what would dogfights be like now if jets and missiles had not been invented

[guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by Panzergranate

It was pointed out, on TV, that a modern jet fighter would find it impossible to win a dogfight with a WW2 fighter as air-to-air missiles wouldn't recognise it as a valid target and the tighter turning circles of WW2 fighters would factor against jets. Also the modern jet's stalling speeds just happen to be in the optimum dogfighting speeds of WW2 fighters. Also jet are unarmoured and so are more vulnerable to terminal damage from machine guns and cannon fire than something like a well armoured P-47, etc. A machine gun bullet or cannon shell entering a jet engine will see it tear apart.

lulwhat?

Okay , first even if what you said was true about air to air missles not being able to shoot down prop planes (which it most definately is NOT), lets look at the reality.

A p51 (the benchmark of gunfighting propeller driven aircraft) would have a near impossible chance of even leading on a modern jet aircraft. This is for 2 reasons.

1. At sea level the f16 will travel at a speed of mach 1.6 (915mph compared to the p51's 437mph) This is DOUBLE the speed of the p51 without its afterburners. At altitude , the f16 will hit a whopping 1500 mph. This is nearly 4x the speed of the p51. A p51 would not ever hit a f16.

and

2. This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M61_Vulcan