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Angles Fighting
Or, Let's Get Down to the Nitty Gritty
By
--)-Rapier
--, Fighter Ace
Content Manager
Now that you have mastered the flight maneuvers in the previous articles (you have, haven't you?), you are ready for the tactical framework that all of this rests on, that is, the why of using a maneuver at a particular time.
Air combat tactics can be said to comprise two major categories of strategy: angles tactics (also known as stall fighting), and energy tactics (energy tactics will be covered in the next article). These two categories are just two different ways of approaching an air battle, and the approaches should be tailored to your particular aircraft's strengths and weaknesses, relative to your opponent. You should also know that it is very rare that a pilot uses strictly energy or strictly angles tactics during an air battle. Most successful combats are combinations of both sets of tactics, and it may be necessary during a fight to shift from one to the other. Having noted that, we will be speaking about angles tactics in the pure form so as to make it easier to contrast with energy tactics.
| "After that comes tactical maneuvering, and there is nothing more difficult. The difficulty consists in turning the devious to the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation." |
| - Sun Tzu The Art of War |
Angles tactics were the earliest tactics utilized by pilots when air combat was initiated during WWI. Air combat pioneers like Lanoe Hawker and Max Immelmann discovered quite early that to get a shot at an enemy plane, you had to be able to pull lead (aim ahead of their plane) to hit it. Naturally the plane that was able to turn sharpest had a natural advantage in this form of combat. Early air combat was typified by primarily horizontal turns, where each pilot tried to outturn their opponent by a sufficient margin to pull lead and get a shot. Superior turn performance generated long tracking shot opportunities. This is still the basic idea behind angles tactics today. Angles tacticians want to outturn their opponents, either by having an aircraft with superior turn performance or by turning smarter (utilizing flight maneuvers to achieve the same effect). Angle maneuvers are characterized by primarily flat, horizontal turns, and most of the maneuvering occurs on a horizontal plane. Of course, that doesn't mean you should be blind to any vertical maneuvering opportunities that present themselves.
Angles tactics get their name from the fact that the attacking pilot is trying to grab off "angles" -- that is, pull the nose of their aircraft around relative to the opponent. It is an aggressive form of attack that can succeed quickly against non-aggressive pilots, but depletes energy quickly and can leave your plane low, slow, and out of options if applied without thought for the changing tactical situation. It's a good idea to avoid greediness and always keep enough speed in the bank to take the fight vertical if the situation warrants it.
The first and most critical step in deciding your tactics is determining the relative energy state and turning ability of your opponent(s). To accomplish this, you have to put your head into two virtual cockpits and know intimately the capabilities of both aircraft. In Fighter Ace
, a large part of the difficulty is identifying the plane that you are flying against. It helps to know that each plane of each country is painted in subtly different ways. For instance, the American P-51B is olive green above and silver or gray on the sides and underneath. Its stablemate, the P-51D, is olive green over the entire upper surface and silver or gray underneath. If you look carefully, you'll find the other countries' planes have equally distinctive markings.
Until you have identified the enemy aircraft, you should continue to hold any advantages that you start with -- that is, maintain sufficient altitude or speed to carry yourself out of range. What advantages (if any) does your aircraft have over ANY possible plane you might meet? Maintain those advantages and be ready to play to them. Once you identify the aircraft, the computer in your head should be clicking and whirring, spitting out comparative information so that you know where all of your advantages lie. You MUST play to these advantages to win. If you want to play the angles game, you should select a plane with excellent turn performance, like the Spitfire or the Yak. Keep in mind it is the RELATIVE turn performance that is important. The Mustang is not normally considered an excellent turner, but it can play the angles game against an FW190 if flown properly, which should result in a quick kill. Aircraft with superior turn performance generally have better low-speed performance as well, which leads to the other name for angles fighting, stall fighting, due to the angles fighter's propensity for getting into low-speed, tight-turning fights.
