HAMMERHEAD

[MANDOBLE]

How to do it?
My "hammers" are way slow... ...I spend 4 or 5 seconds dropping my noose while flying 190.
During my WB years I was able to hammer easily, noose dropping in one or two secs, but here, in AH, the effect is way different ...

[Ripsnort]

The hammar heads on the 190's in AH seem to 'wallow' abit.  My method is, a ton of speed prior to climbing, then, at about 100 mph, I kick the rudder over to  the left,(at this time, speed goes to almost 0 when rudder is applied) apply small amounts of left aileron until the nose starts to break a 90 degree plane, then apply a small amount of back pressure on elevators while releasing the rudders to neutral.  And yes, it takes about 4-5 seconds to complete the task.  Also, I find it easier (obviously) to perform this in the 190 with only 2 20mm loaded.

[This message has been edited by Ripsnort (edited 05-09-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Ripsnort (edited 05-09-2000).]

[Kieren]

Likewise, I cannot perform it any faster. Same as Rip describes above.

[MANDOBLE]

Perhaps this is a subjetive feeling, but most of the times I find myself "driving" the nose down. I supposed in a hammer the nose goes down by itself once you forced the stall and left yaw.

[Kieren]

I don't have aerobatic experience, so I can only guess, but... the nose does not drop as sharply as I think it should with zero airspeed and engine idle. I would think that heavy engine would want to be pointed down... going to have to watch my dials more closely, though. Could be that I'm falling and don't "feel" it through my computer screen. Looking for visual clues outside the plane may not tell the whole story...

[Ripsnort]

 

Originally posted by MANDOBLE:
Perhaps this is a subjetive feeling, but most of the times I find myself "driving" the nose down. .

Yep, me too, and as Kieren said.  The only experience I have is small aircraft stalls, no hammar heads or anything like that.

[tshred]

I use the same techniques, about 80 kick rudder over and hold rudder in till it comes around, which seems like forever! I agree, all though I've never done it in real life either, but you would think that the 'heavy' nose would cause it to pivot around faster than it does. I fly the 38 and use this manuever quite a bit in the MA successfully, even tho it might not be as 'pretty' as it should  . One of these day I'm gonna map one of my engines to a button and see if shutting one down helps it any.

ts

[Lephturn]

Cutting power in the F4U-1D helps me get the nose around.  If I don't, the "ensign eliminator" will whip me around like frog in a blender.    If you guys are trying to do crisp hammerheads, try chopping throttle or even cutting the engine at the top and see if that helps.  It will depend on the plane whether it's a good move or not.

------------------
Lephturn - Chief Trainer
A member of The Flying Pigs
Visit Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH news, resources, and training data.
 http://users.andara.com/~sconrad/
 

"MY P-47 is a pretty good ship
And she took a round coming 'cross the Channel last trip
I was thinking 'bout my baby and lettin' her rip
Always got me through so far
Well they can ship me all over this great big world
But I'll never find nothing like my North End girl
I'm taking her home with me one day, sir
Soon as we win this war"
 - Steve Earl

[This message has been edited by Lephturn (edited 05-10-2000).]

[Kieren]

Yeah, Leph, tried it every which way. Could be I just haven't practiced enough.  

[ygsmilo]

Dang you Lephturn,,,coffee spew on my desk, strange looks from fellow employees----"Frog in a Blender"

------------------
Milo

"A MiG on your 6 is better than no MiG at all"

II/JG2 "Richthofen"

[Ripsnort]

Cutting the throttle works excellent on the 109 series, but the 190 it doesn't do nothing except get you into a flat spin.

[air_spro]

tshred : Have you read about the "stomp" in Martin Cadin's book "The Last Dogfight" ?

[tshred]

No, can't say that I have air  . Only have one WWII book. Can't afford to buy any either at moment. Time for the yearly annual inspection and to get the 'ol 172 on floats   Oh, and need a medical and bi-ennial flight revue this year. I'll add it that book to my list, and get it next winter. Maybe you could post an excerpt?

ts

btw, cutting power in the P38 doesn't help any, also letting the airspeed drop to zero or near also is no help. Personally, I think something isn't modeled quite right, and the a/c should 'come around' better than it does, but I really don't know. If I hold the rudder in until it is going straight down again, it works, but you let off the rudder any, you end up going the direction you are pointed, which doesn't seem quite right as the a/c shouldn't be 'flying' quite yet and gravity should still be the dominant force at work. Also when you let off the rudder to soon, and get back into it, the a/c seems to bounce around like it is a rubber band! Strange. Try it and work the rudder on and off, seems to snap back when you let off the rudder, which like I said, seems unatural, and I think gravity should be pulling the nose around at that point. It seems like you have to 'fly' the aircraft around the top, instead of falling out of the sky as it should once you've changed direction.

[funked]

If you've ever seen a WW2 fighter do one of these at an airshow, it does take a few seconds.

Also the planes here lose control authority (like they should) below a certain speed, so you can't "assist" quite as much as in WB.

Because you can't always counteract the engine torque, chopping the throttle helps in some planes.

[MANDOBLE]

 

Originally posted by funked:
... so you can't "assist" quite as much as in WB.

That's the key. In WB I dont need to "assist" the plane to drop the nose, In fact, you can do a perfect hammer without touching the controls once stalled. But here, once stalled in vertical, I have rudder authority (cant understand why) and I need to drive the noose all the way down with a lot of rudder and stick input.

As an example: I start a vertical climb with 190, at 100 mph I turn off the engine and maintain the vertical with joy and rudder... Once the speed drops to 10-20 mph I leave the  controls. What is supposed to be the aircraft reaction? IMO, at 10-20 mph in vertical, the 190 is just like a real hammer. If we launch a hammer in vertical, once speed is 0 it turns head down and go directly towar your head (dont try this without a helmet).