Comments on: A Study in Contrasts

By: Biff

Biff — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:33:57 +0000

Lex,

Too funny!

By: MaxDamage

MaxDamage — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:28:16 +0000

That explains something. I’d never really thought about it before, but in all those World War 2 movies and newsreels, when fighters call tally ho and turn to engage the enemy, they almost always bank and climb rather than just fall away from the formation.

It’s not just to look cool, it’s to trade speed for altitude and execute the turn while garnering potential energy rather than losing it in a tight, flat turn where you’d bleed it off in G-forces.

Kind of like a skateboarder on the quarter-pipe ramp, go up in a light turn, increase as your speed slows, straighten it out as you come back down.

Once on a new bearing, the aircraft trades altitude for speed and you’re back in business with most of the energy you had before you executed the turn.

That actually makes a lot more sense now.

I happened to score the complete set of Black Sheep Squadron a couple of days ago at a used CD/DVD store in town. Tomorrow, then the wife goes to her mother’s with the kid and they watch Dancing With The Stars (or, as I like to term it when I get to stay home, Scotch and Dorito’s night), I think I’m going to pay more attention to the dogfight sequences. Who knows, with the real Boyington as a technical advisor maybe they got some of it right.

Wouldn’t count on it, but any evening spent in front of a screen full of F4U Corsairs, some nice single malt, and salty snacks? Nothing like it in the free world.

– Max

By: F4Jock

F4Jock — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:32:46 +0000

Hey Lex, do you allow your “student” do a A “Vertical Reversement” is simply a top rudder stall from a tight turn, while doing a tight left turn add right rudder and accelerate the turn until it stalls, stop the resulting snap roll in the opposite turn and you’ve performed a “Vertical Reversement”. It’s really a half Snap Roll from steep bank to the opposing steep bank. My Dad showed me this as a secret WWII maunver to get a “bad guy” off your tail. Don’t know if the Varga is stressed enough to do this. You might need a more stout airframe to take it. My 2 cents! How about DACT!

By: lex

lex — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:44:28 +0000

Nope, I get paid the same slave wages whether they come as singles or pairs.

But it’s better than paying to fly

By: F4Jock

F4Jock — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:38:46 +0000

I see Barnstoming Adventures has “Buy a dogfight for 2 – save $75!” deal. Does that cut into your personal Guiness Fund?

By: Sgt. B.

Sgt. B. — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:59:36 +0000

I’ve got to admit to rooting for a hometown hero on this one, as CdA (abbreviated because some of us bumpkins can’t wrap our minds around the correct spelling of the place) is a stone’s throw from my own hometown (Lex, you’d go full burner and pass over my town while the folks on Lake CdA were still looking up figuring out what just went by overhead, we’re that close!)
Funny thing about the folks in yonder hill country – sweet as you please, been through extraordinary challenges with seeming Ultimate Grace – gotta look hard, lest you miss the obstacle covered in fang marks, dead at the side of the road.
In the space between where other folks are still trying to figure out upon which end of the elephant to commence gnawing, folks like your Idaho-based Valkyrie have devoured half of the pachyderm, and wrapped up the other half for tomorrow’s soup!
Glad that you could facilitate for her what had to be a truly liberating experience!
(Excellent explanation of flight dynamics, by the way! )