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82-558: It was one of the most popular flight simulators of its time due to its accurate flight models and graphics, and also the novelty factor of a First World War dog fight simulator. Flying Corps is one of the few flight simulators to have dealt with the First World War - Red Baron , Knights of the Sky and the more arcade-oriented Wings have attempted to do the same, but most companies focus on modern air combat and World War II (usually

164-499: A melee : a fierce, fast-paced battle at close quarters between two or more opponents. The term gained popularity during World War II, although its first use in reference to air combat can be traced to the latter years of World War I. One of the first written uses of the word in that sense was in an account of the death of Baron von Richthofen in The Graphic in May 1918: "The Baron joined

246-516: A Zero would lock onto the tail of one of the fighters. In response, the two planes would turn toward each other, with one plane's path crossing in front of the other. More importantly, the pursuer would have to follow that path to maintain pursuit, also crossing in front of the American plane's sights. Thus, when the Zero followed its original target through the turn it would come into a position to be fired on by

328-522: A Zero." Even though its engine was rather low in power, the Zero had very low wing loading characteristics, a small turn radius , a top speed over 330 mph (530 km/h), and could climb better than any fighter used by the U.S. at that time, although it was poorly armored compared to U.S. aircraft. A pilot who realized that new tactics had to be devised was Lieutenant Commander John S. "Jimmy" Thach , commander of Fighting Three in San Diego. He read

410-594: A few exceptions, such as the F-8 Crusader and the F-100 Super Sabre , which each mounted four 20 mm cannons, jets were not designed for dog fighting other jet aircraft. Soviet doctrine called for their interceptors to be strictly vectored towards their targets by Ground Control Intercept (GCI) operators. As a consequence, U.S. RF-101 Voodoo aircraft conducting reconnaissance missions, or F-102 Delta Daggers , F-104 Starfighters performing MiGCAP duties, and

492-550: A hard turn, pulling all the Gs he could. This guy was one fantastic pilot. The war in the air, however, eventually came to a stalemate as fighting ceased between the two factions. Later after the fall of the Soviet Union, Soviet records showed that Russian pilots were indeed in the air. Sometimes in the fury of combat they reverted to the Russian language over the radio. The Vietnam War "was

574-403: A machine which turned beautifully. However, my own was better at rising than his, and I succeeded at last in getting above and beyond my English waltzing partner. ... The impertinent fellow was full of cheek and when we had got down to about 3,000 feet he merrily waved to me as if he would say, "Well, how do you do?" The circles which we made around one another were so narrow that their diameter

656-546: A minute." The first supposed instance of plane on plane combat and the first instance of one plane intercepting another during an aerial conflict apparently occurred during the Mexican Revolution on November 30, 1913, between two American mercenaries fighting for opposing sides, Dean Ivan Lamb and Phil Rader . The story comes from Lamb himself. According to his own statements in an interview two decades later, both men had orders to kill, but neither pilot wanted to harm

738-492: A spin and "disappeared over the skyline", with federalist mercenary "Stewart on its tail, firing steadily." The colonel sent a case of champagne to celebrate the victory. When Lamb took Stewart aside to scold him, however, Stewart informed him that, like Lamb's own dogfight in Mexico, it was all a sham. By the time the rebels were defeated, Lamb's squadron had claimed 48 victories over the six enemy aircraft. On December 1, 1944, Lamb

820-745: A strong belief that lightly armed, highly maneuverable single seat fighters would still play a primary role in air-to-air combat. Aircraft such as the Nakajima Ki-27 and Nakajima Ki-43 and the Mitsubishi A6M Zero in Japan, and the Fiat ;G.50 and Macchi C.200 in Italy epitomised a generation of monoplanes designed to this concept. The other stream of thought, which emerged primarily in Britain , Germany ,

902-519: A very early production Bristol Scout  C., attacked three separate aircraft during a single sortie, shooting down two with a non-synchronizable Lewis gun which was mounted next to his cockpit at an outwards angle to avoid hitting the propeller . He forced the third one down, and was awarded the Victoria Cross . Battles in the air increased as the technological advantage swung from the British to

