As can be seen in the graphic above a very simple yet effective method of locating enemy planes in the sky was developed and used by allied aircrews. This system became a workable solution to the old method of hand signals and wing wig-wags when the use of inter-plane radio communication became a widespread, although not completely reliable, part of all allied aircraft. While the Allies were perfecting this type of air-to-air and air-to-ground communication the Japanese were not as quick to see the advantage. They not only retained the hand signals but due to a lack of reliable radios were actually known to remove their radios in order to lighten their airplanes. A mistake that proved fatal. The best position to attack a plane was from 6 o'clock astern with a deflection no greater than 20 degrees. What does "a deflection no greater than 20 degrees" mean? If you look at the graphic above and assume that 6 o'clock astern equals zero degrees then a 20 degree deflection would be 20 degrees from that point or from 5 to 7 o'clock. The same applied to a frontal attack (11 to 1 o'clock) but since the aircraft were approaching each other at high speed the optimal time to fire was very short. Once the angle of deflection went beyond 20 degrees a number of factors came into play and the pilot had to judge his speed, the speed and direction of the enemy and make appropriate adjustments to his angle of attack before firing. For instance if he were attacking from the 9 o'clock position it would be necessary to "lead" the enemy aircraft in order to hit it. In other words he wouldn't shoot directly at the airplane because by the time the bullets got there the airplane would have flown ahead of that point. He would fire at a point in front of the enemy airplane so that by the time the bullets got there the enemy plane would also have reached that point. Combine this with factors such as whether he is above or below the enemy airplane, approaching from in front or behind and whether the enemy is taking evasive action and you begin to understand some of the difficulties in shooting down a warplane. Another factor that came into play was something called the "cone of fire". All fighters with machine guns in the wings had those guns aligned so that when they fired all the trajectories would converge at a point about 200-300 yards away. At that point would be the highest concentration of bullets. Beyond that the bullets started to diverge and lose effectiveness. In addition since the wings were mounted below the center-line of the airplane it was necessary to "pull the nose through the enemy plane" when firing thereby losing sight of the target as he fired. He then had to drop the nose in order to reaquire the target and see if any damage had been done. The one plane that was different was the P-38 Lightning. All the machine guns were mounted close together in the nose and therefore its cone of fire was fully concentrated all the way out. Taking all this into consideration and you can see that it was incredibly difficult to shoot down another warplane. That's what makes the accomplishments of the aces so remarkable.

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