The art of coarse combat This article, originally published in the Royal Air Force magazine Air Clues, takes a lighthearted look at air-combat training for ground: attack pilots, It examines some of the more unorthodox methods of clase- in fighting and offers a few little-known tips for junior pilots. If followed rigorously, the doctrines contained herein will ensure the said junior pilots’ meteoric rise (probably by courtesy of Martin-Baker), followed dy a career in either insurance, advertising or public relations (depending. on how you fare at the Court Martial). The article was written by the then Sgn Lar K. G. “Dutch” Holland of RAF Wildenrath, abetted by Fit Lt A. Gatland, who produced the cartoons. Sqn Ldr Holland has now emerged from Siaff College as a Wg Cdr, while Fit Lt Gatland has Tetired to New Zealand (must be a moral in there somewhere). As the above may not be clear to the various anti-this-that-and-the-other citizens’ action groups THIS ARTICLE IS A JOKE, so be good chaps and put your petitions about abolishing low-fiying and aircraft noise, etcazz away and don't bother those nice chaps at the Minestrone of de Fence. RSE an historical note it (SEs) show row stones,” and probably seems superfluous to say Red sky at night. engines alight, that the RFC/RAP first became in Contrary to. what everyone. imag: terested in air combat during the First ines, the RAF has never ever for- World War, but you have. to. sta ten about the need for combat somewhere. It certainly didn't just training. It is only since the Ameri happen; it evolved. The whole iZsue cans rediscovered it and called it ACT began ina gentlemanly fashion with that we thought we haven't Been doing exchanges of grimaces by opposing it for years. I kaow I've been doing ut this soon degenerated into it for years, Anyway it's ACT now the hurling of insults and), later, house what the Americans will call” the bricks. Inevitably casualties rose as wheel after they rednvent it 1 shudder people tried to throw eavier and — to. think heavier Bricks. 'Some cad then spoilt This article is designed to show how it all by Atting guns to his aircraft one may extract the most from ACT. land added hocror to horror by aiming and for this purpose we Took at 2 (eat the opposition. Thus was air com. typical 2v2 sortie bet bom. It was refined and perfected by. such illustrious names as. Baleke. von Richthofen and Karno. The fame Prebyief of their cireuses lives on today. Many Of their sayings have passed into our A. successful combat sortie really everyday language, e.g starts at the programming stage, You People who live in glasshouses really should try to avoid being pro- grammed as a No 2 or No 4 unless the other side are an obvious sac de clouz, Try to grab a 1 or 3 slot where Your salvation is in your own hands and there is 2 No 2 between you and any threat. Wangle yourself a good fet at the same_tim anything slightly cleaner than the Say it needs an air cheek for control restrictions. This will deter most people and allay the suspicions of the Rosey. Briefing Having prepared the ground the brief is your first chance to throw the opposition: phenomenon known in the trade as “getting in the needle.” Start with a few asides like “I hope this is going to be more of a challeng than last time,” and chip in straight away with corrections to the domestics brief, ‘Share the odd joke. with your No? (vou can simulate this if you have othing to say to him) and generally harry them right up to walk-out Always take two magazines. for the era—it's @ good psyehological "Make sure. the carefully briefed‘and keep all the limits high... there is always some goodie who'll stick to them_no matter how outrageous they are. Stress the correct spin recovery; it is never bad idea aad it frightens the young lads. Tt must do... it scares me rigid, Finally, impress’ on your No 2 that he is to stick elose (he Wwon't), search (he won't), and report (he will bat all you'll probably get is Serer. bead .+ Pm slipping to, er about ooya', .- and Ver. mo contact... . er itureat). if He says 800 it means 1,500 ‘and if you both can't see the threat action may be close. If your No 2 is the Boss you will need special tactics, ‘but more’ of this Tater. Improving the needle ‘The best way to spread the already sown seeds of ‘confusion Is. on the take’ off. When everyone’ in the section is ready for the off, tap your hhead three times, nod it, wait Sse, then let go the brakes. The take off should then be a complete shambles Dut remember that the leader’ is always right. Anyway itl give them Something to think about on the climb. ‘The only other thing you can do is to call nomexistent aireraft and roast the rest of the formation for not seeing them. The section is now mentally prepared for the Trav. Joining combat Combat may be joined in a variety ‘of ways but the most porilar are a The 270° split 1} The 45° outwards turn, ¢ The inwards tum from wide battle formation. TT tend to favour either ¢ because it helps the blind, of a because it allows @ useful ploy called the “Raynham Snap” to be employed. This. takes brass face to perpotrate, but T must confess to having used it successfully fon a number of oecasioas, This proves that a measure of low native conning and saeakiness is a prerequisite for all fighter pilots. If you find yourself tunable to stoop to such trickery stick with transports and keep pious. ‘The combat Uhimately you will be forced to fight. This in sself js not tragic iF the other leader is acrass inept. The inept shows himself quickly by reversing hig turns and you can relax and wait rief very high limits “there Is aay some. goodie whol eiek ts hem for him to screw up. Sterner stuf may Well be encountered, however, and you may be forced to draw on’ well: known counter ploys. These are: ‘The Yer¥o. The YoYo is very dificult to explain. Ie was first perfected by the wellknown Chinese fighter pot, Yo Yo Noritake. He also found it