Fighter Jet Basic Flying maneuvers

Attacker Overshoots In A Spiral Dive

When all other maneuvers fail, the spiral dive is a last-ditch attempt to shake off a
resolute pursuer. This involves maintaining the highest possible rate of turn in a dive
steep enough to retain manoeuvring airpeed. If the attacker follows the spiral the
defender should throttle back. This tends to flatten out the spiral and reduces the
rate at which height is lost. The defender will slowly lose speed. As it is extremely
difficult for the attacker to notice early enough that his opponent has reduced power
he may start to overshoot at this point. If he does, a hard rolling reversal and pull-up
by the defender will force the attacker out in front.

Barrel Roll Attack

This maneuver differs from the defensive high-g barrel roll in that a great loss of
speed to force an attacking fighter to overshoot is not necessary. The g forces can
therefore often be quite small. Closely resembling the rollaway, the barrel roll attack is
used to alter the angle of approach to the defender without losing a lot of speed. It is
used when the attacker becomes aware that he is going to overshoot a turning target.
He rolls the wings level, pulls the nose hard up, then rolls away from the direction of
turn. This three- dimensional maneuver is completed by sliding in astern of the target.

The counter to a well executed barrel roll attack is for the defender to dive away and
increase speed. While doing this he must keep a sharp lookout for a missile attack and
be ready to evade it. If he reverses his turn, he will probably set himself up for a gun
attack.

Breaking Stalemate In The Scissors

Scissoring can easily result in a stalemate. This can be broken by waiting until both
aircraft are pointing away from each other, then rolling inverted and diving away. The
dive regains the speed lost in the scissors, and can be followed by a steep climb,
preferably into the sun.

Countering Low Speed Yo Yo

The main counter to the low speed yoyo is for the defender to wait until the attacker
begins his pull-up from the bottom of the dive, then, easing his turn a trifle, he lifts his
nose and rolls down into him. Much depends on the execution of the yoyo; if the
attacker gets too low, or cuts too tightly across the circle, the defender can pull up
and barrel down into him. Copying the yoyo can be used, to maintain the stalemate.

Crossturn/Inward Turnabout
This is a method of reversing course without causing undue horizontal displacement of
the formation. It can be used to meet a threat developing from astern, or to turn in
pursuit after a head-on engagement. Each fighter breaks hard inward, the high man
going low and the low man high or, where the tightest possible turn is needed, both men
pulling high. In either case the high man at the end of the turn will be furthest from
the Sun. The cross-turn, or inward turnabout as it is sometimes known, has the
advantage that the pilots can clear each other's blind spots as they pass. The
disadvantage is that they may briefly lose visual contact with each other.

For a pair in combat spread to reverse their direction of flight by traditional means
would be a long and cumbersome affair, with large lateral displacement. To reverse
course through 180° the aircraft cross-turn exchanging positions.

Defensive Split
In the defensive split, the attackers have to choose between two targets. When they
choose one they leave the other free as a potential threat to sandwich them. The
defensive split is executed by a two-aircraft element in both horizontal and vertical
planes. From the attacker's point of view it is preferable to follow the high man. The
fighter that has split upwards will lose energy faster than the low man. Provided that
the attackers entered the fight witha surplus of energy, the high man represents their
best chance of a kill. Furthermore it will take the low man longer to get back into a
fight high above him than it will for the high man to drop down. Also, the low man has
more difficulty in spotting a fight above him than does the high man looking down. From
the defender's point of view, the low man must be ready to pitch up into the fight as
soon as it becomes clear that he is not menaced, while the high man must attempt to
bring the fight down as quickly as possible to enable the low man to support him. Of
course, it is possible that an attacker, faced with a defensive split, will break off and
look for an easier victim, in which case the split has succeeded.
The defensive split is used by a pair to divide the ^ attention of the attackers. The
split is made in both the vertical and horizontal planes. Whichever one the attackers
choose to follow leaves them liable to counterattack by the other.

Forward Velocity Vector

In the scissors, both fighters are trying to reduce their forward velocity vector, which
is their speed along a straight line around which they are both reversing. The winner
will be the fighter with the slowest forward velocity as he will finish up astern of his
opponent.

High G Barrel Roll

This maneuver is used against an attacker closing fast from astern. It starts with a
break, then a roll in the opposite direction to the break. The fact that it is a high g
maneuver means that quite a lot of speed is lost, up to 100 knots in some cases,
particularly if performed "over the top".

