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Aerial Gunnery or, The Art of Putting Little Holes in Your Opponent's Plane
| "Good flying never killed [an enemy] yet." |
| - Major Edward "Mick" Mannock, RAF 73 victories |
| "The most important thing in fighting was shooting, next the various tactics in coming into a fight and last of all flying ability itself." |
| - Lt. Colonel W.A. "Billy" Bishop, RAF 72 victories |
Requiring a steady hand, a good eye, and lots of practice, aerial gunnery is one of the most difficult skills to acquire; yet it is essential to your ability to get kills. To paraphrase Billy Bishop, the most awesome flying in the world will not knock down an opponent. Only accurate fire from your weapons will do this. If you want to be an Ace, this is the place to start.
Position
We use standard fighter-pilot positioning terminology. We imagine that our airplane is flat on the center of a giant clock. Twelve o'clock is straight ahead, six o'clock straight behind. Three o'clock is down our right wing and nine o'clock is down our left wing. You can also indicate whether an object is above or below your level by stating "high" or "low." Therefore, "12 o'clock high" is straight in front of you and above.
Plane of Maneuver
An essential concept is the plane of maneuver. The plane of maneuver is the imaginary flat plane (remember geometry?) in which an airplane is flying. It is generally aligned with the vertical axis of the airplane's fuselage. The airplane's elevators control movement in the plane of maneuver. You may have discovered in flying Fighter Ace that the plane will move through degrees of turn per second faster if you pull back on the stick when banked over. In other words, the plane will turn if just banked over, but if you pull back on the stick, the airplane will turn faster. If you start to roll the plane with the side-to-side motion of the stick (using the ailerons), the plane of maneuver will be constantly changing, following the vertical axis of the airplane.
Types of Shots
There are two types of shot opportunities: tracking and snap shots. Which type of shot opportunity you attempt depends a lot on the kind of plane you are flying, its guns, and your own individual skill. A snap shot occurs when there is a brief intersection of your bullet stream and the opponent's flight path. It can either be in the opponent's plane of maneuver or crossing it at some angle. Of course, the more lethal your guns, the more damage that will occur. Cannon have an advantage here.
A tracking shot occurs only when you are in the opponent's plane of maneuver and there is an opportunity for a liberal hosing of the enemy airplane. The longer you can stay in the enemy's plane of maneuver, stay behind him, and pull the necessary lead, the longer the tracking shot. Fighter Ace rewards long tracking shots, so this is the preferred method of shooting.
The Physics of Shooting
It's a tough problem. You are hitting a rapidly moving target from an equally rapidly moving airplane and the parameters of the shot are constantly changing faster than any one variable. There are a few items that can simplify your problem. The first is the concept of deflection. Deflection is the number of degrees off from the straight tail or the straight head-on shot. A tail or nose shot is 0 degrees of deflection. You aim right at him and you should hit. Deflection increases the farther off the 0-degree line you are, until it reaches a maximum of 90 degrees deflection when you are approaching from 90 degrees off his flight path. (This could be three o'clock, nine o'clock, directly above, or directly below his airplane.) Beyond that point, the angle of deflection begins to decrease until it's back to 0 degrees. The greater your angle of deflection, the greater your lead (how far you aim ahead of his position) must be. The actual amount of lead is based on the target's speed and the flight time of your bullets.
How long you have to shoot is a function of the closure speed. The faster you close, the less time you have. Head-on shots require the least amount of time, as the speed of both planes is combined. Tail shots have the longest shooting time, as the target's speed is subtracted from your speed. The easiest, most lethal shot is from the six position (straight behind) at a low closure rate. The most difficult is directly from the side at 90-degree deflection at a high closure rate. Obviously, we should maneuver for six-shots and avoid high deflection angles if possible. Zap 'em from behind whenever you can!
Simplified Gunnery Technique
To get a lethal tracking shot, there are several factors we have to control as much as possible. First, keep in mind your target is moving. We don't want to aim for where it is, but where it will be! We have to anticipate where the other plane will be when we come into range and aim for that spot. Second, we must be in the target's plane of maneuver. The easiest way to do that, and the best measure of it, is to match the target's bank angle. (Match his wings, make your wings parallel to his wings.) When you do, you will be in his plane of maneuver. Then a simple fore-and-aft movement of the stick will control the amount of lead. Any adjustment from side to side (up and down in relation to the horizon if you are in a 90-degree bank) is handled by the rudder pedals.
To break it down into steps:
- Select your target while out of range. When approaching a furball (a tightly turning mass of fighting planes) or bogey cloud, try to anticipate which one will have its tail turned towards you when you come in range. Often this is the one who is opposite from you when you're about 5000-6000 feet away, depending on your closure rate.
- Aim your plane at the point in space where the plane should be when you come into range. Failure to do this will have consequences. If you are in the Arcade arena, your plane may not be able to turn hard enough to get a shot. In the Realism arenas, you may have to pull so many G's that you black out and cannot see your target. It is better to pull low G's early than to have to make massive corrections just before you pull the trigger.
- Just before coming into gun range, match the target's bank angle (match the plane of maneuver). Pull what you estimate is sufficient lead to hit. It is better to have too much lead and have to relax the stick than to have not enough and have to pull too hard too late. Start firing, and note the tracer stream. Is it going through his position? If not, adjust it by pulling fore and aft on the stick. Adjustments to the side are made with the rudder pedals.
- As you move to his six position, note your closure speed. To maintain a tracking shot you may have to slow radically to stay behind him. This must be balanced against the presence of other enemy fighters in the vicinity. If you slow to maintain your shot, you too may become a target. Getting hits doesn't do much good if you're dead!
- If you elect to maintain your speed and closure rate, you will eventually pass him. Keep firing as you close; the closer you are, the more telling the shots are. Also as you close, you need less and less lead to hit your target. Maneuver to avoid collision! As you pass, maneuver so that you don't become a target; that is, get out of his plane of maneuver! What worked for you before is now working for him. If you have the speed and no enemy plane is on your six, the safest thing to do is to use that speed to gain altitude and get out of his gun range.
- Repeat and set up your next shot. Try to select the same target over and over again.
By following this simplified gunnery technique, you should see your percentage of hits and kills increase. Just don't forget that you too can become a target! And being a target can ruin your whole flight.
| "You can have computer sights or anything you like, but I think you have to go to the enemy on the shortest distance and knock him down from point-blank range. You'll get him from in close. At long distance, it's questionable . . . I opened fire only when the whole windshield was black with the enemy . . . at minimum range . . . it doesn't matter what your angle is to him or whether you are in a turn or any other maneuver." |
| - Colonel Erich "Bubi" Hartmann, Luftwaffe 352 victories, the top ace in the world |
| "Go in close, and then when you think you are too close, go in closer." |
| - Major Thomas B. "Tommy" McGuire, USAAF 38 victories, second leading U.S. ace |
| "I am not a good shot. Few of us are. To make up for this, I hold my fire until I have a shot of less than 20-degrees deflection and until I'm within 300 yards. Good discipline on this score can make up for a great deal." |
| - Lt. Colonel John C. Meyer, USAAF 24 victories |
Sources:
Shaw, Robert. Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering
. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute Press, 1985; pp. 1-61
Spick, Michael. The Ace Factor
. New York: Avon Books, 1988; pp. 87-135
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