"Two, take the lead on the left, push it up". Lead is now directing #2 to assume the eyeball role. Lead rolls off to fall into the shooter position and directs #2 to go into burner. At the same time, lead trys to calm down his own backseater who is losing the radar lock as lead maneuvers.

In the #2 airplane, the old man in the back has similar problems. He talks to the pilot in a smooth and measured voice, tells him what's going down, and assures him that they as a team can handle it. He tells the pilot to check his front scope..."See the dot? Fly the dot into the center". The GIB is instructing the pilot to aim his a/c right at the locked on bandit. "That's it...nice and smooth..plenty of time...bandit's 8 miles on the nose..stay with the dot".

Meanwhile, lead moves out on about a 45 degree angle and maneuvers to put the sun behind himself as much as possible. If the bandit is going to see him, they are going to have to look into the sun to do it. As lead settles into position, his GIB continues to fumble with the radar...as the two opposing flights near each other, the GIB overcontrols his radar controls and can't get a lock. Lead is heads out and doesn't have the time to give him any radar lessons.

"Two tally uh...uh..."...the pilot in #2 struggles to say something meaningful. His GIB sees the two MiGs at the same time and overides him with "Two has two 21s, 11 o'clock, low, 5 miles, right to left". That talks Lead's eyes onto the bandits, and he responds, "One tally, visual, come off right, one's engaged".

The GIB in #2 tells his pilot to come off high right..."you watch the 21s, I'll look for Lead". The GIB looks hard to his low and left and sees Lead. He radios, "Two's tally, visual, free". He has told the lead that he sees. both the bandits and the lead and is assuming the supporting role. At this time the Engaged Fighter/Supporting Contract is complete...one fighter has announced it, and the other has agreed to comply. Until this is done, the role of attacker and wingman is not perfectly clear.

Lead tells his GIB, "give me boresight, dammit". He wants the radar put into a mode where he as the pilot can command a lock on. He pulls the bandits into the HUD and checks the scope for proper boresight indications. He's got them!! He presses the Auto-Acquisition button! "Come on..come on..come on". There, a good lock! He counts to himself, "one potato, two potato, three potato, four potato.." With a mash that nearly pushes the fire button out the back of the stick, lead hoses off an AIM-7, and then another. "Fox One!!"

No such luck. Even though the lead waited the four seconds needed to get a good launch solution, the missiles didn't hack the close in shot. Both went ballistic. But lead hardly knew it. He was already pulling hard into the vertical and then reversing hard down on to the two MiGs who were in a hard left turn.

Meanwhile, the newbie in #2 was finally getting into the act. He too had repositioned high and was now slicing back down inside the MiGs turn. He had switched to heat and was getting a good tone. He had a chance for a shot but would have to switch roles with lead. "One, two's your seven, one mile, I've got a shot".

Click to continue

Lead sees his wingman and realizes that his own maneuvering will take too long. He decides to give the wingman a shot. "Roger, Two...one's tally, visual, free...hose that mutha!" Sweeter words were never heard by #2. He calls "Two's engaged, Fox Two...Fox Two!!" These don't miss, and one bandit explodes in a fireball. The other MiG rolls wings level and tries to flee.

In the #2 a/c, the old head in the back is trying to get a very excited Lieutenant to calm down! The pilot has gotten fixated on his kill and has left the motors in full blower.. the clean F-4 rockets ahead. The GIB yanks the throttles back but not before his a/c overshoots the surviving MiG's flight path. As he tries to get his pilot back into the fight, he hears Lead radio, "Two, come off high right, I'm at your eight". His pilot, realizing what's happened, calls "Two tally, visual, off right, press". Once again the contract has been changed...now it's Lead's turn.

Seconds later, the remaining MiG bites the dust, but before the celebration begins, there's still work to be done. Wolf lead needs to get this act together. "Two, line right". He sends #2 into line formation as he starts a turn towards home and begins a climb. "Wolf three, say position". "Your four o'clock, three miles, level". "Roger, three, line left. Wolf, ops check, one's 6000". After the other flight members tell lead their respective fuel states (ops check in thousands of pounds of fuel), the lead takes a big breath and radios Cricket, "Cricket, Wolf 20, splash two blue bandits, looking for words".

Cricket, who has been listening to all of this, responds, "Roger, Wolf. Good work. Snap 230 and climb to base plus 5. Cherry is waiting for you with some happy Thuds. Contact Cherry on button three. Cricket out."

And so ends our story. Hope you all enjoyed it half as much as I did writing it. Take away from this the idea that this air combat stuff is more than just running around with your hair on fire. There are tried and true procedures designed to keep you alive and the bandit dead. BFM is important...but so are flight management and effective radio procedures. Until next time....

Alfakilo out.

Andy is a retired USAF pilot. During his AF career, he flew the F-4,F-104, A-10, and T-37. After a F-4 tour in Vietnam, he flew the F-4 and A-10 in stateside and European assignments, and instructed NATO pilots in the F-104 in Arizona.

After graduating from the Fighter Weapons School, he remained in the school as a flight and academic instructor. Andy has flown in Red Flag and USN TOPGUN exercises.

Since retirement, he has been a pilot for a major US airline. He continues his life long love of aviation with his contributions to flight sim forums, publications, and developers. You will often find Andy interacting with virtual pilots on the Tactical forum.