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Re: Slow planes was: Battle blimps

From: Robert Makowsky <rmakowsky@y...>
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 13:34:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Slow planes was: Battle blimps

Biplanes could out turn monoplane fighters but that is
not the end of the fight.  Biplane performance was
much less than that of the monoplanes.	

So in a dogfight the smart monoplane pilot will make
diving high speed attacks at the biplane and then use
its superior performance to climb away to set up for
another attack.  

Eventually the biplane pilot fails his dodge roll and
the monoplane has him.	

I think blimps are large slow targets that will be
juicy to any fighter pilot in the sky.	In a WW-I
setting they can outclimb the fighters of the day but
in any later setting they are not viable in a combat
zone that has other air assets.

I do not see enough armament and stealth gear to keep
them safe without a large escort that can keep the
threat away.

Magic
--- KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de wrote:
> Beth.Fulton@csiro.au schrieb:
> > "a biplane of such low performance that it was
> difficult 
> > for both monoplane fighters to fly slow enough to
> hold in 
> > their sights for more than a fleeting moment and
> for 
> > anti-aircraft guns to track the type with sights
> calibrated 
> > for use against faster warplanes"
> 
> I'm still skeptical. 
> 
> I could see that it might be a problem with the
> larger AA guns that
> used mechanical computers to calculate the aiming
> point.
> 
> Small-calibre guns had fairly simple "spider-web"
> sights. These could
> be aimed straight at a slow-flying plane and the aim
> could be corrected
> by watching the tracers.
> 
> Do you consider your book a well-researched
> technical work, or more of
> the popular kind ? Does it quote sources ? Not
> everything you see in
> print is neccesarily accurate :-(
> 
> Greetings
> Karl Heinz

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