Boom and Zoom "tactic"
The key element to remember when in the boom and zoom mode is to stay fast and start with an altitude advantage. you start out with an energy advantage(meaning alt + speed), then make a number of dives on your target, maneuvering in order to get a shot as you pass, only to climb again back up to your higher altitude in which you dove from.
You can make a number of different extensions after making your pass, a) go near vertical and climb straight up, b) do a shallow climb maintaining the speed you acquired during the dive to extend well out of harms way, or c) do a Zoom climb (No Load climb) this zoom climb method is the quickest way to recover alt you have given up during the attacking dive. Once you regain your alt advantage reacquire your target and repeat as necessary until you manage to kill the enemy or you run out of energy. It forces the enemy to maneuver to avoid you, but usually does not allow him to apply any pressure to you (although maybe a HO if he gets his nose pointed at you). Each time you make your attack, you climb back up to a position of relative safety (at least from the enemy you are attacking). Even if there are a number of enemies at a level below you, you are only vulnerable during the time at the bottom of each pass, when you are fastest and a tough target.
BnZ style fighting tends to be the safest, least advanced style which requires little more than some precise timing. In the Aces high II hangar you will find some planes that are more suited to BnZ since you intend to spend more time at higher speeds than a typical TnB fight. It doesn’t rely as much on your sustained turning ability, more so relying on having enough turn rate to get into position to attack an enemy who is maneuvering to avoid your quick and slashing passes. Continuously tracking the enemy to win angles is not the primary goal. You are instead trying to predict where the enemy is going to be when you arrive in guns range, constantly updating your course until you take your shot, or decide you cannot make the shot and return to your higher perch.
Energy Fighting
The E Fighting style (energy fighting), is often confused with the BnZ fighting style (boom & zoom fighting), when in actuality that couldn’t be more further from the truth. Yes BnZ is part of E fighting but that is about as far as it goes. The Energy fighter is the purist of the combat fighter pilots, one who has attained the skills of the boom & zoom fighting style and has combined them with the skills of the turn & burn fighting style (stall fighting). He is aggressively offensive by nature yet maintains the patience needed to quarrel his victim until the most opportune time.
To Energy fight you must think both offensive (attacker) mode and defensive (defender) modes at the same time. You must never enter an engagement with less energy, whether your advantage is in altitude, speed, or both. This doesn’t necessarily mean you must always have the alt advantage by no means. One can still have a greater E advantage and still be the lower opponent of the two. For this to work though you must have the ability to tell upon a glance that you are in the catbird’s seat though. SA (situational awareness) plays a big role here.
The E Fighting pilot has taken into account every aspect of the fight offered to him, he has studied his plane in and out and knows his plane’s limitations from one end of the flight envelope all the way to the other(from blackout to stall). He has studied each and every type of fighter he might come up against and has learned the advantages and weakness of each, according to how they compare with the plane he is flying, so he knows upfront what he can and can not do depending on which plane he engages. The E fighter pilot will use his advantages and make his opponent fly to his opponent’s own weaknesses, not letting his opponent use the advantages of his opponent’s plane.
Working the process of E fighting means to use low G pulling maneuvers and banking your energy (converting speed to alt) until you bleed your opponent of his energy. At this time you carefully use your SA skills in watching his plane and the way it acts in relation to you and the maneuvers you exercise against him. At times the energy Fighter will be able to use Higher G maneuvers when he is sure he is out of the way of danger and has a substantial energy advantage to do so, most times these High G maneuvers will be in the vertical or near vertical plane of flight, to acquire and store more E to cash in on when needed. As the E fighter bleeds his victim down to a wobbling chunk of metal in the sky he is also scanning the skies of Aces High to keep a look out for any incoming threats. Incase there is, he has that saved up E to evade, extend and setup again, but if the skies appear clear he then uses his E advantage and pounces his prey. He has bled him to where the prey can not evade his onslaught of attacks now and the E fighter has scored another pelt, all by using patience, SA, and aggressiveness.
The Energy fighter does not give in to the opponent whether the opponent is a BnZ type or a Turn n Burn type, no sir. He makes the Boom and Zoomer bleed his E to where the BnZer weakens and then turns the tables to acquire the E advantage, He hides his energy well and gives the BnZer a false presentation making the BnZer think he has the advantage when he doesn’t, it is often too late for the BnZer once he realizes the tables have turned against him.
As for the Turn and Burn fighter pile-it, The E fighter will act as if he is going to turn with his victim, yet he does not commit to the full extent, he uses oblique turns and out of plane maneuvers to bleed the TnBer until he knows he has the substantial Energy advantage then he suckers the TnBer into thinking he can attain a guns solution and leaves him wollering nose high when he turns the tables and attacks.
Energy Plane: F4U FW190 P51 P38 Yak C205
Boom N Zoom Plane: P51 P47 Typhoon La7
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