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Article Type: Strategy Guide
Article Date: July 05, 2001
Maybe you’ve seen the screen shots and heard the early reports about the incredible flight models and ballistics of 1C:Maddox Game's IL-2 Sturmovik, and you’re breaking into a sweat. You’ve flown Microprose's European Air War or EA's Jane's WWII Fighters, but you haven’t really done that well. How will you ever manage in the new world of IL-2?
Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers (BFM). This discussion won’t focus on individual maneuvers like the thatch-weave, the chandelle, or the hammerhead. Instead, we’ll talk about the basic principles: turn circles, aspect angles, closure and engagement zones. We’ll try to make the complex simple, and the involved understandable. We’ll break big explanations into small chunks and use plenty of illustrations.
In the past I’ve gotten lost in explanations of turn circles and out-of-plane maneuvers. It took me several discussions to understand the relevance of turn circles. In fact, even practicing text book maneuvers in popular simulations didn’t help that much. I found myself sabotaged partly by the simulation design (view limitations) and partly by my own ignorance. It wasn’t until I flew consistently using outside padlock views that I began to understand how opponents were using basic moves to beat me.
In fact the standard padlock system of most prop sims will not help you learn the basics of combat maneuvers. Why not? Because an X sliding across your cockpit screen tells you where you need to go to find the bandit, but it does not get you thinking about the maneuvers necessary to drive to the bandit’s elbow.
Worse, the moving X (EAW) or rotating cone (CFS2) does not get you thinking in terms of circles. It’s far too easy to assume that one need only follow the provided direction and use the shortest path possible to get to the bandit.
Trying this in a given simulation, however, provides mixed results. Fire up EAW or CFS or CFS2 and see what I mean. Follow the cone or the X by rolling left or right until it is centered in the screen and then pull toward the indicator. You are using your lift vector to follow the bandit. This is the instruction given in the manuals that accompany the simulations, and while following this procedure will often bring the enemy into view, the angles and resulting closure rate rarely make engagement possible.
In some cases following this instruction is the last thing the pilot ought to do, because the amount of energy lost in the process of chasing the indicator will make him an easy target for the maneuvering bandit. If the bandit happens to be in a fighter with superior turn performance, chasing the indicator will result in a quick death.
About five years ago this came home to me for the first time as I used the external player to target view provided by Rowan in Flying Corps. Suddenly, I was outside my Spad looking across the airframe to the maneuvering enemy. I was no longer in a flat world, but a whirling dogfight that had no reference points except a distant horizon and a nearby enemy. I suddenly understood that air combat happens in a world that is akin to a Star Wars space encounter, where ships can move freely in any direction at any time. There is no up or down in space, there are only ships and planets.
Naturally, the analogy fails because gravity has its own dictates. But in general, the concept is useful. In order to begin to think about the 3D world, it’s best to get outside the cockpit with a player-to-target view.
Unfortunately, not all simulations make this an easy matter. CFS2 doesn’t offer a player-to-target view, and neither does WarBirds III. In these cases one can use an external view, but must manipulate the view while flying. Once you become accustomed to thinking in 3D terms, you can return to internal padlock views and your fight will have improved.
The screen shots that will illustrate this discussion come from WarBirds III and IL-2 Sturmovik. These simulations have made me a more effective combat pilot, though the learning curve has often been steep!
We’ll define terms as necessary. “E” is short for energy. Energy is the money in the bank of the combat pilot. Energy is an equation that has two sides: you can trade altitude for energy, or energy for altitude. Energy stored in altitude is potential energy, and potential energy (altitude) traded for speed is kinetic energy.
BFM has two simple components and one simple goal. BFM requires the pilot to control his closure rate and align his aircraft in plane with his opponent somewhere off the opponent’s six o’clock. When you hear BFM think closure and alignment.
Consider closure on a bandit where the angle off the tail is high, say 90 degrees. Essentially the bandit is cutting straight across your flight path. Your closure rate will equal your airspeed, and you will overshoot before you can blink. Closure is both an airspeed issue and an aspect issue.
Similarly, alignment behind the bandit is NOT about your flight path. Rather, alignment for BFM has to do with where your nose is pointed. When you want to change your flight path you change where your nose is pointed. When you are flying offensive, changes to nose orientation are made with the ailerons rather than with the rudder.
Many novices and even some more experienced pilots make a set of repeated errors. The most common is the attempt to simply drive to the tail of a bandit in the shortest time possible. This is a big mistake! The shortest path may get you to the bandit’s tail at a high angle off, but you won’t have the maneuvering room to stay there and you may have used all your energy to get there.
So let’s start with a new rule: the shortest distance between two points is a circle. Circles are basic to BFM, and as our discussion proceeds you’ll understand why!
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Basic Fighter Maneuvers: Prop Combat
by Len "Viking1" HjalmarsonArticle Type: Strategy Guide
Article Date: July 05, 2001
Set Aside Your Pointy-Nosed Jets
You’re transitioning from jet BVR combat to prop combat. You can’t throw a missile at a bandit who is fifteen miles away, so it’s time to learn some basics.Maybe you’ve seen the screen shots and heard the early reports about the incredible flight models and ballistics of 1C:Maddox Game's IL-2 Sturmovik, and you’re breaking into a sweat. You’ve flown Microprose's European Air War or EA's Jane's WWII Fighters, but you haven’t really done that well. How will you ever manage in the new world of IL-2?
Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers (BFM). This discussion won’t focus on individual maneuvers like the thatch-weave, the chandelle, or the hammerhead. Instead, we’ll talk about the basic principles: turn circles, aspect angles, closure and engagement zones. We’ll try to make the complex simple, and the involved understandable. We’ll break big explanations into small chunks and use plenty of illustrations.
Intro To BFM
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| Entering the Fight in IL-2 |
I don’t know about you, but just reading articles like this makes me nervous. I’m always afraid that the instructor will leave me in the dust with some explanation that a physics major couldn’t understand.“Any angles you give the bogey on the first pass will haunt you for the rest of the fight.” Lieutenant Jim "Huck" Harris, USN
In the past I’ve gotten lost in explanations of turn circles and out-of-plane maneuvers. It took me several discussions to understand the relevance of turn circles. In fact, even practicing text book maneuvers in popular simulations didn’t help that much. I found myself sabotaged partly by the simulation design (view limitations) and partly by my own ignorance. It wasn’t until I flew consistently using outside padlock views that I began to understand how opponents were using basic moves to beat me.
In fact the standard padlock system of most prop sims will not help you learn the basics of combat maneuvers. Why not? Because an X sliding across your cockpit screen tells you where you need to go to find the bandit, but it does not get you thinking about the maneuvers necessary to drive to the bandit’s elbow.
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| CFS2 - The Bandit is Ahead and Below |
Worse, the moving X (EAW) or rotating cone (CFS2) does not get you thinking in terms of circles. It’s far too easy to assume that one need only follow the provided direction and use the shortest path possible to get to the bandit.
Trying this in a given simulation, however, provides mixed results. Fire up EAW or CFS or CFS2 and see what I mean. Follow the cone or the X by rolling left or right until it is centered in the screen and then pull toward the indicator. You are using your lift vector to follow the bandit. This is the instruction given in the manuals that accompany the simulations, and while following this procedure will often bring the enemy into view, the angles and resulting closure rate rarely make engagement possible.
 |
| Lift Vector Direction |
In some cases following this instruction is the last thing the pilot ought to do, because the amount of energy lost in the process of chasing the indicator will make him an easy target for the maneuvering bandit. If the bandit happens to be in a fighter with superior turn performance, chasing the indicator will result in a quick death.
BFM and the 3D World
Instead of slavishly following the indicators provided by simulation designers, (which are really designed for the novice), the pilot has to begin thinking about turn circles and the three-dimensional world of air combat.“The quality of the box matters little. Success depends upon the man who sits in it.” Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Leading Ace of WWI
German Air Service, 80 Victories
About five years ago this came home to me for the first time as I used the external player to target view provided by Rowan in Flying Corps. Suddenly, I was outside my Spad looking across the airframe to the maneuvering enemy. I was no longer in a flat world, but a whirling dogfight that had no reference points except a distant horizon and a nearby enemy. I suddenly understood that air combat happens in a world that is akin to a Star Wars space encounter, where ships can move freely in any direction at any time. There is no up or down in space, there are only ships and planets.
Naturally, the analogy fails because gravity has its own dictates. But in general, the concept is useful. In order to begin to think about the 3D world, it’s best to get outside the cockpit with a player-to-target view.
 |
| IL-2 Player to Target |
 |
| IL-2 Player to Target |
Unfortunately, not all simulations make this an easy matter. CFS2 doesn’t offer a player-to-target view, and neither does WarBirds III. In these cases one can use an external view, but must manipulate the view while flying. Once you become accustomed to thinking in 3D terms, you can return to internal padlock views and your fight will have improved.
The screen shots that will illustrate this discussion come from WarBirds III and IL-2 Sturmovik. These simulations have made me a more effective combat pilot, though the learning curve has often been steep!
We’ll define terms as necessary. “E” is short for energy. Energy is the money in the bank of the combat pilot. Energy is an equation that has two sides: you can trade altitude for energy, or energy for altitude. Energy stored in altitude is potential energy, and potential energy (altitude) traded for speed is kinetic energy.
BFM has two simple components and one simple goal. BFM requires the pilot to control his closure rate and align his aircraft in plane with his opponent somewhere off the opponent’s six o’clock. When you hear BFM think closure and alignment.
Controlling closure is one of the biggest problems encountered by novice pilots. It’s very easy to overshoot or to get so close to a violently maneuvering bandit that one simply loses position of advantage. But it is not commonly understood that managing closure is not merely managing airspeed, but is both a throttle issue and a flight path issue.“When you hear BFM think closure and alignment”
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| High Rate of Closure in IL-2 |
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| Low Rate of Closure in IL-2 |
“Fly with the head and not with the muscles. The fighter pilot who is all muscle and no head will never live long enough for a pension.”
Colonel Willie Batz, GAF, 237 Victories, WWII
Consider closure on a bandit where the angle off the tail is high, say 90 degrees. Essentially the bandit is cutting straight across your flight path. Your closure rate will equal your airspeed, and you will overshoot before you can blink. Closure is both an airspeed issue and an aspect issue.
Similarly, alignment behind the bandit is NOT about your flight path. Rather, alignment for BFM has to do with where your nose is pointed. When you want to change your flight path you change where your nose is pointed. When you are flying offensive, changes to nose orientation are made with the ailerons rather than with the rudder.
Many novices and even some more experienced pilots make a set of repeated errors. The most common is the attempt to simply drive to the tail of a bandit in the shortest time possible. This is a big mistake! The shortest path may get you to the bandit’s tail at a high angle off, but you won’t have the maneuvering room to stay there and you may have used all your energy to get there.
So let’s start with a new rule: the shortest distance between two points is a circle. Circles are basic to BFM, and as our discussion proceeds you’ll understand why!
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