Sharp turn

[Fuza 0]

How do I make a sharp turn?  Almost like a U turn without losing altitude?  I saw that in Dogfight on History channel on the other day

[Slartibartfast 153]

Okay I am not too familiar with First Eagles... but you need to make sure you have plenty of speed and use your rudder in the turn... be aware some aircraft are not powerful enough or manouverable enough to do this... If I remember rightly (not at home so cannot test) in a left turn you need to use opposite rudder to keep the nose up. You will bleed speed no matter if your flying a WW1 jet or a current jet fighter... its all in the Aerodynamics...

[Fuza 0]

What I saw was that the folker flew straight pass its enemies and suddenly slowed down and then made a 'almost' u-turn so it would face its enemies with its nose pointing at them.

 

I tried using the rudder but still i have to pull back on my stick to make the turn and I lost some altitude...

 

 

 

By the way, do you know if it is possible to have different paint scheme for each plane in the same flight group?

 

 

Edited November 12, 2010 by Fuza

[Slartibartfast 153]

What I saw was that the folker flew straight pass its enemies and suddenly slowed down and then made a 'almost' u-turn so it would face its enemies with its nose pointing at them.

 

I tried using the rudder but still i have to pull back on my stick to make the turn and I lost some altitude...

 

 

 

By the way, do you know if it is possible to have different paint scheme for each plane in the same flight group?

Okay with the Dogfight series I have seen some questionable flight physics... some of them are extremely questionable...

 

As to the paint schemes it can be done... you need to make sure you have the paint schemes download... then its a select which ever one you require for your number 2 3 4 etc... but this would only apply to your squadron... It's been awhile since I flew First Eagles though... hope this helps

[Grinseed 19]

How do I make a sharp turn? Almost like a U turn without losing altitude? I saw that in Dogfight on History channel on the other day

 

In some pilot memoirs I've read, those pilots who fought Fokker Dr1s were convinced this aircraft could turn on a dime 180* in mid-air without loss of altitude. I am guessing that under the stress of combat, this is only what the pilots thought they were seeing. More likely is that the Dr1 was simply the most manouevreable aircraft in the war, or any war for that matter and accounts for Voss's ability to hole each of the six RFC56 SE5s he encountered in his last battle in a Dr1.

 

Max Immelmann was credited for the Immelmann Turn, though it is now believed he was only one of many who adapted the tactic. The name has been adopted over time to similar moves.

The original Immelmann turn involved an attacking dive on the enemy followed by a near vertical climb to almost stalling point at which point full rudder was applied to swing the aircraft nose downward followed by another attacking dive. This manouevre was performed in Eindekkers early in the war. It was the quickest way to reverse direction and conferred the advantage of gained altitude as well. It lost usefulness in later years because of the increased hazard of being caught in a vertical stall in the company of increased numbers of enemy aircraft organised in flights and squadrons.

 

My two cents worth,

Grinseed

Edited November 12, 2010 by Grinseed

[+malibu43 142]

I'll take a look at the Dogfights episodes on youtube to see if I can find what you're talking about. I remember watching that one, and I'm pretty sure either:

 

1) the guys doing the computer recreations misunderstood what was described

2) the guys doing the computer recreations exhagerated what was described

3) like somone else said, the guys that the original story came from exhagerated what they saw/did

 

Either way, what they showed was not possible/realistic. That is the case with a lot of what they showed on that show. The tactics and maneuvers were described well, but the computer scenes usually showed planes doing things too quickly and in much less space than would really be requied.

[+malibu43 142]

Are you talking about what they start to show/discuss at ~ 6:30 into this episode?

 

http://www.youtube.c...1&v=Wg8Wa1fMfQE

 

I'm pretty sure that was greatly exhagerated. I can't say for sure, since I've never flown a Foker. But I'm pretty sure what you see there is not physically possible. You can't bring the nose around like that and then accelerate forward and continue to maintain control. If for some reason you could get the nose of the plane around that fast, the aircraft would be stalled and you'd have to recover from the stall - not bank ninety degrees and accelerate onto the tail of your attacker!

Edited November 12, 2010 by malibu43

[Spad13 0]

Are you talking about what they start to show/discuss at ~ 6:30 into this episode?

 

http://www.youtube.c...1&v=Wg8Wa1fMfQE

 

I'm pretty sure that was greatly exhagerated. I can't say for sure, since I've never flown a Foker. But I'm pretty sure what you see there is not physically possible. You can't bring the nose around like that and then accelerate forward and continue to maintain control. If for some reason you could get the nose of the plane around that fast, the aircraft would be stalled and you'd have to recover from the stall - not bank ninety degrees and accelerate onto the tail of your attacker!

 

I thought so, too, until I read in a book McCudden's take on Voss's maneuver:

 

"Voss turned in what a startled McCudden referred to as a "sort of flat half-spin".

 

Which I think is what DOGFIGHTS illustrates. Don't get me wrong- a number of folks on the AERODROME forum have questioned the DOGFIGHT's realism.

 

Flat half-spin