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From: mayse@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: dogfighting
Message-ID: <7284@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 9 Jun 89 03:28:14 GMT
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From: mayse@p.cs.uiuc.edu


I'm not familiar with defensive tactics for air-to-air missiles, but
think I remember what a "Lufbery" was.  It was a defensive tactic, 
usually employed by an outnumbered fighter force, in which a number of
planes would fly consecutively in a tight circle, so that no one could
get "behind" any of them.  The maneuver was named for Frenchman Raoul
Lufbery, who flew with (commanded?) the American volunteer squadron 
known as the Lafayette Escadrille in WWI.  I doubt that it has much
utility in an era of missiles and fighters with 3-d maneuvering 
capability.