Author Topic: Reversals  (Read 1651 times)

Offline 54Ed

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Reversals
« Reply #15 on: December 05, 2000, 10:41:00 PM »
One additional caution on that whole vertical maneuver thing ... Your SA must be good, at least good enough so that you can determine that the sky above you is empty and the sky below you does not contain fighters with greater E states than you.  

When you pull vertical and hammerhead or humpty-bump (oblique loop), you are a sitting duck just hanging there.  Bastiges like me love to skim the top of a furball, just waiting for some young Richtofen to zoom up high and slow.  It's such an easy shot, especially if you fire at 100 yards.    Planes below you can surprise you too, if they are carrying a whole lot of speed.  

Never zoom climb or try a vertical stall reversal without looking hard at the airspace above you.  And remember that the greater the number of bogies in the furball, the greater chance of your SA being overloaded and you being surprised.

Hanging is a great pair tactic, by the way.  One plane dives down, tempts the bogie onto his tail, then zooms up.  The wingman is waiting up there to dive on the sucker who follows, now hanging nice and slow.  Talk about cherry picking!