henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (12/09/90)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: Wu Liu <wul@sco.COM> >... The Tigers stuck primarily to Claire >Chennault's tactic of hitting and running in their P-40s, while the >RAF pilots, veterans of the Battle of Britain, tried to turn with the >Japanese. Tsk tsk. Poor tactics, regardless of the opponent. Much better to size up the situation carefully, make a single hit-and-run pass, and reconsider the situation carefully before making another (should it be necessary), carefully avoiding dogfighting at all times and never getting greedy. Should these seem like wimpy tactics, consider that they were the preferred tactics of Erich Hartmann... the greatest ace of all time, who scored 352 confirmed kills between 1942 and 1945 without ever getting hurt or losing a wingman. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
pauls@hpsrdcb.hp.com (Paul Stafford) (12/11/90)
From: Paul Stafford <pauls@hpsrdcb.hp.com> >Should these seem like wimpy tactics, consider that they were the preferred >tactics of Erich Hartmann... the greatest ace of all time, who scored >352 confirmed kills between 1942 and 1945 without ever getting hurt or >losing a wingman. not exactly- as I recall, he was shot down 7 times, and collided with target wreckage at least once, downing himself in the process. his technique of shooting only when extremely close was one secret to his scores... N.B.: IMHO, the best aerial shooter was Hans Joachim Marseille, who, with only 152 kills was much lower on the totem pole, typically used only 10 or so *shells* per kill, and often came back from his flights( over N Africa) with 7-10 kills. Cited by both sides as the greatest off angle shooter.
thornley@uunet.UU.NET (David H. Thornley) (12/14/90)
From: plains!umn-cs!LOCAL!thornley@uunet.UU.NET (David H. Thornley) In article <1990Dec8.222406.28016@cbnews.att.com> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: > > >From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >>From: Wu Liu <wul@sco.COM> >>... The Tigers stuck primarily to Claire >>Chennault's tactic of hitting and running in their P-40s, while the >>RAF pilots, veterans of the Battle of Britain, tried to turn with the >>Japanese. > >Tsk tsk. Poor tactics, regardless of the opponent. Much better to size >up the situation carefully, make a single hit-and-run pass, and reconsider >the situation carefully before making another (should it be necessary), >carefully avoiding dogfighting at all times and never getting greedy. > Like all tactics, these are situational. Hit, run, and hit again are well suited to many situations, but not all. It will work best if the attacker has a performance and visibility advantage over the target; the performance advantage to intercept the target several times, and the visibility advantage so the attacker has some chance of breaking the defender's visual tracking while either keeping the defender spotted or re-acquiring him. It does have the great advantage of keeping the energy level up. Turning tactics have two major flaws. First, it is suicide to turn with an opponent who does it better than you. Second, even if you win, you will be slow and probably low, and hence a sitting duck for people who like to swoop in for hit-and-run shots at easy targets. DHT
ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) (12/17/90)
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) >>... The Tigers stuck primarily to Claire >>Chennault's tactic of hitting and running in their P-40s, while the >>RAF pilots, veterans of the Battle of Britain, tried to turn with the >>Japanese. Well, I went back and re-read the part where the British send the Spitfire squadron to Australia. It took place in March 1942, so the Spitfires were probably Mk. Vs (or even the earlier Mk. IIs). The Mk. IX and VIII didn't enter service until mid-1943, I be- lieve. The Mk. Vs probably didn't have too much of a speed advantage over Zeros. >Should these seem like wimpy tactics, consider that they were the preferred >tactics of Erich Hartmann... the greatest ace of all time, who scored >352 confirmed kills between 1942 and 1945 without ever getting hurt or >losing a wingman. Hartmann had another interesting tactic for escaping. When someone was on his tail, they would have to pull a lead on him for a de- flection shot. So at some point his airplane would be under his pursuer's nose and invisi- ble. When this happened, he'd shove forward on the stick and dissapear without being no- ticed. Hartmann fought entirely on the Eastern front, but this trick would be very effective against earlier Spitfires, which had problems with the engine cutting out under negative Gs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS !
adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt) (12/21/90)
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk> In article <1990Dec17.051624.29937@cbnews.att.com> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) writes: > >Well, I went back and re-read the part where >the British send the Spitfire squadron to >Australia. It took place in March 1942, so >the Spitfires were probably Mk. Vs (or even >the earlier Mk. IIs). The Mk. IX and VIII >didn't enter service until mid-1943, I be- >lieve. The Mk. Vs probably didn't have too >much of a speed advantage over Zeros. The Spitfire Mk IX entered service in mid-1942; the Mk VIII entered service in 1943. The reason for this was the Focke-Wulf 190. The Fw 190 was first encountered in late 1941, and totally outclassed the Spitfire Mk V. Rolls- Royce designed a new version of the Merlin engine to give the Spitfire more power, and the Mk VIII was designed to use it. The RAF were desperate, though, and couldn't wait for the new version to come out. So the new engine was put into a slightly adapted Mk V airframe; the result was the Mk IX. As for speeds: the maximum speed of the A6M2 Zero of 1940 was 316 mph; the 1943 A6M3 could do 336 mph. By comparison, the Spitfire Mk II had a top speed of 354 mph, the Mk V had a top speed of 374 mph, and the Mk IX could do 415 mph. "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk