Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
That all looks like part of Bob Hoover’s old airshow routine. The one he flew in the Rockwell Shrike.
And shut off one, and then the other, engine partway through. (It’s missing his positive-g roll, where he’d pour iced tea from a pitcher into a glass, without spilling any.)
I’d rather not be the guy in the back seat, thankyouverymuch.
I’ve been told that properly done the Split-S keeps a consistent 1G on the airframe. What are the G forces like for the others, given most are entering the vertical and hence have an added component?
No need to get into ACM mode, I’m more curious as to how stressful these are to the pilot and airframe.
– Max
Under the catagory of the Lex Babes Continuing Military Education Initive, I respectifully submit the following:
I recall reading in the dark dim way back ( corrections solicited) that the Immelman maneuver was named in honor of a WWI German ace of the same name. It was thought at the time that such a maneuver would tear the wings off a plane…not a desirable occurance…it seems ole ( Fritz?) Immelman, in a desperate attempt to avoid what he thought was certain death at the hands of an allied aircraft said … hey what the f**k …( my words) it can’t get any worse… successfully made the maneuver and lived to tell about it…
such bits are the bits of obscure knowledge I willingly share in furtherance of the goals of the Initive. Best
Lex,
You could have used a Tomcat in the picture and omitted the part about diminishing airspeed and turn radiiiii.
Or you could have used a Hummer and only put in the first half of the first loop.
Nose
Lex, I was only joking when I asked for a picture.
Well, actually, I wanted the picture but just didn’t think it was something you could/would do. So, thank you, sir. It’s quite the service you provide here, especially since as I was looking at the picture, I briefly wondered where the name Immelman came from … and then received an answer to my unasked question in the comments.
So, thanks again for the picture. That actually makes a lot more sense. I guess I must be a visual learner, after all. Tell me, do you guys take any pleasure in doing in those poor back sleat slobs you drag along for the ride? Let me clarify that, I mean when you take some member of the press/public along for a free ride. And just how much (as in length of time) training does it take to be able to handle the g forces without losing consciousness? Just one more. On average, does it take long as you’re training to get past the air sickness?
Okay, I’m done for now. I believe that I mentioned before that I really shouldn’t be encouraged…
Maybe for flight jockeys like you Lex Lugs, but for this particular Lex Babe – I was having a hard time acclimating to dry land after a week cruising in 9-15 foot seas (no comments from the peanut gallery, that’s alot for this landlubber)…that now seems like such a trivial detail having followed the little plane from one move to the next.
The boat is no longer moving, but my stomach is. Yet…it’s cool.
Note. Not shown is the SuperLex barrel roll with a half twist followed by an outside loop. Gains instant advantage over any opponent. That is in a very special Tac Man suppliment that is taken out of the safe only after starting the cruise. This combat move was inspired after watching hours of professional wrestling.
Looks like fun. I’ve ridden through all but the 1/2 Cuban 8, but only one at a time, in a Waco biplane. How long does it take to execute? (a/c dependent, I suppose).
What constitutes a passing grade? Exit at entry altitude on a 180 degree heading change?
Mike
Zounds…a nascent snark fired across my bow from The Great White North …not to awfully bad… for a first attempt. Best
The Immelman is named after Max Immelman, World War I Ace and recepient of the “Pour l’merite”, also known as the Blue Max. Immelman, and and his contemporary Oswald Boelcke, another Ace and Blue Max recepient, developed most of the basic air combat moves that are still taught. Boelcke wrote “Boelcke Ditka” which was the basic air combat instruction and was called a hero by Manfred von Richtofen.
Marine6, I wrote my comment # 3 above ( and solicited corrections) from memory at 4.05 EST ( age onset insomina and all)…. I just Wikied old Max and quick look had no mention of the story I related…I know I read about it or something very similar…do you , as the resident Max Immelman scholar, have any thoughts on the varacity of the story ? Best
Oh gosh. It’s even more stomach churning when I see it sketched out. Think I’ll just stick with the surly bonds of earth.
Oh, and the Continuing Military Education, courtesy of Lex and a host of commenters, is much appreciated.
Nose:
Floating around somewhere in Hampton Roads is an 8mm clip of an E-2A or B (waaay) back in the day making a pass on the ship and puling up to an aileron roll…successfully. periodically shows up for the Hawkeye Ball.
- SJS
Max, I don’t know if you’ve heard good gouge on the 1-g split “s” – once the nose breaks 90 degrees nose low, you’re going to have to put some g on the airframe or else concede to fying it into the ground at 1-g.
