Information AboutDog Fight |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT DOGFIGHT | |
| aerial warfare | |
| aviation terminology | |
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A dogfight or '''dog fight''' is a common term used to describe close-range Aerial Combat between military Aircraft . The term originated during World War I , and probably derives from the preferred fighter tactic of positioning one's aircraft behind the enemy aircraft. From this position, a pilot could fire his guns on the enemy without having to lead the target, and the enemy aircraft could not effectively fire back. When two Fighter Aircraft circle each other trying to achieve this position, it resembles two dogs chasing each other's tails. HISTORY World War I See Also: Aviation in World War I Dog fighting emerged in World War I . Aircraft were initially used as mobile observation vehicles and early pilots gave little thought to aerial combat - enemy Pilots at first simply exchanged waves. Intrepid pilots decided to interfere with enemy reconnaissance by improvised means, including throwing Brick s, Grenades and sometimes Rope , which they hoped would tangle the enemy plane's Propeller . This progressed to pilots firing handheld Gun s at enemy planes. Once the guns were mountable to the Plane due to the invention of Synchronization Gear in 1915, the era of air combat began. During the first part of the war there was no established tactical doctrine for air-to-air combat. Oswald Boelcke was the first to analyze the tactics of aerial warfare, resulting in a set of rules known as the Dicta Boelcke . Like the Dicta Boelcke, many of the maneuvres invented in World War I are still usable today, for instance the Immelmann Turn , invented by German Flying Ace Max Immelmann . Perhaps the best known person contributing to establishing dog fighting guidelines was Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the "Red Baron". World War II During the first part of World War II, the basic ideas behind dog fighting changed little. The airplanes however were improved drastically over their World War I counterparts. Aircraft like the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Mitsubishi Zero were far superior to their opponents until the Allied Forces developed more powerful aircraft like the Supermarine Spitfire . Due to the high agility of the Zero, the Allied pilots found that the correct combat tactic against Zeros was to remain out of range and fight on the dive and climb. By using speed and resisting the deadly error of trying to out-turn the Zero, eventually cannon could be brought to bear and a single burst of fire was usually enough. Another important maneuver was called the " Thach Weave ", named for the man that invented it, then-LtCdr John S. "Jimmy" Thach . It required two planes, a leader and his wingman, to fly about 200 feet apart. When a Zero would latch onto the tail of one of the fighters, the two planes would turn toward each other. If the Zero followed its original target through the turn, it would come into a position to be fired on by his target's Wingman . This tactic was used with spectacular results at the Battle Of The Coral Sea and at the Battle Of Midway , and helped make up for the inferiority of the US planes until new aircraft types were brought into service. Later in the war, when bombers were equipped with machine guns, the Germans found a way to counter this by arming their Me 262 's with R4M Air-to-air Rocket s. While this proved highly effective, the war was already effectively over. Soon after the war, both the United States and Soviet Union began development of Air-to-air Missile s. This increased the range on which planes could engage eachother from a few hundred meters to 5-10 km. This distance increased as more advanced missiles entered service. MODERN AIR COMBAT Modern air-to-air combat seldom degenerates into a dog fight. If so, it is because Guided Missile attacks, often Beyond Visual Range , have failed. A fighter with a large wing can sometimes evade a supersonic missile by turning faster than the missile can follow, if the pilot has excellent situational awareness and is a master of angles and timing. Attempting to run away is the least effective survival choice. Supersonic head-on closure with the enemy while evading further missile flights may eventually achieve a tail-chase visual Gatling Gun with firing range of less than one kilometer. Superiority in a dog fight depends primarily on a pilot's experience and skill, and on the agility of his fighter when flown at minimum air speeds approaching loss of control (causing a danger of Stalling ); the winner typically plays to the strengths of his own aircraft while forcing his adversary to fly at a design disadvantage. Dog fights are generally contests to determine which pilot can fly the slowest while maintaining violent acrobatic control. A dog fight has nothing to do with supersonic speed, and much to do with the engine power that makes supersonic flight possible. The $280M F-22 Raptor can stand on its steerable nozzles at less than 100K airspeed, yet quickly maneuver to bring its M61 Vulcan cannon to bear on a nearby evasive target. With modern air-to-air AMRAAM Guided Missile s greatly extending the general engagement range of Jet Fighter s, some experts hypothesize that dog fighting may be headed toward extinction. Others criticize this view, citing as evidence the United States F-4 Phantom II . All versions but the last (E) of this fighter relied solely on missiles, having no guns nor lead-computing Gyro Gunsight , and were therefore very vulnerable in gun-range combat. The continued importance of dog fighting was demonstrated during the Vietnam War. American pilots flew aircraft equipped with long-range missiles. However, air crews were adamantly denied permission to fire AIM-7 Sparrow missiles at radar targets without having visually identified the target first, thus completely losing this technological advantage. Lightweight, short-endurance, point-defense fighters such as the MiG-17 and MiG-21 are far more agile than heavy, long-range, strike fighters such as the F-105 Thunderchief . Still, using the element of surprise (the target did not see an attack coming), the AIM-9 Sidewinder short range missile, and cannon fire, American pilots gained significant victories in the air over North Vietnam. Advanced missile technology has not spelled the end of the dog fight. However, the introduction of the Rear Facing Radar and missiles capable of being fired backwards have reduced the vulnerability to tail-chase attacks. Because this feature is only present on the most modern jets, and missiles are a finite resource, the US Navy ( TOPGUN ) and Air Force ( Red Flag ) continue to teach postgraduate level classes in air combat maneuvering engagements. FICTIONAL DEPICTIONS Although combat in space involves different considerations due to the lack of drag and gravity, Science Fiction Film s and space simulations often invoke analogies to aeronautical dogfighting to better relate to the audience's experience. Some Films and Games, such as Babylon 5 , '' Battlestar Galactica '', and I-War have tried to accurately model Newtonian physics and tactics in such an environment. For example, since a body will remain in motion without additional thrust, a fighter could orient itself to face directions other than its direction of travel, i.e. if being chased, a space fighter can make an 180 degree spin on its axis to shoot its foward guns at its pursuer, while still moving in its original direction. SEE ALSO REFERENCES FOOTNOTES |
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