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984-776: The Battle of Britain ). The game is split in four campaigns: The Flying Circus (1917), Battle of Cambrai 1917 , German spring offensive (1918) and Hat In The Ring (1918). Several aeroplanes are available, including the Sopwith Camel , S.E.5 , the Nieuport 28 , the Albatros D.III and the Fokker Dr.I . Development of the game started in Summer 1994. Flying Corps was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World ' s 1996 "Simulation Game of

1066-411: The Mexican Revolution , according to a Lamb newspaper interview, he was hired as a mercenary pilot to fly for General Benjamín G. Hill 's forces. Phil Rader, a mercenary pilot for opposing General Victoriano Huerta , had supposedly several times bombed the town of Naco, Sonora , Mexico, held by Hill's forces. The two pilots were reputed friends, and staged a mock pistol battle in the sky often labeled

1148-507: The Mitsubishi A6M Zero , an extremely lightweight fighter known for its exceptional range and maneuverability. The U.S. military tested the Akutan Zero , a Mitsubishi A6M2 which was captured intact in 1942, advising – along the same lines that General Claire Chennault , commander of the Kunming -based Flying Tigers had already advised his pilots over a year before – "Never attempt to dogfight

1230-854: The Sinai and Palestine Campaign ground war on the Gaza to Beersheba line came to resemble trench warfare on the western front, the air war over southern Palestine also came to resemble that being fought over France. After the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917 and during the ensuing Stalemate in Southern Palestine , the concentration of Egyptian Expeditionary (EEF) and Ottoman Army forces holding established front lines grew, as associated supply dumps and lines of communications were developed. The need for information about these installations fuelled "intense rivalry in

1312-761: The Soviet Union , and the United States was the belief the high speeds of modern combat aircraft and the g-forces imposed by aerial combat meant that dogfighting in the classic WWI sense would be impossible. Fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf ;109 , the Supermarine Spitfire , the Yakovlev Yak-1 , and the Curtiss P-40 were all designed for high speeds and a good rate of climb. Good maneuverability

1394-534: The Spanish Civil War proved this theory was wrong. At the beginning of the war, new tactics were developed, most notably in the Luftwaffe Condor Legion . Lieutenant Werner Mölders advised abandoning the standard "V" formation used in combat, and pairing fighters in twos, starting the practice of having a wingman at one's side. He advised that pairs of aircraft approaching a fight should increase

1476-622: The 109 did not appear, and not wishing to tempt the gods of fate further, I pushed my stick forward, entered the protective cover of the clouds, and headed home. During this time, three new Russian fighters, the LaGG-1 , the Yak-1 , and the MiG-3 were just coming off of the production line. The Soviet Air Defense Force had been fraught with problems since World War I. The German Barbarossa offensive on June 22, 1941, destroyed more than 2000 Soviet aircraft on

1558-611: The Germans, then back again. The Feldflieger-Abteilung or "FFA", observation units of the German air service, consisted in 1914–15 of six two-seat observation aircraft each. Each unit was assigned to a particular German Army headquarters location, and had a single Fokker Eindecker aircraft assigned to each "FFA" unit for general defensive duties, so pilots such as Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke began as lone hunters with FFA units, shooting unarmed spotter planes and other enemy aircraft out of

1640-566: The Japanese planes, the Chinese planes were much more maneuverable, and many dogfights ensued, resulting in high losses reported on both sides. Reports of dogfights that made it to the U.S. military provided valuable insight into the Japanese tactics and their plane's flight characteristics. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor , the United States entered the war. The Japanese used, among other aircraft,

1722-606: The MiG flashes by you. Quickly closing the brakes, you slide onto his tail and hammer him with your "50s". The Chinese were very competent in a dogfight, and large swirling battles were fought in the skies over Korea. However, it was highly suspected by many U.S. pilots that some of the opponents they faced over Korea were in fact well-trained Soviet pilots, whom the Americans referred to as "hanchos", (a Japanese word, meaning "bosses"). Major Robinson Risner recalls, Seeing one another about

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1804-625: The MiG-17s and MiG-19s (J-6s) made the remaining 37 kills, from their 90 total, with their 23 mm, 30 mm and 37 mm cannons. As part of the North Vietnamese triad system of defense, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) had become an ever-increasing threat. U.S Air Force Brigadier General Robin Olds describes a typical encounter with surface-to-air missiles, which during a period of time in Vietnam

1886-547: The NVAF MiG's 37 gun kill figures. Approximately 612 radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles were fired during the war, scoring 56 MiG kills, while 454 heat-seeking AIM-9 Sidewinders were launched achieving 81 aerial victories. During Operation Rolling Thunder 54 AIM-4 Falcon missiles were fired, obtaining five kills. By contrast, NVAF MiG-21s obtained 53 air-to-air kills with their AA-2 "Atoll" missiles, from an unknown number of launchings. At least three MiG-21s, and all of

1968-630: The NVAF with enough missile-firing MiG-21s to allow the North Vietnamese to routinely engage U.S. aircraft, and to rely less and less on their aged MiG-17s, although many North Vietnamese pilots still preferred the MiG-17s agility and easy maintenance. With the arrival of the additional MiG-21s, and by 1969 MiG-19s (J-6s) imported from China , engagements between U.S. and NVAF jets became generally divided into two arenas; MiG-21s engaged at higher altitudes, while MiG-17s and MiG-19s would try to give battle at lower altitudes where their cannons were more effective. At

2050-578: The SAMs and AAA batteries. This triad defense system of GCI-controlled MiGs, Missiles (SAMs), and AAA enabled the North Vietnamese MiGs to utilize their aircraft's design capabilities as their designers had intended, that of, in the vernacular of the time, making "one pass, and then hauling ass", which was, in practice, quickly firing at their targets and then speeding away. By 1967 the Soviets had supplied

2132-457: The Soviet Union . As a result, air combat methods known by fighter pilots since World War I became all but lost as veterans from WWII and Korea retired and didn't pass them on to succeeding generations . American fighter pilots would meet in the skies in secret to engage in mock combat to try to maintain some level of proficiency. It wasn't until TOPGUN was established for the Navy in 1969 and Red Flag

2214-461: The Soviet Union during a massive war in Europe . Over the skies of North Vietnam, U.S. aircraft would be attacking the "most formidable and most heavily defended targets in the history of aerial warfare". By this time, dogfighting techniques had fallen out of favor in U.S. training doctrines, as missiles were considered to be all that was necessary to shoot down the big bombers expected to be deployed by

2296-399: The Vietnam war. Another effective maneuver used by the U.S. pilots was a simple break , which consisted of turning sharply across an attacker's flight path, which worked well in part because the large nose of the Zero tended to obstruct the pilot's view. Still another good tactic was a high-side guns pass , which consisted of diving upon the Zero, shooting in one high-speed pass, and using

2378-555: The Year" award, which ultimately went to Jane's AH-64D Longbow . The editors wrote that Flying Corps "sports perhaps the best flight models ever seen on a prop-based sim; only quirky views and steep performance requirements kept it from the crown." The editors called Flying Corps "arguably the best World War I flight simulator in existence." Flying Corps was named the 14th best computer game ever by PC Gamer UK in 1997. The editors praised its "planes so convincing you can actually taste

2460-412: The air". Aerial reconnaissance patrols were regularly attacked, so all photography and artillery observation patrols had to be accompanied by armed escort aircraft. These special EEF patrols grew into squadrons, attacking hostile aircraft wherever they were found, either in the air or on the ground. However, the technically superior German aircraft shot down numbers of EEF aircraft during dog fights. By

2542-573: The air. General Wolfram von Richthofen noted that these guns were equally destructive when used for ground fire. Adolph Malan compiled a list of aerial combat rules that were widely taught to RAF pilots. The Bf 109 and the Spitfire were some of the most common fighters used in the European theater. A typical dogfight is described by an unnamed pilot: Pulling up into his blind spot I watched his plane grow larger and larger in my sight. But this German pilot

