War For the Hell of It: A Fighter Pilot's View of Vietnam by Cobleigh Ed

Author:Cobleigh, Ed [Cobleigh, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Check Six Books
Published: 2016-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

While time is speeding up in the physical world, it is slowing down in the mental realm when I am in the zone. Relieved of the requirement to think about flying the jet, my mind is free to contemplate the tactical situation at its leisure. I am mentally processing information about the spatial relationships between all the friendly aircraft, our location, the fuel state, and where we are in the world. I am planning actions based on when and where I think the MiGs will appear. I need to be ready for anything and I have the mental time to prepare for everything I can think of.

This is the scenario with all its alternatives that I ran and re-ran in my head last night when I was supposed to be sleeping. The night before a big mission such as today's is a waste of time for sleep. I laid awake for hours visualizing the mission and every conceivable option and preparing for every eventuality, I hope.

I can only prepare for what I can imagine and I can anticipate only those situations that I can conceive. Unfortunately, I can't clearly visualize a dogfight with a MiG because I have never even seen one and I have never fought in training with any aircraft that performs anything remotely like a MiG. In fact, in my years of training, in the constant practicing of my craft, I have only flown against other F-4s. I am very good at defeating poorly flown F-4s; I've done it frequently. If the North Vietnamese Air Force would only fly Phantoms I would know just what to do to defeat them.

For some reason unknown to anyone below the rank of general, we are not allowed to practice dogfighting with any type aircraft other than our own. Combat training with other flavors of jets is strictly forbidden. The outlawed concept is called "dissimilar air combat maneuvering." Only the USAF would give a bureaucratic label to a proscribed action. The officially stated reason is that training with dissimilar aircraft is unsafe. Why it is unsafe has never been fully explained to anyone. I guess it is safer to learn how to fight MiGs by fighting MiGs to the death than it is to learn when the stakes are far lower. I believe when you can't figure out why something apparently illogical is the way it is, follow the money. That is probably the real reason behind the prohibition of dissimilar air combat. When F-4s fight other F-4s in training, both sides of the engagement get trained, a double dip in the training pool. If F-4s were to fly against F-5s, which the USAF doesn't use in combat, only half the cost of the flight is applicable for the war. Twice as many softies need to be generated and paid for. Evidently, the cost of aircraft shot down due to ineffective pilot training, not to mention men's lives lost, is acceptable. On-the-job training is way cheaper than quality education, unless you are the one paying for the lack of training with your life.

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