Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

by Robert Coram

Air Force leaders were stunned to discover that big, expensive, complex F-4s and F-105s were the wrong aircraft for that war. Not only that, but in a development predicted by Boyd and ignored by Air Force tacticians, the vaunted missiles that were to have ended the era of the gunfighter had proven highly unreliable. A pilot was lucky to get one hit out of every ten missiles launched. The Air Force had long advocated that maneuverability be built into the missile rather than the airplane, and now it suffered the consequences. If a gun-firing enemy is on his six, a fighter pilot can disengage and go for separation. He can dive and outrun the enemy. But a jet can’t outrun a missile. Vietnam proved that a pilot has to be able to turn and burn in order to defeat a missile chasing him across the heavens. In fact, missiles meant that fighter aircraft should be more maneuverable than in the past.