![]() (USAF Photo)Īfter the study was declassified, foreign pilots passing through Nellis took it home where it changed the way every air force in the world flies and fights. It was in the Hun that Boydīecame famous as "Forty-Second Boyd," the man who defeated allĬhallengers in simulated air-to-air combat in less than 40 seconds. Pattern on the vertical stabilizer and nose. Afterwards, when fighter pilots attacked (or were attacked), they knew every option open to their adversary and how to respond.Īn F-100 taking off from Nellis AFB circa 1959. Boyd proved them wrong when he demonstrated that for every maneuver there is a series of counter maneuvers. And they cannot come up with the name of anyone who ever defeated him.īoyd was equally famous in the classroom where he developed the "Aerial Attack Study." Until Boyd came along, fighter pilots thought that air combat was an art rather than a science that it could never be codified. But if they went through Nellis in the late 1950s, they know Boyd had no bad days. They say there is no "best" pilot that everyone has a bad day. The myth of "Forty-Second Boyd" still rankles AF fighter pilots. The pursuing pilot was thrown forward and now Boyd was on his tail radioing "Guns. The underside of the fuselage, wings, and horizontal stabilizer became a speed brake that slowed the Hun from 400 knots to 150 knots in seconds. It was as if a manhole cover were sailing through the air and then suddenly flipped 90 degrees. As an instructor at the Fighter Weapons School (FWS) at Nellis AFB, he fought students, cadre pilots, Marine and Navy pilots, and pilots from a dozen countries, who were attending the FWS as part of the Mutual Defense Assistance Pact.īoyd was famous for a maneuver he called "flat-plating the bird." He would be in the defensive position with a challenger tight on his tail, both pulling heavy Gs, when he would suddenly pull the stick full aft, brace his elbows on either side of the cockpit, so the stick would not move laterally, and stomp the rudder. Like any gunslinger with a name and a reputation, he was called out many times. ![]() His fame came on the wings of the quirky and treacherous F-100 the infamous "Hun." Boyd was known throughout the Air Force as "Forty-Second Boyd," because he had a standing offer to all pilots that if they could defeat them in simulated air-to-air combat in under 40 seconds, he would pay them $40. (Boyd Family Photo)ĭuring the 1950s, John Boyd dominated fighter aviation in the U.S. After basic flying instruction in Mississippi, he trained in jets at Williams AFB, then combat training in the F-86 at Nellis AFB, before being sent to Korea. John Boyd in 1952, after winning his wings as an Air Force pilot. The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of Air Warfare John Boyd - USAF, The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of Air Warfare
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