_VF103_Jolly Rogers

AIR COMBAT MANEUVRES – Why and when to use them
If you are thoroughly conversant with tactics, you will recognise the enemy's intentions and thus have many opportunities to win.

Miyamoto Musashi

ACM is that phase of warfare in which the fighter operates within visual range of enemy aircraft, employing large scale three dimensional manoeuvres to bring its weapons to bear whilst denying the enemy a weapons firing opportunity.

These manoeuvres are your bread and butter; they are the tools of your trade. You should know how and when to use them. Performing air combat manoeuvres, (ACM) should be like riding a bike, instinctive.

BREAK TURN – Move the joystick left, or right to roll the aircraft and then pull back on the stick to tighten the turn. You are trying to tighten the turn to the point where your attacker cannot turn with you and overshoots, you are also trying to increase the deflection rate, (how far in front a target you have to shoot so that your bullets arrive at a certain place at the same time as the enemy aircraft) and therefore make yourself harder to hit. You should always make a break turn nose level, or nose low. If your break turn is nose high your speed will bleed off even more quickly than normal and you will become a wallowing, big fat target. Generally speaking if the enemy is close a slow break turn will get you killed every time.

CHANDELLE – The chandelle is a climbing turn (whereas the break turn is (usually) a flat turn). Roll to one side about 45 degrees and then pull back gently. When you wish to finish the turn just roll your wings level. The chandelle is a low G manoeuvre (whereas the break turn is a high G manoeuvre) so don't pull on the stick too hard as you are trying not to bleed off too much speed or Energy. At the end of the turn you will be at a higher altitude and therefore will have gained some potential energy, probably at the cost of some kinetic energy, or speed, (in theory). The chandelle is NOT a combat manoeuvre to get you a kill shot with your guns. It allows you to move around the fight while keeping the enemy in sight over or behind the lower wing. You won't be using this if the enemy is close.

IMMELMAN TURN – Pull back on the stick into a half loop, when you are completely inverted, roll upright. The Immelman is a simple yet effective manoeuvre when performed properly; you end up at a higher altitude and facing the opposite way from when you started the move. You will gain energy through altitude, but lose some through speed loss. In fact the Immelman can be performed in two different ways. A hard, half loop with little altitude gain for a quick reversal, or a lazy half loop with maximum altitude gain, but ending up near stall speed at the top. You need good situational awareness of the enemy's energy state to pick the right one. Do the slow Immelman with a high energy enemy behind you and he will pick you off while you are at the top of your manoeuvre, slow and hanging in the air. If you are in a head on pass and the enemy goes for a nose low turn, a well performed Immelman will put you above him with enough energy to keep your speed up; instant merge advantage. It is essential to know the slowest speed at which you can perform an Immelman in various aircraft, both with and without flaps.

SPLIT-S TURN – The split-s is the exact opposite of the Immelman, a 180-degree half roll, followed by a half loop. Roll the aircraft inverted and then pull back on the stick into a half loop towards the ground until you are straight and level. The split-s is primarily a defensive move, if an enemy is diving on your tail with excessive speed he will be unable to follow a hard split-s. If he tries to follow he will either black out or perform a much wider (deeper) half loop, (or both) putting him at a severe altitude disadvantage. As an escape manoeuvre start a split-s, then when your nose is pointing straight down at the ground do another 180 degree half roll and pull out. You will end up on your original course, but a lot lower and faster and if the enemy is not paying full attention he will have turned to where you would have been, had you completed your split-s; your escape is complete. As with the Immelman, you need to know what each aircraft is capable of, this time the crucial thing is the lowest altitude at which you can perform the split-s, with and without flaps. With an enemy aircraft which retains energy well like the Spitfire, get him chasing you down to your lowest altitude, chop throttle and perform your split-s, if he tries to follow you he will end up drilling a neat hole in the ground as you pull out at zero feet and fly off chuckling to yourself.

HIGH YO-YO – When you are chasing an enemy in a turn and you have a speed advantage you can use a high yo-yo to prevent an overshoot. As soon as you realise you cannot get your nose round for a shot, and you are in danger of overshooting (putting the enemy onto 'your' tail) roll slightly away from the turn and pull up. Once you have avoided the overshoot, roll back towards the turn until the enemy is in your lift vector (ie. You only need to pull on the stick to bring your guns to bear) and then pull towards him.

(Note: Lift Vector: If you lift the nose of your aircraft by pulling back on the stick, the line your nose travels up through is your lift vector. If an enemy is along that line, then he is in your lift vector. Obviously if you are inverted your lift vector to an enemy below you is downwards).

You should only use a high yo-yo when you have a high closure rate on the enemy and almost have a gun solution. If you have a high angle on the enemy or are further back you will need to pull up higher and roll back to the turn more, to get your lift vector onto him. This manoeuvre then changes from a high yo-yo to a high barrel roll attack and the chances are that he will have turned towards you by the time you finish the manoeuvre, leaving you back where you started.

LOW YO-YO – The low yo-yo is used when you find yourself in a flat horizontal turn, with the enemy on the other side of a circle and you can't reel him in because you are already close to the stall with the throttle wide open. You are both effectively flying round the 'equator' of a ball. You need to perform the opposite of the high yo-yo. If you drop the nose slightly, so that you are now moving through both the vertical and the horizontal, you will pick up some extra speed, allowing you to pull a bit harder and turn tighter. You will therefore cut inside the circumference of the ball and because this is obviously a shorter route, as you pull back up to the 'equator' where your opponent is, you will have cut the corner and will appear on the enemies low six. Where the high yo-yo is performed fairly close to the target, the low yo-yo wants to be performed a bit further back. Because of the increase in airspeed if you are too close you will have created an overshoot situation necessitating a high yo-yo, so you want to be a bit further back and don't make the low yo-yo too low. If you don't get the shot you can always perform another low yo-yo. The speed you pick up on each yo-yo will allow you to pull harder on the stick to increase your turn without bleeding as much energy as the enemy. Put simply, less airspeed is lost in a low yo-yo than in a flat horizontal turn.

Those are most of the basic air combat manoeuvres. There are others, but they will come up in other chapters more specific to their situation. I have tried to explain them as simply as I can. For a more detailed technical description with diagrams have a look at "Vulture's Fleet Air Arm Air Combat Manoeuvring notes". Try and get the manoeuvres clear in your mind as they will crop up further on in this document, when I try and fit them into actual situations.