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2624-525: The attack while at the same time covering the other pair. Thach made a diagram of the idea and showed it to other pilots, but in trial-runs people like Butch O'Hare found it difficult to make the shot while, at the same time, evading the two friendly planes coming at him head on. Thach later faced the A6M Zero during the Battle of Midway , in June 1942, for the test of his theory. Although outnumbered, he found that

2706-449: The blood rushed from my head. Fighting every second to overcome this blackness about me, I pulled back on the stick, further and further, so that the enemy would just show at the bottom of my ring sight to allow for the correct deflection. We were both flying in a tight circle. Just a little more and I'll have him. Pressing the [trigger] I waited expectantly for the 109 to explode. I've hit his wing. A section two-feet long broke loose from

2788-400: The city, and split them up, with Lamb first choosing two, then Mazzolini one (as the rebels had only six aircraft). The two groups then set out for Paraguay on the same train, carousing together all the way. In that same interview, Lamb claimed that on one day, he and a loyalist colonel observed a dogfight over their airdrome. The non-flying colonel was impressed when the rebel plane went into

2870-575: The conclusion of the air war in 1973, U.S. airmen had downed 202 communist MiGs, including two downed by B-52 tail gunners from their quad .50 caliber machine guns; this at a cost of 90 U.S. aircraft to NVAF MiGs. The USAF claimed 137 MiGs while the USN/USMC brought down 65 in air-to-air combat. From these figures, the USAF had 40 gun kills, and the USN claimed eight cannon victories. This number approached parity with

2952-471: The corned beef and dry biscuits the pilots probably had to eat". Dog fight A dogfight , or dog fight , is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft that is conducted at close range. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is air combat manoeuvring (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requiring the use of individual basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) to attack or evade one or more opponents. This differs from aerial warfare , which deals with

3034-603: The distance between them instead of holding tight formations, a precursor to the combat spread maneuver. He also started the practice of training pilots to fly at night, and with instruments only. Using the new tactics, and flying the newest Bf 109 fighters, the Germans shot down 22 Spanish Republican fighters within a five-day period, suffering no losses of their own. During the 1930s two different schools of thought about air-to-air combat began to emerge, resulting in two different trends of monoplane fighter development. In Japan and Italy especially, there continued to be

3116-441: The early reports coming out of China and wrestled with the problem of his F4F Wildcats being relatively slower and much less maneuverable than the Japanese planes. Using matchsticks on his kitchen table, he devised a defensive maneuver he called "beam defense position", but commonly called the " Thach Weave ". Thach reasoned that, because the Zero had fabric wing-covers that tended to "balloon" at speeds above 295 mph, which made

3198-465: The end of the war, the underpowered machines from just ten years prior had been transformed into fairly powerful, swift, and heavily armed fighter planes, and the basic tactics of dogfighting had been established. Airplane technology rapidly increased in sophistication after World War I. By 1936, dogfighting was thought to be a thing of the past, since aircraft were reaching top speeds of over 250 miles per hour (400 km/h). The experiences of

3280-629: The era include radar and air-to-air missiles . Enemy pilots were construed as weak and evil. For example, in World War ;II, describing the Soviet tactics, the Luftwaffe claimed that, "The characteristic feature of the average Soviet fighter pilot were a tendency toward caution and reluctance instead of toughness and stamina, brute strength instead of genuine combat efficiency, abysmal hatred instead of fairness and chivalry...." After World War II,

3362-581: The first dogfight in history. Lamb purportedly joined the British military in World War I and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a sergeant pilot , supposedly becoming an ace with either five or eight victories. Lamb was interviewed by Arthur Howden Smith of the New York Evening Post about his claimed downing of a German Gotha bomber over Hainault Forest , in which his gunner

