Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!news.cs.indiana.edu!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: plains!umn-cs!LOCAL!thornley@uunet.UU.NET (David H. Thornley) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Battle of Britain tactics vs the Japanese Message-ID: <1990Dec14.002918.27796@cbnews.att.com> Date: 14 Dec 90 00:29:18 GMT References: <1990Nov20.021615.27073@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov21.221654.20431@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov27.044525.3091@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec5.030403.6197@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec8.222406.28016@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis - CSCI Dept. Lines: 34 Approved: military@att.att.com 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 >>... 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