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AIR FORCE
JUNE 1949

Fighters Up-Again

Don't kid yourself—the day of the "little friend" isn't over by a long shot

The first large scale fighter gunnery meet since the war's end was held last month at Las Vegas, Nevada, with 12 three-man teams representing virtually every fighter group in the country shooting it out for top honors in five fields.

One of the main purposes of the meet was to bring interest in gunnery back to its wartime peak. Generally speaking, the modern concept of airpower with its emphasis on the heavy bomber has, at least temporarily, taken the play away from the fighters. Then, too, during the past few years, gunnery has taken a secondary position even in fighter training programs. Learning to fly the new jets came first. Then, too, gunnery ranges where fighter pilots could practice, were often located many miles from home bases.

One of the important results of the meet, therefore, was a new esprit de corps, for the competition was spirited—no one held anything back. In order to keep this competitive interest alive, the Air Force is planning to make the gunnery meet an annual affair.

The scores at Las Vegas were good when compared to wartime scores (about a hundred percent better in fact), but somewhat disappointing in that the meet averages failed to come up to intra group scores.

One reason for this is probably the fact that jet gunnery procedures have not yet been standardized among the various groups. Many squadrons, for example, had been accustomed to shooting at a target 1,000 feet behind the tow plane. At Las Vegas, the targets were towed on a 750-foot cable. When a pilot makes his aerial run, he sees only the tow plane and must estimate the position of the target in making his pass. If you've been accustomed to shooting for a target 1,000 feet behind the tow plane, it's rather disconcerting to find 250 feet lopped off the cable. There would be
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LEFT: An F-84 scores a skip-bombing bulls-eye. In the top picture the bomb has just been released (under plane.) In the second it is sailing smack through the target. In the last shot the jet is on its way back upstairs. In some instances planes had to gain altitude to clear target.

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Armorers of the 4th Fighter Group hook practice bomb under the wing of F-80 Shooting Star. F-80's fared better than F-84's in meet, but officials indicated this could well have been because of more experience with older plane.

Field snack bar (above) was open during entire meet and did land office job. To see that planes in dive bombing competition released their bombs at the stipulated minimum of 2000 feet, Las Vegas' range officer "invented" the contraption below which provides a "fix" on approaching aircraft. Next year the Air Force may invite other countries to compete in a similar contest. 

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-26 19:49:44 " released (under plane)." should move period inside brackets like newspaper. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-28 13:37:44