John Boyd: The Pilot Who Changed the Art of Air Warfare

[CptTrips]

Is it a life story or lessons in tactics ??

I'm only about 25% through.  The first part is a bio.  It's so far just a bunch of history on how the concepts first got conceived.  Good view on the early days of Fighter school.

His source paper, I linked the PDF on fist post.  A lot of it is mathematical.  First part is missile specific, but the cannon section is interesting.  https://www.ausairpower.net/JRB/boydaerialattack.pdf

I'm sure the below and Shaw's stuff is mostly a repackaging and polishing of Boyd's work to make this info more approachable by a wider audience. But it's been years since I looked closely at Shaw.

As I've started to relearn warbirds in DCS I've been going back more to basics.  Starting fresh and actually doing some learning since I am in the study sim mode.  I've been watching these closely and enjoying them:


Playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd5Qdmhmp3Y6ePAmWQ4_eG596CE645sCF

and


Playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd5Qdmhmp3Y6ePAmWQ4_eG596CE645sCF

I never really bothered studying this stuff just shot from the hip.  I'm just taking more time in a learning mode.

[Brooke]

Is it a life story or lessons in tactics ??

It's mostly about Boyd's life, his ideas about what makes a good fighter plane, his fights with the system to get planes embodying those thoughts (F-16 and F-18, for example) produced.

It covers some of his tactic ideas.

His main fighter tactic was forcing the overshoot.  He had a standing bet at the fighter-weapons school that he would dogfight any taker and beat him in 40 seconds or pay $40.  He never lost.  Pilots called him "40-second Boyd."

It's a fun and interesting read.

[CptTrips]

It's mostly about Boyd's life, his ideas about what makes a good fighter plane, his fights with the system to get planes embodying those thoughts (F-16 and F-18, for example) produced.

It covers some of his tactic ideas.

His main fighter tactic was forcing the overshoot.  He had a standing bet at the fighter-weapons school that he would dogfight any taker and beat him in 40 seconds or pay $40.  He never lost.  Pilots called him "40-second Boyd."

It's a fun and interesting read.

I think it is my Amazon Prime that allowed me to get that free.  I guess I get to pick a book a month for free without costing me a credit.

I'll take it.