diffu: to explain being quite devoid of English, ‘The rudiments of the mmanguvre were fortunately acquired by the famous Sino-phile and erst- while Harrier display pilot, Lychee ‘Profit, Sufice to say that itis a handy trick, but since the other side norm ally follows suit you rapidly get back “The Raynbar Soap CP to the evensStephen situation. Tt cor- tainly didn't do Lychee any good He's now got a desk job. The Scissors. The scissors is a series of low-speed manqsuvres designed to tuse up as much sky as possible with the minimum forward progress, the ultimate aim being to get behind the other fellow. It involves fying the air + devoid of speed, control ond ideas” pes ss craft very slowly and, therefore, very carefully. Minimum speeds are always laid down for scissoring, and. quite right too. It ie embarrassing to and yourself pointing vertically at another Bireraft and to be completely devotd Of speed, control and ideas. It is even more perturbing when the bloke in the other aircraft transmits "I hope you ‘can do something ‘cos 1 bloody well can't” . . . He did though, but hhe never really. recovered from the experience. They seat him on a rest tour on Jaguars... Pulling Q I think they call it... @ poor substitute for pulling g, T feel! ‘The High g Barrel Roll The aim of the HGB Is the same as the scissors, but in particular it is designed to kill ‘the speed quickly and. sucker the baddie into your 12 o'clock. It either adhieves its aim or, if he's seen the trick Before, it pulls him up smartly into your six o'dock at 200vd_ with, Inevitable results. T once tried this on my own Flight Commander... he ull Iaughs uncontrollably every time [see him. Use the HGB sparingly is my advice. laving said all this, it may be that a quirk of fortune places you in a less than advantageous position, Tn short ‘you may dip out The first thing to go must be your No 2, Split him off high (they'll always follow the high man) and tell him you are going to break away low, pick up speed, come back into the fight, and. try to menace them. Absolute ‘rubbish of ‘course. ‘What you are going to do is scuttle for the nearest cloud or base. Remem- Der that he who fights and runs away, te, ete. Twas once left completely in the lurch ‘by my leader whose only. excuse at the debrief was ‘Well, T ‘was getting a bit short of fuel and any. way T needed to get back to base be: fore the bank closed...” Disengaging Common. sense dictates that the fight should be called off nan orderly fashion and the formation regrouped {in certain sets of cireumstances. These Use264 “You may of curse get caught ino less thon cavontogec postion Tf the agreed number of Kills has been achieved b Shortage of fuel «Drifting into restricted airspace. 4 You are losing. ast diteh.” The best excuse [6 to call Band return to ase. You may be forced to explain this in the debrief, however, so it's as well to get your facts straight, “The ‘Young lads were getting a Dit too car: Fed away,” Is another good excuse The debrief It has been said that more fights are won oF lost at the debrief then Nightco! anywhere clse. It's true. One good friend of mine was alway’s top of the combat ladder. "He was a very bad combat pilot but a super’ debriefer. ‘There arc aumecous ploys, But. my favourite is the “Yesterday was Tues- day” ploy. It goes like this: “well, we turned in and lost sight of you very quickly.” The opposition nods. “I assumed you were getting in lose so T pulled’ a quick HGB and tried to sucker you through. Now— yesterday. was. Tuesday wasn't it?" All mod (ti completely irreleva: but ‘sets everyone's ‘head nodding). “And tomorrow is going to be Thurs day.” (All nod.) “Now, because today Is Wednesday,” (all nod), "you flew through and T'shot you dowa.” Every. one is stil nodding-~they have been trapped into acquiescence. This is one of the rare examples of a staff ploy being adopted by the sharp end. Special tactics for bosses Bosses are traditionally enthusiastic bout out of practice. They ean be well employed, “however, provided the round is prepared before the. Sight Spread the word that the Boss's eye Sight is poor, then split im off as soon as the figat begins. Tell him to roam through ‘the faht acting as a free Agent. Explain that this wil allow hrm the maximem scope. to. use the un paralleled skils with which you know he is endowed. Then get out of his way. He will certainly cause chaos on the other side and the consternation factor more than compensates for the risks. The opposition ‘will be so busy avoiding the ensuing Kamikaze slash attacks that you can nip in for a quick Kitt Missiles The advent of the airtonir hhas ruined the whole scene. Time was ‘when you could live on your wits and eyeballs, but these days you can get When menaced. scutle for the nearest cloud is happily some valve still to be had from. Cap busting, however, and Lightnings operate Caps. Tt is an abbreviation of uighteap. It's a rest from Pls. You set up a low-level race- track and try to stop people pene trating your Cap line. Ttis, however, very boring’ and after Smin or so you tend to nod off, thus exposing your Self co marauders. Quis eustodiet ‘ps0 custodes? Sadly, the Lightnings ace ‘early out of it Row and the Sparrow. armed Toom i in. This is definitely unfair. A handioap system is being Tooked at; using two navigators is the current suggestion, ‘Getng ot of the Bors way” Conclusion Careful use of the ploys laid down in this beief appraisal is bound to sharpen up people enormously. But I would hate people to imagine that using Ups lke these will make them instant combat ages. Actually it takes years of practice to be really good; and you sover let om about all the @rawbacks. I" mean, take vifing. People think this is'a cureall and a trap for the unwary oviee—aot true at all, ts effects are exaggerated. Let me explain. You see tomorrow will be Thursday and as you are obviously aware yesterday was Tues- day... now T'can assure you