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3444-458: The first tactical formations in the air. The Germans responded by forming Jagdstaffel or Jastas , large squadrons of fighters solely dedicated to destroying enemy aircraft, under the supervision of Boelcke. Pilots who shot down five or more fighters became known as aces . One of the most famous dogfights, resulting in the death of Major Hawker, is described by the "Red Baron", Manfred von Richthofen : I WAS extremely proud when, one fine day, I

3526-421: The first 'modern' air war" in which air-to-air missiles were the primary weapons during aerial combat, and was the only confrontation between the latest aerial and ground defense technologies between the Soviet Union and the United States . If U.S. air power could successfully conduct war against Soviet doctrine and equipment in the skies over North Vietnam , then it could expect to successfully operate against

3608-484: The first day, and more than 5000 before October. With great desperation, the Soviets fought in dogfights over Leningrad , Moscow , and Ukraine for more than a year. Fireteam , a triple of aircraft ("troika"), has been the main tactical unit used in battles since the beginning of World War II. The analysis and synthesis of fighting experience resulted in a conclusion that group tactics should have been rejected and replaced by action pairs. However, ramming an opponent

3690-446: The first pilot to ram his plane into an enemy spotter aircraft. In October 1914, an airplane was shot down by a handgun from another plane for the first time over Reims , France . Once machine guns were mounted on the airplane , either on a flexible mounting or on the top wing of early biplanes , the era of air combat began. The biggest problem was mounting a machine gun onto an aircraft so that it could be fired forward, through

3772-478: The first synchronized, forward-firing fighter plane. On the evening of July 1, 1915, the very first aerial engagement by a fighter plane armed with a synchronized, forward-firing machine gun occurred just to the east of Luneville , France . The German Fokker E.I was flown by Lieutenant Kurt Wintgens , who shot down a French two-seat observation monoplane. Later that same month, on July 25, 1915, British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) Major Lanoe Hawker , flying

3854-461: The greatest tacticians of the Soviet Air Force who showed his worth during World War II. His famous motto sounded as "Height, speed, maneuver, fire!". It became popular in the air armies and was adopted by pilots. Struggling with morale problems, the Soviets slowly and methodically began to regain air supremacy after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. This theater is notable for including

3936-427: The mêlée, which, scattering into groups, developed into what our men call a dog fight". On March 21, 1918, several British newspapers published an article by Frederic Cutlack in which the word was used in the modern sense: "A patrol of seven Australian machines on Saturday met about twenty of this [i.e., von Richthofen's] circus at 12,000 feet. Ten of the enemy dived to attack our men. A regular dogfight ensued for half

4018-596: The only female fighter aces in history, Yekaterina Budanova and Lydia Litvyak . The Second Sino-Japanese War began on June 7, 1937, between China and Japan. The Japanese used the Mitsubishi A5M ; the predecessor of the famous "Zero", which was a very lightweight and maneuverable fighter. The Chinese mainly used Russian biplanes similar to those from WWI, such as the Polikarpov I-15 and early monoplanes such as I-16 . Despite being much lower in power and speed than

4100-413: The other, so they exchanged multiple volleys of pistol fire, intentionally missing before exhausting their supply of ammunition. Dogfighting became widespread in World War I. Aircraft were initially used as mobile observation vehicles, and early pilots gave little thought to aerial combat. The new aeroplanes proved their worth by spotting the hidden German advance on Paris in the second month of

4182-511: The plane very hard to turn, he could use high speed and a formation of four planes, consisting of two pairs of aircraft, flying line-abreast (side by side at the same altitude). Keeping the leader of each pair in close formation with their wingman , the pairs could fly about 200 feet (61 m) apart (the turn radius of the Wildcat) and adopt a weaving formation when either or both pairs fell under attack by Japanese fighters, allowing each pair to evade

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4264-409: The propeller, and aimed by pointing the nose of the aircraft directly at the enemy. French aviator Roland Garros solved this problem by mounting steel deflector wedges on the propeller of a Morane Saulnier monoplane. He achieved three kills, but was forced down due to engine failure down behind enemy lines and captured before he could burn his plane to prevent it falling into enemy hands. The wreckage

