From zaitcev@yahoo.com Wed Jul 5 15:32:25 2000 From: zaitcev@yahoo.com (Pete Zaitcev) Subject: Repost from r.a.m (Ed Rasimus) Message-ID: User-Agent: slrn/0.9.6.2 (Linux) Newsgroups: NewBigweek2 Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 18:47:13 -0400 Lines: 70 Path: tarantula.ipcc.com!zaitcev Xref: tarantula.ipcc.com NewBigweek2:33666 NNTP-Posting-Host: c108188-b.frmt1.sfba.home.com 24.19.219.48 Ed Rasimus flew >250 combat missions in Vietnam. He posts some good stuff from time to time (if only we could capture him for AW:V :) It is targeted against those who real Badz's PDFs too much (with all due respect... I love them myself, and I was soundly beaten by Badz in his faithful Spitty on several ocasions). Posted with editions for brievity. --Pete Subject: Re: "Best" fighter Q: Date: 07/03/2000 From: Ed Rasimus "Dudley Henriques" wrote: >People just love to get caught up in the details, like instantaneous and >sustained turn rates, roll rates, corner speeds, wing loading, departure >characteristics.....God, you can go on with an endless series of >parameters and still come up with enough intangibles to even out the >playing field with just about any fighter of modern design flying today >in a potential three dimensional acm arena, IF the pilot flying the >"underdog" is good enough! > If the "difference between the cockpits" is wide enough, it can negate >a performance advantage. Trust me on this.....I've seen it happen often >enough. We used to fly DACM at Holloman between the F-15s and AT-38s. Clearly a flight capability mismatch. The Eagles had radar, GCI and two UHF receivers so that they could monitor inter-flight comm of the Talons. The significant difference was experience. The typical AT-38 IP had more than a 1000 hours of tactical fighter time and was flying 10 sorties a week. The Eagle drivers were averaging under 300 hours since UPT and flew roughly 3-4 sorties/week. Additionally, the 49th TFW Wing CC had directed that the Eagles operate with continual "visual, radar and radio" support, effectively restricting them to a form of "fighting wing." I recall a 2-v-2 that I led with Mike Scott (son of **** Gen. Winfield Scott) against a pair of Eagles led by the Western States demo pilot. We flew six engagements, shot up two full rolls of 16MM film of F-15 planforms, and the super-jets never got a shot on us. We operated with splits as much as 15K feet in altitude and often had 180 degrees of heading difference, but no one could deny that we were always in mutual support. And, every engagement ended in a tactical formation separation-- line abreast, 6-9K feet lateral and each other in sight. It was a great day for the underdogs. Of course, I had 4000 hours of fighter time and Mike had 2500. The Eagles never had a chance--unless the ROE were changed to let them SLAM us at 25 miles prior to the merge. Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (ret) *** Ziff-Davis Interactive *** (http://www.zdnet.com)