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"t's not just that most of the those American air force generals began their careers as fighter pilots. No, the reason is more practical. American air superiori

"t's not just that most of the those American air force generals began their careers as fighter pilots. No, the reason is more practical. American air superiority has largely been the result of superior pilots. The U.S. didn't always have the best aircraft, but they always had the most talented and resourceful pilots. And that's what gave the U.S. its edge. Will that translate to software piloted fighters? Research to date seems to indicate it will." I really need some real non-american references to believe in such a thing.

gaius 17y ago
In WW2 German fighters were technologically superior. In Korea Russian MiGs were superior (the Sidewinder missile was developed specifically to combat MiGs that could cruise at an altitude American fighters couldn't reach, swoop down to attack, then return to safe altitude). Even in the Cold War, the MiG-25 could out-run any American fighter. Whether the quality of American pilots was decisive in any of those conflicts is debatable, but the first part is certainly true. Many observers believe the Eurofighter Typhoon to be the most advanced fighter in the world today.
defen 17y ago
Well, he's an American, but there is a 2-part blog post here that details some of the reasons American pilots were better: http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/2008/01/01/forty-second-boyd-and-the-big-picture-part-1/ http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/2008/01/01/forty-sec... If nothing else you'll learn about John Boyd, one hell of a model American.
HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
"Talented and resourceful"isn't quite right. What the US has generally had, though, was the best trained pilots and feedback. When the kill ratio starts favoring the enemy, the US has typically analyzed the problem and improved training. I referenced Top Gun and Beyond in an earlier post: if you can find the video, it goes into this.

gaius 17y ago

In WW2 German fighters were technologically superior. In Korea Russian MiGs were superior (the Sidewinder missile was developed specifically to combat MiGs that could cruise at an altitude American fighters couldn't reach, swoop down to attack, then return to safe altitude). Even in the Cold War, the MiG-25 could out-run any American fighter. Whether the quality of American pilots was decisive in any of those conflicts is debatable, but the first part is certainly true. Many observers believe the Eurofighter Typhoon to be the most advanced fighter in the world today.

defen 17y ago

Well, he's an American, but there is a 2-part blog post here that details some of the reasons American pilots were better: http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/2008/01/01/forty-second-boyd-and-the-big-picture-part-1/ http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/2008/01/01/forty-sec... If nothing else you'll learn about John Boyd, one hell of a model American.

HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago

"Talented and resourceful"isn't quite right. What the US has generally had, though, was the best trained pilots and feedback. When the kill ratio starts favoring the enemy, the US has typically analyzed the problem and improved training. I referenced Top Gun and Beyond in an earlier post: if you can find the video, it goes into this.