CO-ENERGY MERGE
Today's topic is the merge where your energy state is approximately that
of your enemy's. You will mostly see this at co-altitude but it could mean
other things as well. You may hold a turn advantage, speed be the same
but he has a slight alt advantage canceling your turn advantage. The key
is that it is equal E.
So, what is the goal?
The goal is to get an Energy Advantage. You want to convert the Co-E
merge into a Positive E merge. Once you do that you can then use the
techniques described in the last post in order to win the fight. OK, you are
approaching an enemy. Your alt, speed and turning ability between you
and the bad guy is about the same. Neither of you holds a distinct
advantage. How do you convert the situation into one with a Positive
Energy state for you? In our first scenario let's assume you see the nme
coming in a basic head-on merge.
This is where you start thinking ahead. You note you are co-alt and his
plane type won't give him or you a huge advantage so you start thinking
"lead turn".
Q: "Lead Turn?" Hold on Sensei, what the hell is a "lead turn"?
A: Glad you asked that. It is just what it sounds like, you are going to lead
the merge by initiating a bank turn before your enemy does. A little
background first... How many of you have done a head on merge with
someone and both of you shoot at each other and do a break turn when
you reach each other's 3 or 9 o'clock position? In some cases it is more like
2-8 or even 1-7. Try this next time you are online against someone, go for
a co-alt head on merge.
When you pass the nme just lock F3 on him and watch when he makes his
break to come around on your 6. Don't bother to turn your self just note
the position. Do it again and again with various pilots until you get a rough
idea of when most people will break. You would be surprised at just how
much of a pattern that develops. It is a perfectly natural tendency for
people to do this. It is also perfectly natural for that break turn to be
purely horizontal. If you see this happen, smile an evil smile--because you
are about to take advantage of this human trait.
Here's a question for you...
What if your opponent was approaching you head-on and was going to
pass down your left side?
What if you were to break into a left bank turn BEFORE he reached your 9
o'clock?
Remember, rookie tendency is to break at the 3-9 line or after. If you start
your turn early guess who is going to come around quicker than his
opponent? Even if he sees what you are doing you are going to have that
split-second advantage in turn rate because you started a hair earlier. You
have just converted you speed for an increased angle and position and
gained an E advantage. By the time you come around, even if he started
his break as well you are most likely going to end up somewhere BEHIND
his 3-9 line. It may not be an ideal 6 shot yet--you may have to pull lead to
get a gun solution or even lag pursuit until your speed builds back up
again to get your shot. The key is you now hold an advantage in the angle
component and his break turn killed his speed advantage but was too late
to negate your angle advantage. Get the picture?
Q: I understand, but what can I do to help set this up?
A: Well, one thing that helps a lead turn is a bit of separation from your
nme. The worse case scenario is a direct head-on. You want to get some
separation either in the horizontal or the vertical. That separation is going
to give you the room to get your E advantage.
HORIZONTAL SEPARATION:
In WWI aircraft their relatively low climb rate makes the horizontal
separation the easier to get. You want to separate yourself off to one side
to force your opponent to pass down one side of you or the other, just not
head on. The distance you want should be the distance needed for you to
pull a cornering speed turn that brings you 180 degrees around without
too much E loss. Remember back when I said you need to know your
airplane, its capabilities, and your opponent's aircraft? This is one of those
reasons why... OK, you managed to do this and he is going to pass off to
your right hand side.
When do you break?
If he were going to go down my right side I would make my break when he
hit around my 2 o'clock position. The break should be TOWARD the enemy.
Remember, the intent is to initiate your turn BEFORE the nme does so that
you end up on his 6. When you do this one of 4 things will happen and 3 of
them should make you smile. One will make you curse.
Option 1:
He breaks left. GREAT! means he is turning away from you and giving you a
real easy 6 position.
Option 2: He breaks right. Ooohhh, a little smarter puppy but dead
nonetheless. You'll have to hold your turn longer, but go into lag pursuit
and stay behind his 3-9 line until your speed builds up and then commence
to killing.
