by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson

  Last fall Dan Crenshaw of the 209th Delta Hawks began writing a series on basic fighter manouvers. By the time he was finished, he had eight chapters of material and many requests for a printed copy.

Eventually Dan collected his material and printed it in a nifty spiral bound manual. He added a glossary and an appendix on weapons specifications. All those who enjoyed the original series can now have a printed reference at their disposal.

How to Live and Die: Contents

• Chapter One: Basics of Flight Dynamics
• Chapter Two: Fundamentals of BFM
• Chapter Three: Offensive BFM
• Chapter Four: Defensive BFM
• Chapter Five: Head On BFM
• Chapter Six: Beyond Visual Range BFM
• Chapter Seven: Wingman Tactics
• Chapter Eight: ACM

Click to continue

Dan draws not only on years of experience of simulated air combat, but also refers some questions to actual combat pilots. His manual covers virtually every issue one could consider, and even covers such esoterica as radar scan patterns and lining up a guns shot.

Dan also brings his wide range of simulation experience to bear, and you will read of making a guns kill in Jane's F15 as well as SSI's Su27 Flanker. Dan is best known for his commitment to Microprose' Falcon 4.0, but his experience is far more broad. While his discussion is limited primarily to combat in modern jet aircraft, there is sometimes obvious application to prop combat.

For example, his second chapter on Fundamentals includes these areas: Positional Geometry, Attack Geometry, The Pursuit Curve and Weapons Envelope. Positional geometry consists of range, aspect angle and angle off. Here is how Dan explains aspect angle:

"Aspect Angle is the number of degrees, measured from the tail of the bandit, to your aircraft. Aspect Angle indicates your relative position to the bandits 6 o’clock position. Aspect Angle has absolutely NOTHING to do with the heading of your aircraft. Your aspect angle will remain the same regardless of your Angle Off. Aspect angle is determined from the tail of the opposing aircraft. The tail, 6 o’clock position, is 0° . The nose of the Bandit is 180° . If you are on the right side of the bandit, that is right aspect. If you are on the left side, this is left aspect. "

Overall, Dan's work is clear and concise, and well illustrated with his own diagrams and an occasional (color!) screen shot. I highly recommend his manual.

You can order Dan's printed manual at Rhino Systems.