On Oct 4, 9:44*pm, Andrew Chaplin
wrote:
Typhoon502 wrote in news:66b90417-2935-4178-97a4-

A2A performance provides a good overall picture of the airframe's
speed and agility, which definitely matters in overall operational
use. One other thing about Cobras...they are HARD to spot at range if
they're heading toward or away from you and from the side perspective
at a distance, they're very Hueyish. Apaches are overall easier to ID.

As a long time a/c recce wienie, I think there is very little difficulty
in identifying a Cobra side-on. As you say, it's a challenge from the
front--never worried about it from behind.

You might think not but try spotting one from a couple of miles
puttering along through the haze over Topsail Island near MCAS New
River after you've seen enough Hueys to bore you to tears. I'm a
spotter myself, but I just about squinted my eyes out trying to
resolve the shape. Finally had one overfly our position on the beach
on the next-to-last day there; I'd seen probably a few dozen CH-53s,
some Ospreys, and a scattering of Hueys, but that one Cobra made my
day.