Re: [GZG] [OFFICIAL] Question: was Re: [SG3]: What if?

Allan Goodall wrote:

> >Airspeeds of a WWI aircraft are well into the range of modern
helicopters,
> >and the general consensus is that helicopters are easy pickings for
modern
> >jets.
>
>And this all begs a question: what's the tactical or strategic reason
>for engaging the WWI aircraft in the first place?
>
>The biplane can't do a thing, essentially, to the Raptor.

Not to the Raptor *itself*, but that is only relevant if the Raptor is 
there all by itself - in which case it'll have severe difficulties
winning 
the war. If, which is highly likely, the Raptor is there to support some

form of ground forces the biplane can:

1) scout for its side's ground forces,

2) attack the Raptor's side's ground forces with machineguns and light
bombs,

3) possibly disrupt the Raptor's side's aerial recon efforts by engaging

low-flying tactical UAVs. (During the Kosovo war Serb transport
helicopters 
were fairly successful in using door-mounted machineguns to shoot down
NATO 
UAVs, until the NATO forces deployed manned jet fighters to protect the 
UAVs... :-/ )

Early in WW1, task 3) above was handled with pistol and rifle fire
between 
otherwise essentially unarmed aircraft. That wasn't a very effective way
to 
conduct air-to-air combat though, which led to the rapid development of 
specialized fighter craft - of which the Raptor is currently the latest 
version. As long as the biplane is capable of detecting and reporting
the 
location of the Raptor's side's ground forces, and much more so if it is

capable of actually harming them physically, the Raptor has every reason
to 
engage the biplane.

Later,

Oerjan
orjan.ariander1@comhem.se

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry

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