There is truly sex appeal in the latest hot jet aircraft. The F- 15, F-16, MG-29, Su-27, are all jets that inspire visions of afterburners pouring fire and missiles reaching out with supersonic death across tens of miles. Like high tech racing cars, these wonder planes epitomize power and speed. But even Gorden Johncock learned to drive in his uncle's Studebaker.
I cut my teeth on World War I air gaming. My childhood fantasies were Focke-wulfes and Corsairs. And too much of the super-hot, super-fast jetting gets too rich for this old man's blood. But I like the 50's and 60's era, that's when men actually flew jets and not the other way around. One of the most delightful jets of this era is the F- 100 whose datacard Air Power so graciously provided to us gainers in issue #8.
On the surface the F-100 will seem like a real dog. But it's a surprisingly good dogfighter. The enemies of its day would be NEG- 15s, MiG-17s, MiG-19s, Mysteres, Supermysteres, and ultimately MiG-21s. All of these are excellent dogfighters, and all can be successfully tackled by the steady Hun.
How you use the Hun in combat depends a great deal on what model is being used and when and where the battle occurs. TheF-100Ais anon-missile aircraft but only 203 were built and the many bugs it had make it unlikely that it would be involved in combat. The first mark likely to face combat would be the F100C and the definitive Hun was the F- 1001). 476 Cs and 1,274 Ds were built. The F- 100C was the aircraft used by the Air Force Thunderbirds from 1956 to 1964. If used close to home, the Hun can carry four AIM-9B IRMs.
This right away places the Hun in a good position vis-a-vis most enemies. With 4 missiles, it is still a clean bird. The NEG- 15 and 17 can't carry missiles and the MiG- 19 can only manage two. Given the average level of missile technology the Russians will be outgunned by two missiles and out qualitied as well. Sadly, if the battle is some distance away the fuel was the Hun must carry will cost it a couple of missiles. But even then the Hun still carries 4 shots of ammo for its guns and don't forget that it has a radar gunsight. The early MiGs have terrible guns.
When approaching battle, use a combat pair, with two Huns about 4 to 6 hexes apart. One of them should be one or two hexes forward giving the formation a staggered set. The other Hun should 2 to 4 altitude levels higher. The pair should approach slightly offset to enemy with the forward Hun closest. The forward Hun is the eye man and the burden of sighting the enemy while the second Hun acts as the shooter and covers the eye man in case his lookout wasn't up to snuff. If a second pair of Huns is available they should be six hexes to the rear and higher yet.
Altitude is critical with the Hun but going into combat while leaving a beautiful contrail is the best way to attract unwanted attention so keep the Highest Hun just under the contrail level.
For the Hun it's best to try and fight in the I-H band. While the F- 100 doesn't have a high ceiling compared to a MiG- 19 or 21, the reasons for using the HI band are twofold. First, at level 25 and above, engines lose thrust. For the Hun that means a loss of 0.5 from A/B at 1/2 conf., its most common configuration. But for its foes, the loss in power is greater reducing the MiG- 19 and 21's thrust advantage. Also, since A/B is no more effective than MEL except when wanting to climb, the power choice is simplified and a fuel savings is realized.
To top it off, in the HI band the MG-19 must be wary of instability. Of course a competent opponent is not going to hand you your choice of altitudes on a silver platter and you may not always have the time or energy to get up high, but if you can enter battle at 29 or 30, you have evened things a bit and have plenty of altitude to sacrifice for energy.
If tangling with a 15 or 17, use the whole sky. The vertical is not something those MiGs can deal with. However, against a MiG- 19 the Hun should fight horizontally. Lag and barrel rolls are good ways to swing the nose quick and avoid the tight turns the MGs like. The Hun does not have a surplus of power but with intelligent flying, it has enough. Remember, the Hun can win a turning battle if it has to. It has slatted wings that give good turning ability at speed 5.0 and below. this is only 0.5 below its cruising speed and the closer to cruise speed that your maneuver Speed is, the better off you are.
At speed 5.0 the Hun has quite an advantage over a MG- 17 since at that speed the MiG is a low roll rate jet. Even though turn decel is the same, the MiG's greater thrust will usually let it outturn the Hun. If this happens, reverse your turn and go the other way. Before the MiG can follow, you will have gained back some angles. If a Hun has to run, it is fast enough to do thejob. A long shallow dive will work against the earlier MiGs, and the MiG-19 can be outrun at LO and ML altitudes if the Hun stays level. On the deck the trusty F- 100 can even outrun a MiG-21F!
These are just some thoughts on using the Hun in play. I enjoy the fifties and sixties era as the rear quarter only missiles and gun armed fighters of those days ensure that every game will involve skill and maneuvering sis-a-vis good die rolling. To summarize, the Hun is more than a match for the MiG- 15, it can take a MiG- 17 more surely than a Phantom, and if used right, it ran take on a MiG- 19 with confidence. The only foe that will drive the Hun's age home is the MiG-21 but in its heyday, the Hun was a fighter that could find a piece of sky and declare it its own. Woe to the poor MiG pilot who tried to dispute that too.
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© Copyright 1991 by J.D. Webster
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