If the attacker is closing fast and is caught by surprise he may easily fly through and
end up in front, the positions reversed. If he attempts to follow the barrel roll, he will
probably end up high and wide of the defender who can then turn in towards him,
forcing him down and in front. But woe betide the defender who attempts a barrel roll
in front of a slowly closing attacker who will follow him through the maneuver, ending on
his tail in easy gun range. His only recourse in this event is to jink.

The High G Barrel Roll is a difficult maneuver to execute successfully, and is in fact
easy for the attacker to counter. It will only work if the attacker has been led into, or
is in, a high angle-off, high overtake situation.
The High G Barrel Roll can be very effective against an attacker closing fast from
astern. Commencing with a break turn to put the attacker in a high angle-off position,
the roll is then carried out in the opposite direction to the turn.

High Speed Yo Yo

When the attacker realises that he is unable to stay on the inside of the defender's
turn, he relaxes his angle of bank a little, then pulls high. As he comes over the top he
is inverted, looking down at his opponent through the top of his canopy. His speed falls
due to the climb, and this diminishes his radius of turn. The Ig of gravity is utilised by
turning in the vertical plane, which reduces the radius of turn still further. The
attacker should then be well placed to slide down into a firing position.

The high-speed yoyo is a very difficult maneuver to perform well, and demands perfect
timing and precise execution. If it is commenced too early, the defender can counter by
pulling up into the attack. If started too late, the attacker is forced to pull up at an
excessively steep angle to avoid overshooting. This allows the defender to disengage by
diving away. A common fault in executing the high-speed yoyo is not pulling the nose
high enough. This can result in the attacker ending directly above the defender. Some
pilots find that they obtain better results from a series of small yoyos than one large
one. A variant on this maneuver, used to prevent overshooting or to reduce the angle-
off, is the rollaway.

Lag Pursuit

This can be used when the primary cause of overshooting is excess speed. Basically it
consists of maintaining position astern but outside the turn radius of the defending
fighter. In this manner both speed advantage and initiative are retained, the attacker
matching the defender's rate of turn in degrees per second while remaining concealed
in the blind spot beneath the defender's tail. Lag pursuit is best countered by
tightening the turn into a spiral dive. The temptation is to reverse and commence
scissoring, but this is a good way to die if the attacker is on the ball.

LAG PURSUIT ROLL

This is used when at close range with a high overtake, high speed and high angle-off.
The defender gets the nose high and rolls to the outside of the turn. He uses maximum
g to pull the nose up and towards the target. This puts him in a ± 30° angle-off missile
envelope.

When overshooting is mainly the result of excess speed, position can be maintained
outside the radius of the defender's turn by matching his rate of turn, thus
maintaining both speed and initiative. The pursuer is hidden beneath the defender's
tail, which could cause him to make an error. This is called lag pursuit.

Low Speed Yo Yo

Another combat situation which can arise is a stalemate in either a tail chase or a
turning match. To break the stalemate, a low-speed yoyo is used. This is based on the
age-old concept of trading height for speed. If a pursuer finds that he is unable to
close to within shooting range in straight flight, he can gain extra speed in a shallow
dive. This will allow him to close the horizontal distance and takes him into his
opponent's blind spot at six o'clock low. When a suitable position and overtaking speed
have been attained, the pursuer can pull up and attack. The counter? Keep a good
lookout behind!

The most widely used variant of the low speed yoyo is used in a turning fight to break a
stalemate caused by lack of overtake. Dropping his nose to the inside of the turn, the
pursuer can cut across the circle.

Low Speed Yo Yo Straight Pursuit

Two versions of the low speed yoyo exist. The first, illust- rated here, is based on
trading height for speed. It is used to break a stalemate in a tail chase where the
attacker is unable to close to within range. He unloads in a shallow dive, gaining speed.
When the distance has been closed, he pulls up into the attack.

More often, the low-speed yoyo is used to break a stalemate in a turning fight. The
attacker drops his nose to the inside of the turn, then cuts low across the circle
before pulling up towards his opponent's six o'clock. The gain is often marginal, but
repeating the process nibbles off a few degrees of angle each time, due to manoeuvring
in the vertical plane. The pull-up should be started when a position of about 30 degrees
angle-off is reached. It is important that the angle of cut-off is correct or the
attacker will arrive in a fly-through situation with too much angle-off as he approaches
the target. If this happens then he must endeavour to pull up into a high-speed yoyo.

Defence against the low-speed yoyo takes two forms. The first is to copy the maneuver
while remaining in phase with the attacker. This maintains the stalemate. The second
counter is more positive. The defender holds the turn until the attacker starts his pull-
up. He then eases his turn a trifle, lifts his nose, and makes a rolling descending turn
into his opponent.