4346-576: The question began to rise about the future usefulness of fighter aircraft. This was especially true for the U.S., where the focus was placed on small, fast, long-range bombers capable of delivering atomic bombs . The Korean War began in June 1950, and the North Koreans were outmatched by the U.S. Air Force . The war was nearly over by October, with the occupation of North Korea when, on November 1, Chinese MiG-15s attacked. The Chinese began supplying North Korea with troops and provisions, and

4428-469: The radar-ranging gunsight and hydraulic controls. Colonel Harrison R. Thyng remarked: Suddenly you go into a steep turn. Your mach drops off. The MiG turns with you, and you let him gradually creep up and outturn you. At the critical moment you reverse your turn. The hydraulic controls [of the F-86] work beautifully. The MiG cannot turn as readily as you and is slung out to the side. When you pop your speedbrakes,

4510-410: The right wing as the machine gun cut like a machete through it. Too low, a little more rudder and the bullets will find his cockpit. I could see occasional strikes further up the wing, but it was too late. The 109 , sensing that I was inside him on the turn, slunk into a nearby cloud. Straightening my plane, I climbed over the top of the bank, and poised on the other side, waiting for him to appear. But

4592-444: The same time, the MiG flight and my flight dropped [our extra fuel] tanks.. He was so low he was throwing up small rocks. I dropped down to get him, but to hit him I had to get down in his jet wash. He'd chop the throttle and throw out his speed brakes. I would coast up beside him, wingtip to wingtip. When it looked like I was going to overshoot him, I would roll over the top and come down on the other side of him. When I did, he'd go into

4674-565: The sky. During the first part of the war, there was no tactical doctrine of 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 . Many of Boelcke's concepts from 1916 are still applied today, including the use of sun and altitude, surprise attack, and turning to meet a threat. Brigadier General Hugh Trenchard ordered that all British reconnaissance aircraft be supported by at least three fighters, creating

4756-623: The speed to climb back above the fight to dive again. By 1943 the U.S. began to produce planes that were better matched against the Japanese planes, such as the Grumman F6F Hellcat , and the Vought F4U Corsair . Technology advanced extremely fast during World War II in ways that would change dogfighting forever. Jet propulsion had been demonstrated long before the war, by German engineer Hans von Ohain in 1934, and by British engineer Frank Whittle in 1937. The Messerschmitt Me 262

4838-553: The strategy involved in planning and executing various missions. Dogfighting first occurred during the Mexican Revolution in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane . It was a component of every major war after that, though with steadily declining frequency, until the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Since then, longer-range weapons such as beyond-visual-range missiles have made dogfighting largely obsolete. The term dogfight has been used for centuries to describe

4920-487: The strike aircraft themselves, such as F-105 Thunderchiefs , A-4 Skyhawks , A-6 Intruders , F-4 Phantoms and B-52 's flying over North Vietnam were met by MiG-17s (or Chicom J-5s), MiG-19s (Chicom J-6s), and MiG-21s being vectored directly to them by GCI operators who worked in conjunction with surface-to-air missile ( SAM ) crews. U.S. aircraft which successfully made it through the NVAF MiGs were then confronted with

5002-445: The target's wingman, and the predator would become the prey. His tactic proved to be effective and was soon adopted by other squadrons. The Thach Weave helped make up for the inferiority of the US planes in maneuverability and numbers, until new aircraft could be brought into service. This tactic later morphed into the more fluid and versatile "loose-deuce maneuvering" that was to prove useful in

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5084-637: The time. The Englishman could not help falling. But the jamming of my gun nearly robbed me of my success. My opponent fell, shot through the head, one hundred and fifty feet behind our line. Despite the Germans' early lead in combat tactics and their 'Dicta Boelcke', the Allies were quick to adapt and develop their own tactics. The Royal Flying Corps' Albert Ball was one of a band of pilots who liked to fly solo and he developed 'stalking' tactics for going after enemy two-seaters. He even used his Lewis gun in its top-wing adjustable Foster mounting to fire upwards into