Option 3: He dives away. Spads like to do this. You probably can not
catch him but you'll get a parting 6 shot. Either way, you screwed his
plans up and have won the airspace and made them run. It isn't a kill but it
a clear victory.
Option 4: He uses an aggressive vertical maneuver like a split-s or a
modern Immelmann (half loop and roll). Worse he uses a low G right spiral
climb forcing you to maintain your turn while he is gaining altitude. Watch
out because you have a veteran on your hands. He hasn't turned the
tables, at best he has maintained the co-energy state but it still means
you have got your work cut out for you. Of those three vertical moves the
split-s is the one you have the best chance to take advantage of. He is
surrendering his alt for speed and possibly looking to do a hlaf-loop and
roll to get on your 3-9. Best bet is NOT TO FOLLOW HIS SPLIT-S but
instead use a low G bank turn to come around while rebuilding your speed
component. Done in time you could end up with E advantage again.
In early planes this may be his only option and may use the speed to escape. The last
thing he may do is a shallow climb. He is taking advantage of his
temporary advantage in speed (remember you converted your speed to
angle) to get an advantage in altitude. You may get a parting 6 shot but
you'll likely have to raise your nose to do so and bleed more speed. Better
hit the golden BB because soon you are going to be slower and lower and
he can come around to make it a short night for you. Possible Problems:
Can anyone think of another possible problem with this lead turn
maneuver?
Like what if you turn too early and end coming around too soon and now
he is on your 6?
Well, many dead pilots realized that goof too late. I've actually had a DrI or
Nieup do this on occasion. I'll say it again: KNOW YOUR PLANE-KNOW YOUR
OPPONENT'S PLANE. Vertical Separation: Another possible separation
technique for the merge and lead turn is a vertical one.
What if your opponent won't cooperate and insists on continuing the close
right on your nose and not down one side?
Well, you can use a bit of the vertical to get your separation. Ever been
merging with someone and suddenly saw them take a small dive just prior
to the merge? Uh-huh, I thought so...watch out because he knows what
he is doing and is setting you up for a lead turn type maneuver. The dive
might be in anticipation of using a wing-over or a modern Immelmann (half
loop and roll) to gain angle on you.
Let us say you are driving an Alb DIII and your opponent is in a N24 . You dive to gain a little speed. If the nme passes slightly to
one side or the other you can use that extra speed to do a climbing bank
turn to come around faster. You can do the half loop and roll in a
DIII. In either case you are initiating your maneuver BEFORE you enemy
does. You have taken the initiative and every moment your opponent
hesitates is a moment you are gaining the Energy Advantage. Things that
can go wrong here is that you dive too far and don't get enough speed to
convert back into proper alt or bank turn (angle). If your opponent sees
your dive and he goes into a climb you may get screwed by his gaining alt
or at least negating your increase speed or angle.
Q: Sensei, I see the bad guy dive before we merge, but my plane can't do
an Immelmann and I really can't climb and turn fast enough to beat his
speed. What do I do?
A: OK, you know you have a vet pilot so when he dives you dive at him
and go for the snap shot. Take it, hell you might get lucky and even a little
damage is better than none or you might even shake him up. Don't dive
too far! After your little pop shot immediately begin converting your excess
speed from your dive back into altitude. Make a low G spiral turn out of it.
The end result is that you are back to co-energy. Remember, he gained a
small advantage in E by taking the initiative from you and you countered.
I said this in the beginning but it bears repeating:
In a POSITIVE Energy state look to make the kill.
In a CO-ENERGY State look to transition to a POSITIVE Energy State.
In a NEGATIVE Energy State look to get to a CO-ENERGY State.
If you try to make a kill shot from a Co-E or Neg-E state you most likely will
screw up and die. In the Q/A example above you were Co-E, went Neg-E,
and transitioned back into Co-E. Had you tried to follow his initial dive and
force the kill shot you would have blown your alt component and turn
component for speed and he would have the same speed but with the
initiative. His E state would have been superior and would most likely
make the kill.
Sensei