| We had made a couple of passes through MiG Alley with no contact. Suddenly I spotted two '15s about eleven o'clock high. "Padlock," I called to Brownie. That meant I had my eyes on enemy aircraft and from there on he was responsible to check six for us both. . . . We dropped our external tanks and began increasing speed as we cut to the inside of a very lazy turn the MiGs were making. "You're clear," Brownie barked. Suddenly the leader began a sharp turn into us and the hair prickled on the back of my neck. One of us wasn't going home. As he turned toward us, I pulled up steeply and rolled over, following him around the turn and through the dive that followed. "You're clear," Brownie assured me once again. The MiG leader's wingman was thrown off in a reversal, and headed for the Yalu River and safety. |
| In the next turn, I was in range for a shot and lit up his fuselage and right wing with my .50 calibers. Suddenly it was over -- he ejected! It all happened so fast it took me a moment or two to realize I had just gotten number five. |
| - Major General Frederick C. "Boots" Blesse 10 victories, USAF, Korea |
Playing the Angles Game
The angles tactician's holy grail is shooting for horizontal separation (between ½ and 1 turn radius distance), which the tactician uses to convert onto the opponent's six position. On the merge (the fight engagement, which is usually head on), the tactician should attempt a lead turn and if at all possible try for horizontal separation to the side of the opponent's flight path. If you get it, then pull around for a nose-to-tail turn (your nose following the opponent's tail). Your superior turn performance should allow you to start reeling the opponent in without excessive speed loss. Within several turns, you should be in position for a long tracking shot, which should end the opponent's ride.
If your opponent succeeds in limiting your flight path separation by shaving close to your flight path (watch for the head on shots!), then it's best to shoot for a nose-to-nose turn. That is, if you see them break to your left in your rear view, then you break left as well. Again, with superior turn performance, you should be able to outturn them and set yourself up for a snap shot opportunity. The nose-to-nose turn encourages the opponent to turn as tight as possible (by offering them a possible shot opportunity), which eats up their energy and speed. Indeed, it may be a good idea to minimize the amount of angle that you try to grab off in the first turn. This causes the opponent to think that they are being successful, or maybe up against a pilot that cannot get maximum turn performance out of their plane. By the time they figure out you know what you're doing, it will be too late.
After the snap shot, the opponent can either continue the turn in the same direction, which will set up a nose-to-tail turn that takes us to the previous scenario, or a reverse turn to keep you in sight, which will set up a flat scissors. In either case, with your superior turn performance, the opponent should be toast within a couple of turns. The only cautions would be to maintain enough speed to keep the opponent in range if they should decide to go vertical. An energy fighter will be seeking vertical separation the same way that the angles fighter will be seeking horizontal separation. Second, watch for any other opponents joining your little game. The low-speed nature of angles tactics can make you meat on the table for faster, higher opponents. Unless you absolutely have to, avoid going below the speed needed to take your fighter vertical in any situation. This way you will always have enough speed to get maximum maneuvering potential from your aircraft.
| "Help, Help, Help! I'm being clobbered |
| Down here by the railroad track. |
| An FW190 chases me around, |
| And we're damn near the ground. |
| Tell 'em I got two if I don't make it back." |
| - Humorous song of the 4th Fighter Group WWII, USAAF, England Commemorating Don Gentile?s survival of an air battle |
Fighter pilots of Fighter Ace
, by mastering the Basic Flight Maneuvers, you have mastered the basic building blocks of air combat. Now you start on the road of high strategy. Good Luck!
Blesse, Frederick C. "Check Six
." New York: Ivy Books, 1987; p. 92
Shaw, Robert. Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering
. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute Press, 1985; pp. 100-104
Sun Tzu. The Art of War
. James Clavell, ed. New York: Dell Publishing, 1983; p. 30
Whelan, James R. Hunters in the Sky
. Washington, D.C.: Anthony Potter Productions, Published by Regnery Gateway, 1991; p. 188.
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