"What do I do if there is a guy that is above me?"

     - Baddog


        Actually, all sniping comments aside, this is one of the classic
dilemnas of air combat.  Basically, you have an opponent that has a
substantial altitude advantage who is converting to your six.  The problem
is one of E differential and position.  Your mission Jim, should you choose
to accept it, is to get the bogie to bleed energy while never giving away
position to allow him a killing shot.  You on the other hand can't afford to
lose any more energy than absolutely necessary.  This is a problem :).  You
have to manuever but manuever costs energy.  The key is to make all you
manuevering count. That being said there are several approaches that I have
found to work well.  Prior to the first pass you should have it clear in
your head, what advantage of your plane it is that you want to use against
his plane.  If you're in a spit and he's in an fw, you want to convert this
into a flat turning fite where you have the advantage.  If you are in a 109
or niki, you want to get him co alt where your climbing advantage will start
to tell.

        The one way that I have found that is absolutely guaranteed to keep
you from being hit, is a split s done as he enters gun range (in dosland
thats about 1800, in aolland its more like 1600).  This has a big problem in
that it has no offensive capability at all, making it less than ideal for
turning the odds around.  I'll use it when the guy has lots and lots of e
and I want to take the fite down to the deck to make his problems greater.
If he has more than enough e, I'm not really hurting myself if I give him
more and I can take the fite down to the deck where I hopefully can bleed
him dry.  This would be especially true if you plane has a real performance
advantage down low that your opponent doesn't.  Example p47 vs fw.

        Second, is better.  You split esse and see if he follows.  If he
does (if hes stupid), you start a second split esse and chop throttle and
throw out the anchor.  You want to make him overshoot.  Many folks forget
that they are constantly accelerating as they dive and find themselves
overshooting and blackin out.  Of course if hes good he may chop throttle on
you which could be bad for your longevity.

        Another good one is a barrel roll under.  I have seen and used this
two ways.  One is a break turn when he comes into range and continue till
you're at 90 degrees from your original flight path then pull up into a loop
and look for him when your inverted at the top and try to pull down on him.
You will probably take a hit or two on the break so you need to finish him
fast.  The other is a break downward like you're going to start an oblique
split esse then roll back upright, up and over your opponent's flight path.
This will hopefully cause him to overshoot and give you a brief shot.
Hebee's an expert on this one so you might ask him for a better explanation.

        Another fun one, specially if you're trying to bug out, is to roll
inverted and start a split esse.  Continue till your vertically nose down,
but instead of continuing to pull under, roll till your canopy is pointed in
your original direction and pull out.  Lots of times he thinks you're split
essing and pulls up and out.  You have accelerated and are now boogieing
away. Or you can pull back up and maybe get a shot on him while hes climbing
out and not payin attention.

        Or you can try to pull up into him, forcing a head on.  As he comes
into range, down rudder to skew you're flight path and throw off his aim.
Generally a series of nose to nose turns will cause him to bleed energy as
it encourages him to pull hard on the stick in pursuit of angles.  You want
to build e in level or even in a slight dive until you see him commit to the
pass, then pull up into him.  Repeat as necessary to get him to bleed to co
e.  Once he is co E you have an essentially even fite.

        There are other tricks to get a co E situation.  Long horizontal
extensions cause him to dive to your level while you are building e by
increasing your speed or even a shallow climb.  Avoid high gees unless you
have to to keep from hitting the ground or to keep him from hitting you with
a killing shot.  The rest of the time you want to be gentle on the stick and
build your E while encouraging him to pull hard.  Always try to present him
with angles that will cause him to pull hard.

        Of course this is a very difficult thing to accomplish, and really
unless he makes a mistake you are likely to die.  Just remember that good SA
begins BEFORE he's saddled up on your six.  Once he's there, you have a real
problem :).

@=={--RAPIER---

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