Air To Air Gunnery – Theory and Application, Part Three Page 6
Back To Page 5 Determining Sight Settling Time Not applicable! Since the sight is a ‘fixed’ reference, ie non-moving, there is no settling time. Determining The Open Fire Point The major difficulty in tracking with a fixed sight is getting the lead for target motion right. Since the primary variables of range, closure, and angle off […]
Air To Air Gunnery – Theory and Application, Part Three Page 5
Back To Page 4 Fixed Sight Tracking Shot Determining Target Range We’ve hit the concept of stadiametric ranging pretty hard so far. This will be your method of determining range in your sim, but there is one little problem. Few, if any, of our sims will tell us what the reticle or ring diameter is in […]
Air To Air Gunnery – Theory and Application, Part Three Page 4
Back To Page 3 The Fixed Sight and How to Use It Fixed sights come in many forms. We are all familiar with the typical WW1 and WW2 sights. But, the fact is that, as long as a sight has a gun line (cross) symbol, it can be used as a fixed sight. Look at these […]
Air To Air Gunnery – Theory and Application, Part Three Page 3
Back To Page 2 Why do I need to know this? First, we talked about the plane of symmetry…then we went on to mention the plane of motion…and we finished up with words about the bullet stream. What’s the big deal? Here is the very simple answer. You can fire at a target and know that you […]
Air To Air Gunnery – Theory and Application, Part Three Page 2
Back To Page 1 Plane of Motion The plane of motion is the direction our aircraft is going. You may ask if the plane of motion and the plane of symmetry are the same. The answer can be yes…or no. The issue is gravity. Anytime that gravity is exactly in alignment with the plane of symmetry (wings […]
Air To Air Gunnery – Theory and Application, Part Three
by Andy Bush Introduction Congratulations for having made it so far!! After countless words and diagrams, we finally are at the point where the ‘rubber meets the road’…or should I say where the ‘bullets meet the target’?!! In this last section, we are going to look at each type of sight ‘up close and personal.’ Our objective […]
Close Air Support in the Vietnam War Page 10
Back To Page 9 These missions, particularly the night ones, were some of the most dangerous of the war. The Fast FACs essentially trolled the Trail looking for trouble, and they often found it. Blasting into deep valleys ringed by high karst ridges, the Wolf and Owl FACs dueled with North Vietnamese gunners who by this […]
Close Air Support in the Vietnam War Page 8
Back To Page 7 Far removed from the bureaucratic constraints of the regular US military, the Ravens lived a raucous lifestyle that exceeded anything that Hollywood could dream up. Operating out of short landing strips literally hacked out of the jungle, they flew and supported airstrikes against communist Pathet Lao as well as regular North Vietnamese […]
Close Air Support in the Vietnam War Page 9
Back To Page 8 The Final Years – 1970 to 1974 By 1970, things were going from bad to worse for US involvement in the SEA war. The Tet Offensive in 1968 was followed by US President Johnson’s decision not to run for re-election. Richard Nixon ran for President on a promise to end the war […]
Close Air Support in the Vietnam War Page 7
Back To Page 6 Of course, there were other kinds of gunships used in Vietnam. The concept of a helicopter gunship was developed in this war. Initially, the helos were Hueys with machine guns mounted in the cabin doors. The pilot did not have any control over the weapon…the gun was operated by a gunner in the […]
Close Air Support in the Vietnam War Page 6
Back To Page 5 Just as the weaponry was evolving in the CAS war, so was the nature of that war. The traditional daylight fighter attacks in support of ground troops in contact with enemy forces continued, but the danger from enemy AAA was forcing the fighters to release their weapons from higher altitudes. The days […]
Close Air Support in the Vietnam War Page 5
Back To Page 4 This escalation in the war saw the introduction of more capable US fighter aircraft. The USAF began to use the F-4 in the south, the VNAF was equipped with F-5 and A-37 fighter-bombers, and the USN complimented this with carrier borne F-4, A-4, A-6, and A-7 aircraft. In general, these aircraft could […]