid to chop throttle to stay saddled up.

Now, in a 109-G10 versus say an F6F ... well your tactics are entirely different.  In a merge of these 2 planes, the G10 should not pull hard on the merge.  Instead, it should do a gradual climb, and immelman up over the top with lpenty of E.  The slower plane will not have a chance in hell to follow you up.  When you get above the nme, start to pick your passes.  Always try to approach the bandit from the rear hemisphere, or setup an attack so that at least your guns solution will be from the rear hemisphere.  As soon as you determine that you will not have a shot, break off and extend/climb.  Be CAREFUL not to extend/climb AFTER you overshoot, as this will generally give a snapshot to the nme.  Patience is the key in this fight.  But since I am not patient I would try to get the F6F slow and under me ... then I would chop throttle (possibly kill engine) and roll down to get angles.  The G10 films I referenced above are GREAT films to see exactly what I am talking about.  I kill my engine both times so that I can gain angles quickly and avoid the overshoot.  

I hope this helps some, go check out those films!  If you wanna get together for some 1v1 in the TA soemtime, drop me an email, nimitz@huckabay.net

S!
Nim

[Andy Bush]

See the "Its All A Matter Of Perspective" series of articles in the Air Combat Corner at http://www.simhq.com for a discussion of basic merge BFM.