If the attacking pilot has tried to lead the defender by too much or dived too low by
being greedy, the defender can also pull up and barrel down onto the attacker.

Offensive Split
A pair of fighters can carry out the "offensive split" maneuver in a variety of ways. In
one version the nearest man is in combat spread, drawing the attention of the bandits,
while his partner (hopefully unobserved) sneaks around the back either high or low,
depending on relative altitudes at the start of the encounter. For example, referring
back to the eyeball/shooter attack, when the lookout gains visual contact and clears
the shooter to fire at the far bogey. The lookout will be visible to the enemy at much
the same time, and the bandit will almost certainly react by turning towards him. The
shooter, still low, still hopefully undetected, can swing across behind his leader, then
reverse into a hard climbing turn which should bring him out into a good attacking
position.

There are many variations of the offensive split. Here the leader visually identifies
bandits, who turn towards him. Meanwhile his No. 2 has crossed under unobserved to
pull up hard from underneath for a belly shot.

Offset Head On Pass

The off-set head-on pass may be used by the pilot of an extremely maneuverable
fighter. Faced with a head-on attack, he can offset to one side to give himself space in
which to use his superior turning ability.

Rollaway

Sandwich
For a pair, the "sandwich" is the oldest trick in the book. A fighter attacked from the
rear quarter outside the formation breaks into the attack. If he is followed by an
enemy, his wingman slots neatly into place behind the bandit for a rear quarter shot,
taking great care, of course, not to fire a heat missile until his comrade has cleared the
danger area.

Scissors
This is a series of turn reversals performed with the object of forcing the
overshooting attacker out in front to a position of disadvantage. The initial turn is
reversed when the attacker has definitely overshot and has drifted sufficiently wide
as to prevent him from pulling back into the cone of vulnerability when the defender
reverses. Timing the reversals is absolutely critical. The basic rule is that if the
attacker is overshooting fast, reverse early, but if he is drifting slowly wide, take time
and make sure.

The scissors is the natural outcome of a successful break which has forced the
attacker to overshoot. It consists of a series of reversals to get behind the attacker
by forcing him out in front. The more manoeuvrable fighter has an advantage in the
scissors.

Full power is used throughout the scissors but with the nose trimmed high to reduce
the forward velocity vector. Airbrakes can be used to force the flythrough but if they
are used too early they will advertise the defender's intentions. The scissors may turn
into a stalemate with neither side gaining the advantage. The stalmate can be broken by
one fighter rolling inverted when passing through the adversary's six o'clock and diving
away to gain speed before pulling back up,preferably into sun. This will hopefully take
him by surprise. Scissoring for more than a couple of reversals is not recommended
against an opponent who is able to turn faster and/or tighter, and it should not be
attempted if there is more than one attacker, either. Fighter pilots recommend that
unless the advantage is gained after three reversals, the pilot should, aiming to pass
head-on to the attacker, since this would put him at a disadvantage in having to turn
back toward the defender as he runs out.

Split S

In this the defender rolls inverted and dives away vertically, pulling out in a direction
opposite to that of his opponent.

Most defensive maneuvers are designed to counter an attack coming from astern,
mainly by forcing an attacker to overshoot. What are the attacker's needs? Much
depends on whether he is planning a missile or gun attack. As we saw in the attack
phase, a missile attack should be fast, deadly, and conclusive. But, as World War I
German Chief of Staff von Moltke observed many years ago: plans rarely survive
contact with the enemy. The fighter pilot should be prepared for his attack to fail and
know precisely what he will do next, either disengage or enter into manoeuvring combat.

If his attack is from head-on, much will depend on the maneuver potential of the two
opponents. The more manoeuvrable fighter will have the edge in a turning fight. (The
more manoeuvrable fighter at this stage is frequently the one travelling slowest rather
than the most aerodynamically capable.) If this is the attacker he should endeavour to
pass wide of his opponent to give himself turning room. If there is any doubt about
relative maneuver potential he should pass close to deny his adversary turning room,
then pull high in the turn. In either case he should pass down-Sun so that his next
change of direction forces his opponent to look into the dazzle. If after a head- on
pass both aircraft pull high a vertical ascending scissors may result.

A missile attack from astern is normally made at a high closing speed. If the attack
fails the attacker must zoom climb to dissipate his excess speed if he wishes to
continue the fight, although it is easier and probably safer to disengage at this point. A
gun attack should be made with an overtake speed of about 50 knots (just under 90
feet, 2 7m) per second). This gives time to track the target in the sight, minimises the
risk of overshooting and retains an energy advantage for manoeuvring combat.

