If you want to do the "cross control" thing (referred to as a forward slip), watch the airspeed. If you stall, you'll be snapping into one heckuva spin.
Here's what I do in RealLife (note: Archers, Cutlass'es, Skyhawks, 150's, and the vast majority of what I fly aren't fighters, but the pricipals are the same). First off, you've got your prop control in the wrong position. Put the prop full forward (full RPM) for more drag... This is because the faster a prop spins, the closer aerodynamically it becomes to a flat disk.
Second, to descend at a steeper angle (and often at a higher descent rate, but not always), SLOW DOWN. I know, it doesn't make too much sense at first, since we normally push the nose down to descend... Let me give you the extreme example and hopefully that'll help. One of the flying activities in which I engage is the National Intercollegiate Flying Association competitions. One thing we do there is land an airplane at a specific point. Obviously descent control is the key to that event. Since our power is basically set (sometimes the rules allow us to remove power, we can NEVER add it until we've landed, and half the time it's required to be at idle once you pass abeam the touchdown point), we control our descent with flaps and speed. We aren't allowed to slip for some reason. Anyway, here's how to control it. Flaps sort of differ per aircraft. We use Cessna 150's which have 40 degree settings which add a TON of drag, about like a spitfire's flaps. Anyway, if we're too high, the first thing we do is add flaps. If, after we've got full flaps in, we're still going to be high, you pull the nose up. If you go far enough (and on occasion we will), you can ride the ragged edge of a stall to the runway. Since a very small portion of the wing is stalled, you're going to get a TON of drag, and thus descend fast. (NOTE: I would not recommend anyone else do this unless you're in as forgiving an aircraft, and unless you've SERIOUSLY thought about the implications of flying so low, so close to a stall/spin).
The real answer however (when we're talking about a descent from cruise altitude), is to plan ahead. It is difficult to lose that much energy without planning. I usually plan a descent to level off 2 miles before the airport, and since I've planned ahead, I can usually descend by just reducing power. However, when I need to descend at a steeper angle than usual (such as the descent into mountain airports like Stevens Field, Durango, Eagle County...), we'll usually lower the flaps, put the gear down if we can, and slow to a few knots below best glide speed.
However, with regards to AH... my take on it is that if an aircraft is that far below you, it's probably not worth the E-loss to get him. You can safely bounce an aircraft 10K below you without compressing in the stang (that's idle power and descent angle as necessary).
There's my overly ong and drawn out 2 cents... And it all comes down to...plan for the descent. Be ahead of the airplane enough to make it a controlled descent.
blk (AT)
