Dogfighting

A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft, conducted at close range. Dogfighting first appeared during World War I, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every major war, despite beliefs after World War II that increasingly greater speeds and longer range weapons would make dogfighting obsolete. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is air combat maneuvering (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requiring the use of individual basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) to attack or evade one or more opponents. This differs from aerial warfare, which deals with the strategy involved in planning and executing various missions.

The term dogfight has been used for centuries to describe a melee; a fierce, fast-paced battle between two or more opponents. The term gained popularity during World War II although its origin in air combat can be traced to the latter years of World War I. The first written reference to the modern day usage of the word comes from Fly Papers, by A. E. Illingworth, in 1919, “The battle develops into a ‘dog-fight’, small groups of machines engaging each other in a fight to the death.”

The first instance of plane on plane combat and the first instance of one plane intercepting another during an aerial conflict occurred during the Mexican Revolution in November 30, 1913 between two American soldiers of fortune fighting for opposing sides Dean Ivan Lamb and Phil Rader. Both men had orders to kill but neither pilot wanted to harm the other so they exchanged multiple volleys of pistol fire, intentionally missing before exhausting their supply of ammunition.

Dogfighting first emerged in World War I. Ever since "heavier than air" flights became a reality in 1903, people had been trying to figure out how to use this new technology for warfare. Aircraft were initially used as mobile observation vehicles, and early pilots gave little thought to aerial combat. The new airplanes proved their worth by spotting the hidden German advance on Paris in the second month of the war.

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