Gunship Academy

by Richard Sheffield

Rule 10: Take Your Time!

Impatience probably kills more Gunship pilots than anything else. You just cannot go flying into a heavily defended enemy area at 120 knots at 100 feet and expect to survive. At that kind of speed, you'll encounter enemy positions faster than you can destroy them and that means that they'll have a chance to fire at you.

This kind of attack will quickly place you deep in enemy territory where you'll be targeted by a large number of weapons. You won't have time to examine the map to see where the enemy locations are and plan a way around them. So take your time to learn and follow the other nine rules (almost all of them deal with taking your time in some way).

Soviet antiaircraft doctrine is based around defense in depth and in overwhelming numbers—so don't be in such a hurry that you fly into the strength of their defense and put yourself at a disadvantage. Use your mobility, your position on the high ground, and your ability to attack from long range to give yourself the advantage, and thus, successfully complete your missions.

These rules are set down to act as guidelines and to point out dangerous situations. They should be followed whenever possible. Obviously, there are conditions under which each of them can and should be broken in order to stay alive or to accomplish a mission.

Table of Contents
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