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The Low Yo-Yo
Or, What a Low-Down, Dirty Trick
By
--)-Rapier
--, Fighter Ace
Content Manager
| "All of a sudden the lead MiG's wing dropped, the nose came around, and I could feel the hair at the base of my neck try to stand up. I realized there, in that moment of time, I saw him, he saw me, and one of us was not going home. The world's most dangerous game had begun." |
| - Major General Frederick C. "Boots" Blesse 10 victories |
You are in trouble. You're slow and the enemy is moving faster and closer to the corner rate, passing through more degrees of arc per second than you are. Your opponent might even be a little above you. Within three or four turns, they will be on your six with guns blazing. By the time you accelerate in level-turning flight, you'll be pushing up virtual daisies. If you don't move quickly, Ace, this flight is going to be over. What do you do?
Now's the time to learn why all self-respecting fighter pilots have the low yo-yo in their bag of tricks. You trade altitude (potential energy) for speed (kinetic energy) and then trade it back for position. Though it may not be immediately apparent, it is a fact that airplanes turn better at different speeds. You have no doubt encountered the situation where you have gotten too slow (like at the top of a climb) and found that you couldn't maneuver very well. The speed that airplanes turn best at is their corner speed. Below that, they don't turn as well, and above that, G limits come into play (particularly in realism). You want to accelerate by going nose-low until you reach your corner speed, which for most of our fighters is between 160 and 210 mph. Once you're there, you try to turn until you have generated enough lead to point well ahead of the enemy's present position, and then pull back up for a shot.
There are other variations on the low yo-yo. You can go nose-low to gain speed, start turning, pull till you are in pure pursuit Then pull up and turn hard. As you slow, your turn radius will tighten. If you have timed everything correctly, you will have a shot.
The main challenge of the low yo-yo is resisting your own greed. If you try to gain too much ground too fast, you may find yourself in the lead, lining yourself up for your enemy's shot. Remember that you are generating lateral and vertical separation, and that can cut both ways--the same separation you want to use on your enemy can be used on you. So as you make this maneuver, keep a close eye on your opponents. If they start down after you, you will have to start doing pilot stuff real fast. It is far better to make up your distance in a series of smaller moves than in one large one, because it's not as apparent to your opponent what is happening and you preclude a counter move. Also, you are less likely to overshoot and you have time to judge whether the move is working or whether more radical surgery is advised. As in all things Fighter Ace
, moment-by-moment judgement and decision are critical to your continued virtual existence. ("Objects in your mirror are closer than they appear." "Do not remove." "Void where prohibited." Blah, Blah, Blah.)
So keep the low yo-yo in mind. It's a small but valuable tool in your Fighter Ace
arsenal. See you in the friendly virtual skies!
| "The nose dips under the vertical; I want to keep my stream of bullets far enough ahead to hit the leader. It is almost a 90-degree deflection shot. I make every move carefully, quickly, increasing the lead, just the right lead, the gentle trigger squeeze. The guns thunder, chatter, roar, all sounds at once. The wings flash scarlet and orange and fire. White flashes appear all over the German fighter, dancing motes of brilliance; the cockpit shatters, and then the intense glare, the beginning of the explosion as the fuel tanks shred, begin their eruption into flame." |
| - Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAF 27 victories, WWII |
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