*** Posted by Rapier ***
[When I chase a fighter in the vertical which is the minimum speed for the F16 to pull back on the stick from level flight to chase him in the vertical?
TIGER]

Hi Tiger,

If your flying Falcon 4 and you have a good stick and throtle system keep the F16 at 450 knt's and when you turn hard try to keep the F16 at this speed by balancing the throttle between the 450 - 500 Knt's. The manual does state the actual turn rate of the F16 if you read somewhere, I think it's in the "Max turn a corner velocity" traning mission (this is when turning left and right).

If your going vertical when your chasing a fighter you have two options put the burner up full wack to push you up there and chasing him, but the problem is I have found that the opposing fighter goes really high and can cause you to deep stall and this is exactlly what he want's to happen to you so he can come down and take his shot, so be careful.

Your second option which I have found is very effectve is to let him go high and keep your eye on him at all times, this is very important because if he comes down hard while your doing something else he will slip in undeneath you so use padlock. What you need to do is put the burner in and make a gap of about 2, 2.5 miles and then ease off the burner and perform a max G turn and drop a couple of chaff to but you some time. By the way before you turn flick the overide switch to give you a better turn radius. Dont worry about the other fighter because he went high so you already know his speed is not that great until he builds up on the way down. Ok, once you turned in his direction build up some speed and pull the nose up to 30 degrees. He might still be above you but dont panick just keep your eye on him and try and gain height without loosing speed. Eventually you will almost be level with him and you will know when you've got him because he will panick and go for the deck, (though beware sometimes he will try to keep you up there to make you stall as he will keep on turning) stay on him and nail him.

Dont bother to try to chase him in the vertical with a bomb setup, even if you have depleted half of your ordinance because you will put yourself in a bad position. Jettison you bombs only and treat the mission as an air to air interception mission. You can tell when he's going high becuse his speed will be high when he's comming towards you so dont fall into the trap of using your burner and following what he does because he will lock on an APEX and boom your toast. Go to full military power (100%) and pull up in a half loop if he goes high. Remember you have got to dictate and control the fight. You let the enemy control the fight and you have already lost.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Rapier.

Rapier