Tiger Check

Automating the US Air Force Fighter Pilot in Air-to-Air Combat, 1950–1980

Steven A. Fino (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

448 Seiten

2017
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4214-2327-2 (ISBN)

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Spurred by their commanders during the Korean War to be "tigers," aggressive and tenacious American fighter pilots charged headlong into packs of fireball-spewing enemy MiGs, relying on their keen eyesight, piloting finesse, and steady trigger fingers to achieve victory. But by the 1980s, American fighter pilots vanquished their foes by focusing on a four-inch-square cockpit display, manipulating electromagnetic waves, and launching rocket-propelled guided missiles from miles away. In this new era of automated, long-range air combat, can fighter pilots still be considered tigers? Aimed at scholars of technology and airpower aficionados alike, Steven A. Fino's Tiger Check offers a detailed study of air-to-air combat focusing on three of the US Air Force's most famed aircraft: the F-86E Sabre, the F-4C Phantom II, and the F-15A Eagle. Fino argues that increasing fire control automation altered what fighter pilots actually did during air-to-air combat.
Drawing on an array of sources, as well as his own decade of experience as an F-15C fighter pilot, Fino unpacks not just the technological black box of fighter fire control equipment, but also fighter pilots' attitudes toward their profession and their evolving aircraft. He describes how pilots grappled with the new technologies, acutely aware that the very systems that promised to simplify their jobs while increasing their lethality in the air also threatened to rob them of the quintessential-albeit mythic-fighter pilot experience. Finally, Fino explains that these new systems often required new, unique skills that took time for the pilots to identify and then develop. Eschewing the typical "great machine" or "great pilot" perspectives that dominate aviation historiography, Tiger Check provides a richer perspective on humans and machines working and evolving together in the air. The book illuminates the complex interactions between human and machine that accompany advancing automation in the workplace.

Steven A. Fino is a US Air Force command pilot and a graduate of the Air Force's Weapons School. He is currently assigned to the Pentagon.

Acknowledgments
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. The Myth of the Fighter Pilot
Crafting the Mythical Ace
Revisiting the History
Ritualizing the Myth
War's Next Test
Conclusion
3. Sabres over Korea
A New Solution to an Old Gunnery Problem
Thrust into War
Capturing Glory
Using the New Gunsights
Conclusion
4. Phantoms over Vietnam
A New Approach to the Gunnery Problem
Thrust into War, Again
Tension in the Air
Who Gets the Credit?
Conclusion
5. Eagles over Nellis
A Pure Air-to-Air Fighter
Trial by Test
"Sorting" Things Out
Conclusion
6. Conclusion
The Irony of the Fighter Pilot
A Lesson for Future Automation
Knights or Scientists?
Notes
Works Cited
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	30.01.2018
Zusatzinfo	30 Line drawings, black and white; 45 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	Baltimore, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 235 mm
Gewicht	748 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
	Naturwissenschaften
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
	Technik
ISBN-10	1-4214-2327-8 / 1421423278
ISBN-13	978-1-4214-2327-2 / 9781421423272
Zustand	Neuware