The defensive maneuvers described earlier place much stres on forcing an attacker to
overshoot It is obviously important to avoid overshooting, so how is it done?

An overshoot is caused by one or two factors. The first is an excessively large angle
subtended between the fuselages of the respective aircraft. The second is excessive
closing speed. This is difficult for the attacker to spot until he is fairly close in. Either
way the attacker is faced with overshooting. His first remedy is the high-speed yoyo.

The Split S is a time-honoured method of disengaging from combat. Known to the Royal
Air Force as the Half Roll and the Luftwaffe as the Abschwung, it uses maneuver in the
vertical plane to evade attack.

The Break
This is used when an attacker is first seen approaching or is already in the cone of
vulnerability. Its purpose is twofold: to spoil the attacker's aim and to force him to
overshoot. The break is always made towards the direction of attack, This generates
"angle-off" as quickly as possible which makes the defender a difficult target. The
attacker may be able to cut inside the turn but he is forced to pull lead. To do this he
must tighten his turn, which increases his angle of attack. It is difficult for him to pull
his nose around at high angles of attack to achieve a firing solution. The defender
should also alter his plane of flight to make himself a more difficult target.

Two forms of break are possible, depending on the circumstances of the attack. The
defender can use a maximum-rate sustained turn in which he does not lose speed, or
the hardest possible turn in which he almost certainly does. The speed loss attendant
on the hard turn aids his chances of forcing the attacker to overshoot, as does the
smaller radius of turn, but oft-quoted maxims such as "speed is life" act as an inhibitor.
If the break succeeds in forcing the attacker to overshoot, the next maneuver is the
Scissors.
The break is a life-saving maneuver. It is used against an attacker who is about to
achieve a firing position (or already has). It consists of a hard turn into the direction
of attack, to generate angle-off as rapidly as possible to present the most difficult
target.

The Break

This is used when an attacker is first seen approaching or is already in the cone of
vulnerability. Its purpose is twofold: to spoil the attacker's aim and to force him to
overshoot. The break is always made towards the direction of attack, This generates
"angle-off" as quickly as possible which makes the defender a difficult target. The
attacker may be able to cut inside the turn but he is forced to pull lead. To do this he
must tighten his turn, which increases his angle of attack. It is difficult for him to pull
his nose around at high angles of attack to achieve a firing solution. The defender
should also alter his plane of flight to make himself a more difficult target.
Two forms of break are possible, depending on the circumstances of the attack. The
defender can use a maximum-rate sustained turn in which he does not lose speed, or
the hardest possible turn in which he almost certainly does. The speed loss attendant
on the hard turn aids his chances of forcing the attacker to overshoot, as does the
smaller radius of turn, but oft-quoted maxims such as "speed is life" act as an inhibitor.
If the break succeeds in forcing the attacker to overshoot, the next maneuver is the
Scissors.

The break is a life-saving maneuver. It is used against an attacker who is about to

achieve a firing position (or already has). It consists of a hard turn into the direction
of attack, to generate angle-off as rapidly as possible to present the most difficult
target.

Vertical Reverse

The vertical reverse can be used when an attack or maneuver is completed with a
vertical climb. The aircraft continues straight up until it loses flying speed. It is then
ruddered around very sharply into a steep dive, gaining speed as it goes. This maneuver
can be used at the top of a vertical ascending scissors either to disengage or to offer a
pursuer a little head-on discouragement, but is mostly used to reposition for a further
attack. Very few modern fighters are controllable at such low speeds; only those that
are - notably the Harrier, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-5 Tiger II - can carry out this
maneuver.

The vertical reverse is only for the fighter with exceptional low speed handling. It is
used at the end of a vertical climb when all flying speed is lost, the aircraft being
ruddered around sharply into a dive.

Vertical Rolling Scissors

This is similar to the scissors described earlier but is carried out in either a steep
climb or dive and the reversals are often carried out by executing a complete barrel
roll. The ascending vertical rolling scissors places the fighter with the better zoom
climb (or the higher initial energy state) at a disadvantage at first. Otherwisethe
fighter with the best sustained rate of climb will have the advantage. If in a
descending vertical rolling scissors the defender finds himself forced below his
adversary he should attempt to place himself directly beneath his opponent and
maneuver in phase with him. In this position he cannot be seen and can pick his moment
to disengage with a splitS.