Fighting Irish Forums

"Rules of Air Fighting
Although not an instinctive, gifted pilot Malan was an exceptional shot and a very aggressive air fighter, and above all a superb tactician who instilled the methods and techniques he had honed in 1940 into successive generations of young fighter pilots who followed him.

Malan developed a set of simple rules for fighter pilots, to be disseminated throughout RAF Fighter Command, which eventually could be found tacked to the wall of most airbases:

TEN OF MY RULES FOR AIR FIGHTING

1)Wait until you see the whites of his eyes. Fire short bursts of one to two seconds only when your sights are definitely "ON"

2)Whilst shooting think of nothing else, brace the whole of your body: have both hands on the stick: concentrate on your ring sight.

3)Always keep a sharp lookout. "Keep your finger out".

4)Height gives you the initiative.

5)Always turn and face the attack.

6)Make your decisions promptly. It is better to act quickly even though your tactics are not the best.

7)Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area.

When diving to attack always leave a proportion of your formation above to act as a top guard.

9)INITIATIVE, AGGRESSION, AIR DISCIPLINE, and TEAM WORK are words that MEAN something in Air Fighting.

10)Go in quickly - Punch hard - Get out!"

Got this off Wikipedia Very interesting....

Interesting. Good advice.

The rules we used to live by for gunfighting were..

Well, there ain't no rules to a gunfight. Last man standing is the winner.

I remember well a young gent in Houston, that brought a knife to a gunfight. I guess he didn't do his homework. He wanted to use his knife to take my stuff. Had to give him credit for veracity, but in the end it mattered not. I took his stuff, his money, his dope, and then I deprived him of his sole means of support. I took his knife too. I then gave him a 2 second start to see if he could outrun a 9MM slug. I missed him on purpose with 2 shots and I believe dat boy could have been an olympic contender in the 1000 meter run that night.

I pitched his dope in a toilet, tossed his stuff in a dumpster, broke his cheap knife, and bought a few beers with his money.

...see the whites of his eyes?

...see the whites of his eyes?

Absolutely.. Although the rest of his face was a bit hard to make out, it being dark outside and all..

I think Willie is due his medical again