Sol75
10-30-2007, 01:45 PM
Please read my previous posts regarding formaitons before reading this one. It will help it make more sense.
The first thing to remember, the fighting unit, be it element, flight, squadron, utilizing the loose deuce doctrine, is ALWAYS on the offensive. There is no such thing as defensive maneuvering. You may have to perform a guns defense, or maneuver to avoid attack, however the formation as a whole should always have an offensive outlook. Perform those maneuvers with the dual goal of avoiding damage, AND working to gain an advantage over the enemy. Every defensive move should be considered a transition to attack. Remember when fighting loose deuce, keep your E up, and watch out for how your maneuvers will affect your WINGMAN as well as your enemy.
1. The Bracket Attack
The bracket attack is the basic attack used by the element or larger formation when encountering enemy aircraft to your front quarter. It clearly shows why separation is such a powerful tool. When you force the enemy to divide his attention and engage only ONE part of the element at a time, (the engaged fighter) the other (free) fighter gets a clear shot. The roles of free and engaged will switch back and forth depending on who has the enemies attention, until the bandit is destroyed. The opening move of a Bracket attack, the fighters angle out to gain separation, and put the enemy in the middile. They then turn into him at a point where E, closure, and range dictates. At this point the enemy must decide which aircraft to defend against, and that aircraft becomes the “engaged” fighter.
http://www.valkyrie-it.com/AH/images/bracket.jpg
Shortly after the blue element opens up separation (the command is “Bracket Go!) it becomes obvious the red fighter chooses to maneuver against the blue 1 fighter. This is likely because of an instinctual reaction on the red pilots part to maneuver against whoever has given up angles. The blue 1 fighter initiated the bracket, and thus maneuvered first, thereby, giving up angles. The red and blue 1 fighters merge as usual, with blue 1 performing a guns defense maneuver. Meanwhile Blue2 has started his pursuit of red and is closing in on red’s six o’clock. Now, red is dead, it is just a matter of time.
One thing to notice is that the blue1 fighter makes it a point to get OUSTSIDE of the bandit, to force red to keep his lift vector on blue1 after the merge, which helps to set up red for blue2’s shot. This maneuver is just as applicable for a flight of 2 elements, or a squadron of 4 flights engaging a single enemy or an enemy formation which flies as a group. Once the enemy splits up as well, things get more interesting.
The first thing to remember, the fighting unit, be it element, flight, squadron, utilizing the loose deuce doctrine, is ALWAYS on the offensive. There is no such thing as defensive maneuvering. You may have to perform a guns defense, or maneuver to avoid attack, however the formation as a whole should always have an offensive outlook. Perform those maneuvers with the dual goal of avoiding damage, AND working to gain an advantage over the enemy. Every defensive move should be considered a transition to attack. Remember when fighting loose deuce, keep your E up, and watch out for how your maneuvers will affect your WINGMAN as well as your enemy.
1. The Bracket Attack
The bracket attack is the basic attack used by the element or larger formation when encountering enemy aircraft to your front quarter. It clearly shows why separation is such a powerful tool. When you force the enemy to divide his attention and engage only ONE part of the element at a time, (the engaged fighter) the other (free) fighter gets a clear shot. The roles of free and engaged will switch back and forth depending on who has the enemies attention, until the bandit is destroyed. The opening move of a Bracket attack, the fighters angle out to gain separation, and put the enemy in the middile. They then turn into him at a point where E, closure, and range dictates. At this point the enemy must decide which aircraft to defend against, and that aircraft becomes the “engaged” fighter.
http://www.valkyrie-it.com/AH/images/bracket.jpg
Shortly after the blue element opens up separation (the command is “Bracket Go!) it becomes obvious the red fighter chooses to maneuver against the blue 1 fighter. This is likely because of an instinctual reaction on the red pilots part to maneuver against whoever has given up angles. The blue 1 fighter initiated the bracket, and thus maneuvered first, thereby, giving up angles. The red and blue 1 fighters merge as usual, with blue 1 performing a guns defense maneuver. Meanwhile Blue2 has started his pursuit of red and is closing in on red’s six o’clock. Now, red is dead, it is just a matter of time.
One thing to notice is that the blue1 fighter makes it a point to get OUSTSIDE of the bandit, to force red to keep his lift vector on blue1 after the merge, which helps to set up red for blue2’s shot. This maneuver is just as applicable for a flight of 2 elements, or a squadron of 4 flights engaging a single enemy or an enemy formation which flies as a group. Once the enemy splits up as well, things get more interesting.