AI/FM behavior...er...erratic...???

[Al Schlageter]

TomcatViP

Corkscrew maneuver

How to:

1. The pilot (originally cruising at 200-225 mph) opens his throttle and banks at 45 degrees to make a diving turn to port (because the enemy aircraft is on the port reverse the maneuver if enemy is on starboard.); descending through 1,000 ft in six seconds, the bomber reaches a speed of nearly 300 mph. After the 1,000 ft descent, the pilot pulls the aircraft into a climb, still turning to port.

3. He reverse the turn, halfway through the climb which has caused his speed to fall sharply, possibly forcing the attacking night fighter to overshoot.

4. Regaining his original altitude, with speed down to 185 mph and still in the starboard turn, the pilot pushes the aircraft down into another dive.

5. Picking up speed in the dive, he descends through 500 ft before reversing the direction of the turn.

6. If the fighter is still on his tail, he stand by to repeat the maneuver. The physical effort required by the pilot has been compared with that of an oarsman pulling hard in a boat race.

http://www.429sqn.ca/

[TomcatViP]

45 deg of bank for a pull up .. That's for sure a lot of G for a bomber (and strains for the pilot)... At night it would hve been easy to be disoriented with the speed dangerously high.

Seems you've got a variant here. Nice to hve a related pic.

But is that 100lb or not ? That is the question

~S!

[badfinger]

I remember reading about one of the ace German night fighter pilots shooting down a bomber while flying in formation while the bomber was doing the corkscrew. He was underneath the bomber and shot him down using the Jazz music cannon while they were both in a +90 degree bank. So, he was shooting down!

binky9

[Biggs [CV]]

Seems like the 109 and 110 AI is a bit off. When I get behind them they roll and dive like madmen. They do this at a rate that no real pilot could regain control of their aircraft.