I'm only telling you what I heard. It had to do with your own guys not knowing if you were turning away or turning toward you, thus risking a mid air collision.
I'm only telling you what I heard. It had to do with your own guys not knowing if you were turning away or turning toward you, thus risking a mid air collision.
I can't find the article but it said the main reason was to temporarily confuse enemy ground forces who have AA resources, momentarily confusing them whether the aircraft is rolling in or breaking off. A false canopy isn't very useful when most air to air attacks are beyond visual. I'll see if I can locate the article.
Shortly after the RCAF started using the cockpit underside stencil I read a source that explained that the "technique" came with a $$$$ "royalty/licensing fee" ... which seemed a bit cheeky until I played it out un my head .... but my point is that the RCAF isn't exactly operating with deep pockets so I assume that their brass sees measurable value in this ... but I agree that it's not a useful dogfight ruse in an age of BVR combat .....
I deal with combat aircraft near daily. I have seen these fake cockpits on Canadian F-18's and on US A-10's. I can say without reservation that the use of this paint has caused me, many times, to have to double take or initially incorrectly asses aircraft motion.