Quote
Are there any former F3 pilots out there?
Sadly, yes...1500 miserable hours. Great people and loads of fun times, but like flying the Admiral's Barge.
And the answer to your other question is also: yes, we did it all the time. Even though the platform was decidedly useless at it, that didn't mean that we didn't need to practise ACM/BFM - even if only as a means of surviving a "merge" or demonstrating to youngsters why not to turn...
Technique with 5,000ft minimum training height: try to maintain energy for the first turn (to run away at the first opportunity), then give up and put (very heavy) stick in lap and wait until RHWR aerial fell off (which happened occasionally), unless you turned the SPILS off for marginal performance increase while running the risk of much more exciting stuff happening. And, yes, as pointed out earlier, you could also play with the flaps.
No, it wasn't flying as slow as you thought it was, but given that they were all similar types, relative performance wouldn't have been apparent. I've watched (from a fourth-generation type) fifth-generation aircraft conducting BFM trials at 25,000ft+. Now that
was slow! But if you want a rough illustration of the disparity in performance between something that can turn (F-16) v something that can't (F-4), type "F-4 v F-16 turn circle" into Google and check out the image.
And the mere fact that they looked so slow to you (and anyone else out there sneaking around the outside of the fight) explains why Dominator2's comment about "an early grave" and operating it at 2' 6" applies.
Of course, stick a helmet-mounted sight on it with sexy off-boresight weapons and things change, but that's true for all platforms.