Aviation & Aeronautics, Thursday October 9, Period 2

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Murdock had a TV in the classroom today, but before he got to putting on a movie about a a famous bomber, he had a few notes for the class.

(ocd up in a few)

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lecture

[crazypilotman.livejournal.com]

Not much for fooling around today, he went right into the lecture, scribbling things on the chalkboard.

"In the hands of German Ace Oswald Boelcke (http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/ger_boelcke.html), the Albatros D I (http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=390) would help write many tactics of air warfare that remain in practice today. With weapons double the firepower of any on the Allied planes, Boelcke established Jagdstaffel 2, coaching his men rigorously in his own rules fro air warfare. Manfred von Richthofen (http://www.briggsenterprises.com/bluemax/) was one of Boelcke's men. He went on to become known as the 'Red Baron'. In April 1917, the Germans conducted an aerial campaign dubbed Bloody April (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_April). For the last time of World War I, the Germans were able to establish air superiority over the Western Front. They concentrated against the British, inflicting casualties at such a rate that the expected flying life for the Royal Flying Corps pilots was officially calculated at seventeen and a half hours."

"Early in the war, there were no true fighter aircraft or air-combat tactics. The early fighter pilots were usually 'lone wolves' who stalked their prey, often diving out of the sun or attacking the victim's blind or undefended quarter. Then they would either dive away or 'zoom climb' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_climb), regaining altitude and safety while awaiting another attack opportunity. Gradually, defensive formations arose and inevitably fighter formations grew larger. By the end of World War I, the 'Flying Circuses' (http://www.richthofen.com/rickenbacker/) often numbered about 50 aircraft. Since communications between fighters were normally limited to only visual signals, coordination was difficult. Once the fight began, it was every man for himself."

"Two schools of thought on fighter tactics emerged between the wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war_II). Most air forces adopted rigid tactical doctrine for bomber interception, grouping their fighters by threes in tight vee formations, called vics, or in close tail, one behind another. Tactical employment of such patterns proved effective with the help of newly introduced two-way radios in fighter aircraft. Tight formations were very vulnerable however, if attacked by enemy fighters since the task of close-formation flying didn't have effective rear lookouts."

"The other school of thought was adopted by the German Luftwaffe (http://www.feldgrau.com/luft.html), relying on short-range bombers protected by fighter escort. Since they anticipated fighter-versus-fighter combat, they adopted flexible formations, with tactics tailored to fit their doctrine of bomber employment. The most common tactic, the Fighting Wing, a leader of a two-plane section engaged the enemy while his wingman attempted to maintain an echelon position. That's slightly behind and to one side of the leader. In theory, the wingman was supposed to watch the leader's tail and warn him of surprise attacks. In practice though, the wingman was usually so busy trying to stay in position during heavy maneuvering that he was of little use as a lookout. The wingman often became a very easy target. But the Fighting Wing provided a useful compromise by allowing an inexperienced wingman to engage in combat under the protection and tutelage of a veteran leader."

"And you'll be able to see some of these tactics in this film we're going to watch," he finished, walking over and flicking off the lights. "Of course, a lot of it is Hollywood's version, but it does have some accuracy. Let me know if you have any questions." And with that, he started the movie and settled in at his desk.