Growling Sidewinder dogfights Rafale pilot

[Klaiber]

@Erhardt mentioned this video to me.  Got a chance to watch it after he took off for the evening (morning).

Definitely really interesting.

 

[Erhardt]

Yeah, cool video...Interesting how Growling Sidewinder was surprised how agressive the pilot was....

[Firefly]

Ate's aggression is almost palpable. Wow. Thanks for posting this! 

[Barton]

I like this guys channel but he isn’t the best pilot.  He sees the opponent going into the vertical and just assumes it’s for vis as if he is totally unaware of the maneuvering egg.  
 

I watched some of his WW2 1v1s and he makes a lot of mistakes

[Firefly]

Agreed. Every time Ate goes into the vertical following the merge GS just turns and bleeds energy, keeping his speed up by following a downward spiral, hoping to outmanoeuvre and/or outlast Ate in a contest of "who blinks first". Not a sound gameplan if you ask me. Had it not been for Ate's lack of experience in the virtual F/A-18 he would've drilled GS' brains out in every fight. 

One of the best dogfights I've ever had in DCS was against an F-5 pilot, who came in low and fast. Following the merge we circled anticlockwise, neither one of us able to get a shot off. I made the mistake of pulling too much AoA and bled waaaaay to much speed (at one point the Fishbed's delta wing becomes a giant airbrake), so the F-5 quickly found itself on my tail. I went into horizontal scissors and by some miracle I dodged every burst. Low on fuel and with energy quickly fading I opened up the airbrakes and pulled a Maverick to let him past me. Had it not been for the fact that the guy panicked I would've been blown out of the sky in short order. Instead I spent the last drop of my energy on pulling just the right amount of lead for guns, severing his wing with a lucky burst. 

In a quick debrief with Alpenwolf (who was the REDFOR GCI that day) I came to a simple conclusion - what I should've done was to go into the vertical right after the merge. That way I would've gotten an energy advantage over the F-5, which has a slightly superior sustained turn rate but accelerates less quickly than a Fishbed on low fuel with the emergency afterburner on. Fighting on equal terms almost got me shot down...

[Barton]

I learned a lot in a 1v1 situation that the best thing you can do is go vertical.  Especially in equal planes.  Getting the energy advantage gives you the initiative in the fight and if you avoid making mistakes you can dominate from the second merge onward.  
 

anyone who doesn’t immediately go vertical in a 1v1 doesn’t know what they are doing.  And I say that as someone who had to learn that the hard way by having someone whoop my ass until I got it.  

[Vonrd]

47 minutes ago, Barton said:

I learned a lot in a 1v1 situation that the best thing you can do is go vertical.  Especially in equal planes.  Getting the energy advantage gives you the initiative in the fight and if you avoid making mistakes you can dominate from the second merge onward.  
 

anyone who doesn’t immediately go vertical in a 1v1 doesn’t know what they are doing.  And I say that as someone who had to learn that the hard way by having someone whoop my ass until I got it.  

I assume you're talking about the merge. Going vertical when bounced from the 6 doesn't seem like a good idea... or am I wrong?

[Barton]

4 hours ago, Vonrd said:

I assume you're talking about the merge. Going vertical when bounced from the 6 doesn't seem like a good idea... or am I wrong?

I'm talking about specifically a 1v1 with a gentleman's pass like GS likes to do as in the above video.  Multiplayer server combat situations are completely different.  That's one of the reasons I don't do 1v1s anymore.  

[Firefly]

Two more videos from GS. Ate's handling of the Mirage 2000 is masterclass.

 

 

[Klaiber]

Thanks! These are great!