5166-425: The underside of unsuspecting enemy aircraft. Other RFC pilots such as James McCudden and Mick Mannock emphasised mutual support and the advantages of attacking from height. Mannock expressed this in a list of aerial combat rules that were similar to Boelcke's. During 1916, aerial reconnaissance patrols were usually unaccompanied as there had been few if any aerial disputes between the belligerents. However, just as

5248-652: The war occurred during the Battle of Cer (August 15–24, 1914), when the Serbian aviator Miodrag Tomić encountered an Austro-Hungarian plane while performing a reconnaissance mission over Austro-Hungarian positions. The Austro-Hungarian pilot initially waved, and Tomić reciprocated. The Austro-Hungarian pilot then fired at Tomić with his revolver. Tomić managed to escape, and within several weeks, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian planes were fitted with machine-guns. In August 1914, Staff-Captain Pyotr Nesterov , from Russia , became

5330-460: The war quickly resumed. At 100 mph (160 km/h) faster, the MiG-15 was more than a match for the U.S. P-80 Shooting Star , using the same dive and shoot tactic that the Americans found so useful against Japan. The U.S. jets had inferior weaponry, and suffered from problems with production and parts. The U.S. resorted to using mainly the more maneuverable propeller driven fighters during

5412-612: The war, such as the P-51 ;Mustang which was carried over from World War II. To combat the MiGs, the F-86 ;Sabre was put into production. The U.S. pilots had a number of major advantages over the Chinese, including the G-suit . Chinese fighters were often seen spinning off out of control during a hard turn because the pilot had lost consciousness. Other technological advantages included

5494-502: The war. Enemy pilots at first simply exchanged waves, or shook their fists at each other. Due to weight restrictions, only small weapons could be carried on board. Intrepid pilots decided to interfere with enemy reconnaissance by improvised means, including throwing bricks , grenades and sometimes rope , which they hoped would entangle the enemy plane's propeller . Pilots soon began firing hand-held guns at enemy planes, such as pistols and carbines . The first aerial dogfight of

5576-834: Was "recently interviewed" at the Federal Bureau of Investigation 's New York office. In the interview, Lamb was asked about his information-gathering work for Alger Hiss (accused in 1948 of spying for the Soviet Union) in 1933. Lamb claimed he reported his activity to "Colonel Thiele of G-2 in Washington, D. C. in about March 1934." The memo requests any records of this notification and the "present whereabouts of Colonel Thiele in order that he may be interviewed in connection with these allegations." He died in Tucson, Arizona, in November 1955. Lamb

5658-405: Was brought to Anthony Fokker , a Dutch designer who built aircraft for the Germans. Fokker decided that the wedges were much too risky, and improved the design by connecting the trigger of an MG 08 Maxim machine gun to the timing of the engine. The invention of this synchronization gear in 1915 transformed air combat and gave the Germans an early air superiority with the Fokker E.I ,

5740-498: Was discharged on October 5, 1917. This man is listed as suffering from neurasthenia , and his age is given as 31 years, 8 months (which agrees with Lamb's age on the specified discharge date). Lamb married in England in 1917. Postwar, Lamb worked as an airmail pilot in New York, New Jersey and Maryland from December 9, 1918, to February 6, 1919. Lamb helped to establish the Honduran Air Force in 1921. According to Lamb in another newspaper interview, while in Buenos Aires , he

5822-478: Was hired as the "commander of the federal air squadron of 11 planes" in a civil war underway in Paraguay . According to Who's Who in Aviation , Lamb commanded the Paraguayan air force from 1922 to 1923. As Lamb related the tale, it turned out the rebels were also recruiting in the same city at the same time. An Italian friend named Mazzolini was selected to lead "the revolutionists' air squadron". The two got together, rounded up unemployed World War I veteran pilots in

5904-451: Was informed that the airman whom I had brought down on the twenty- third of November, 1916, was the English [equivalent of] Immelmann.... First we circled twenty times to the left, and then thirty times to the right. Each tried to get behind and above the other. Soon I discovered that I was not meeting a beginner. He had not the slightest intention of breaking off the fight. He was traveling in

