hdgcfcf

I'm looking for a book on dogfighting with jet based aircraft that is available on the Internet for free. Any suggestions? Thx.

WECIV

Robert L. Shaw's
Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering is the best I have read. If you really want to learn ACM I would suggest reading it. Mine is all read to pieces.

W

Maximus

"Vipers in the Storm". Though not related to Dogfighting, but a good read. Its a diary of a F-16 Pilot through the Gulf War.

Also, "No Guts No Glory", by Frederick C. Blesse, is a good book on ACM and close in dogfighting.

__________________
Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage.

Bluesman

There ya go. This is the graduate course in ACM.

It's a bit dated, but if you wanted to discuss this topic with somebody more knowledgeable than yourself, THIS BOOK is instant 'cred'.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

GGTharos

If you really want to understand this stuff though, I'd reccomend trying this stuff out with a simulator - with another person flying your opponent, in which case you can have him/her fly the maneuver the way you want - the AI won't do that for you.

Bluesman

Well, MAYBE, but only with an instructor with ACM expertise, a pro, not a hobbyist.

You'll learn a lot, but unless there is somebody there to guide the process, you're not going to anything but a pretty good sim 'pilot'.

One of the instructors at Air Combat USA remarked that some sim-only 'pilots' he'd flown against really did 'get' such arcane subjects as energy management, and 3-D manuevering. BUT...they're not used to swiveling their heads around, G-loads, and 'spoofing' an enemy that can't tell by looking what your speed is or control positions are, which AI and sometimes even other sim 'pilots' can.

So, there is some value to it, but it won't take you very far. For that, you need REAL stick time.

GGTharos

You could learn with a hobbyist too, just probably not the advanced stuff or not quite right ... for the most part though hobbyists (including myself) end up teaching you how to do a flat turn, and that's no good

And, Bluesman, you're not -entirely- correct. The principles can be taught in a sim. The physical component is not learnable without access to a real aircraft (trackIR is a poor substitute for really moving your head), you're certainly right about that. In addition in a lot of sims now you won't really be able to tell the other guy's throttle settings or energy state from say a speedbar or such - you have to judge by his maneuver.

While you are correct in -principle- that some things you -definitely- cannot learn in a sim, I think you are a little off on the details. Just my opinion as a 'hobbyist' with an RL F-15C pilot for an instructor :D

If you'd like some deeper discussion for my opinion (where I can obviously only discuss my own experiences) I wouldn't mind going into it.

Jimmy

Consider me sold.

outofshdw

I have to agree with the previous postings, regarding Robert L. Shaw's book,
Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering. This is easily the best tactics manual that is publicly available . . . although I do not believe that you will find a copy "free" on the internet.

If you're willing to accept a slightly older review of air combat tactics in the jet age, however, I would recommend John Boyd's "Aerial Attack Study":
http://www.d-n-i.net/boyd/pdf/boydaerialattack.pdf

For those who haven't read of him, Boyd was the father of Energy Maneuverability Theory, and was a leading member of the "fighter mafia" that ushered in the development of the F-16 during the early 1970s. His "Aerial Attack Study" was the USAF's first fighter tactics manual of the jet age.

WECIV

I like the Boyd thing and forgot to point the DNI article out. By far one of my favorite websites. However, if you read Fighter Combat there is nothing left out of the Aerial Attack Survey.

W

P.S. If you can get ahold of the old school RAF study on MiG15 and F86's in Korea it is also rather good. And you can find it free. I have a copy laying around somewhere but I did not bring all my books with me to law school so it may not be with me.