Back To Page 6 We place the gun line in front of the target and vary our G to allow the target to move towards the approximate lead point. One technique is to start out with a little more lead than necessary…then relax G slightly to move the target ‘forward’ towards the gun line. As the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