5986-533: Was jailed, accused of stealing either $ 19,000 or $ 38,000 worth of jewels. He denied the grand larceny charge and was released on $ 5,000 bail. According to an Early Birds of Aviation article, he was cleared of the charge in May 1945. A declassified memo dated April 15, 1949, from "John Edgar Hoover" to the Director of Intelligence, General Staff, Department of the Army, The Pentagon, reports that "Colonel Dean Ivan Lamb"

6068-481: Was killed and he himself was shot. However, he goes unnoted by such aviation historians as Norman Franks and Christopher Shores, and none of his victories have ever been documented. Lamb supposedly was awarded Royal Aero Club Certificate No. 4543 on April 26, 1917, while an Air Mechanic, 1st Class. There is record of a Sgt. Dean Lamb (service number 8054) who joined the Royal Flying Corps on August 30, 1915, and

6150-597: Was not a primary objective. Immediately following the Spanish Civil War came World War II , during which dogfighting was most prevalent. It was widely believed that strategic bombing alone was synonymous with air power ; a fallacy that would not be fully understood until Vietnam. After the failings in Spain , a greater emphasis was placed on the accuracy of air-to-ground attacks. The need to stop bombers from reaching their targets, or to protect them on their missions,

6232-407: Was not content to fly straight and level. Before I could open fire his plane slewed to the right, and seeing me on his tail, he jerked back on the stick into the only defensive maneuver his plane could make. I banked my 47 over to the right and pulled back on the stick, striving to get him once more into my ring sight. The violent maneuver applied terrific G's to my body, and I started to black out as

6314-410: Was probably no more than 250 or 300 feet. I had time to take a good look at my opponent.... When he had come down to about three hundred feet he tried to escape by flying in a zig-zag course during which, as is well known, it is difficult for an observer to shoot. That was my most favorable moment. I followed him at an altitude of from two hundred and fifty feet to one hundred and fifty feet, firing all

6396-655: Was referred to as either a "MiG day" or a "Sam day", this was a Sam day. Dean Ivan Lamb Dean Ivan Lamb (January 25, 1886 – November 1955) was an American pioneer aviator and mercenary . Dean Ivan Lamb was born on January 25, 1886, in Cherry Flats, Tioga County, Pennsylvania . In 1908 he was working on the Panama Canal He enrolled in the Curtiss flying school in Hammondsport, New York , in 1912. During

6478-525: Was started for the Air Force in 1975 that pilots were formally trained in dogfighting again . Both U.S. and Soviet-built jet "fighters" were primarily designed as interceptors : intercepting bomber groups, and then shooting them down with air-to-air missiles. Neither party had a separate designation for interceptor, though: just "F" for fighter; "A" for attack; and "B" for bomber (for the NATO aircraft). With possibly

6560-455: Was still a common practice among the pilots of the Soviet Union. Another successful maneuver was a "Sokolinnyi udar" (falcon punch) when a pilot obtained a speed advantage by swooping down on an opponent, characteristically from the direction of the sun in order to hide their fighter within the glare of the brilliant light before and during the attack. This maneuver and many other tactical principles were introduced by Alexander Pokryshkin , one of

6642-561: Was the first jet fighter to be used in battle, with a speed over 500 mph (800 km/h), and began taking a toll on Allied bombing missions in 1944. The British were testing a jet that same year, the Gloster Meteor , which would later see action in the Korean War. Although U.S. General Hap Arnold test flew the XP-59 A in 1942, the plane was never used in combat. Other prime inventions of

6724-595: Was the primary purpose for most dogfights of the era. Dogfighting was very prominent in the European theatre . While the French Air Force was a major force during World War I, it was inadequate and poorly organized, and quickly fell to the German onslaught. As the first battles between the Germans and the British began, the power of the German's anti-aircraft artillery became readily apparent, with 88 millimeter shells capable of firing 40,000 feet (12,000 m) in

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