The g-loading varies in these – a four g pull up typically, easing to a couple of g’s over the top. “God’s g” contibutes one g to your two or three g pull on the backside and four g’s to recover again is probably usual.
In dynamic maneuvering the g loading will vary widely as a function of total energy (kinetic and potential) and positional advantage or disadvantage.
Nose:
1) pfft!
2) if I used a Tom I’d have demonstrate teh flat spin, heading out to sea, and I’ll be derned if I know quite how to do that.
Sounds good.
A friend of mine has apparently arranged some eastern bloc type with a Yak to be giving rides during a skydive festival, apparently the plan is a series of aerobatics followed by him inverting and the passenger opening the canopy and hopping out.
I must remember to ask if he can do this and if so will report back with an amateurs review.
those maneuvers look quite fun in jet aircraft. unfortunately my paying passengers would be rather disappointed.
Lex ~ You’re killing me.
Lex, I woulda thought you to be more in line with flying one of the Fry’s Patriots L-39 flight demonstration jets. What? They haven’t come a-calling yet? Saw them at Miramar…pretty cool!
Yay for pictures! I have always liked aircraft and flying, but was not physically qualified to be employed by Uncle to drive one of his craft.
Thanks again, Lex.
How to do the flat spin, heading out to sea? I don’t know all the details, but I understand that it involves a bunch of H’wood writers, a pair of Ray Bans and a VAW-110 RAG patch (’cause it’s way cooler than the Tomkitty ones).
SJS – wish I’da seen that clip – never showed up in the Far East when I was out there. On second thought, maybe not – woulda given some of the drivers a bright idea for the next all-JO flight. We all know how those went…5 JO’s in one plane equals too many ‘good” ideas.
Brian
Don’t squirrel cage me bro!
Lex,
Back in the day, about the time you were a’borning, the A4 jocks could really do a good half cuban eight. They were called “idiot loops” and were the primary means to deliver max mega tonnage on the hated commie hordes. It had to do with seperation from the really big booms. “Greenhouse, Greenhouse, man your Greenhouse battle stations..”
Lex,
Back in the day, just before you were a’borning, A4 jocks could do a really good half cuban eight. We called them “idiot loops”, they were the primary delivery maneuvers ( loft ) for putting max mega tonnage on the Godless commie hordes. We all figured they were one way trips so you might as well put the weapon on the target. I still tingle when I hear the term “Greenhouse” mentioned.
When I was in primary flight training, my instructor really drilled the Split-S, in a C-172!
The flight school did not know about – or sanction it, but it was lots o’ fun. But then, he also wanted to know why the forbidding of slips(Cross-controlled) in a C-172 with the flaps hung-out. I did it with him looking out the back and he started yelling; “Slow Down! Stop it!” Evidently the tail was wagging pretty bad, and he got a little apprehensive. Interesting times.
Learning to fly(when I still had a medical), was pretty cool. I still miss my helicopter(H-269).
Cheers!
Chris
Thanx, Lex, my verbal-to-visual thinkin’ translation skills tend to fade a bit, if I’ve been medicating myself.
My previous attempted comment on this post did not appear. I’ll say again, Thanx, Lex, for the visual aids for those of us whose verbal-to-visual-thinking translation skills are somewhat obnubilated by consumption of malt beverages.
Oh, Bill C, there was a time, in the late fifties and early sixties, I believe, when AD pilots were trained to fly the nuke mission, all by themselves, at low altitude with the motor leaned out to the max. There was an article about it in the online Smithsonian magazine a year or three ago, if I recall correctly.
Justthisguy,
Right you are. The spads had a laydown weapon, the mk 105 “Hotpoint”. It was parachute retarded with a spike in the front to dig into a runway. It had a 60 and 120 second thermal fuse. They had to use this type weapon because they simply couldn’t get the seperation distance with a loft maneuver. China Lake developed a rocket assisted weapon for them to loft but they never could get the burn rates right to insure any kind of ball park accuracy.
Snake,
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the story about Immelman that you mention. But it has been some time since I did any reading on that era and I’m anything but an “expert.” (After all, isn’t an “expert” anyone who is more than 50 miles away from home and drawing per diem?)
M-6, Many thank for the response… I read a lot as a kid about WWI & WWII flying aces…I know that story is out there I’ll keep digging…just a friendly snark re the ” expert” tag… agree totally about the flippen “per diem experts”. Best