Originally posted by TequilaChaser
how so? explain please
An Immelmann is the maneuver which brings you to your corner turning speed the fastest without you having to throttle back. Since you don't throttle back, rather slowing down by trading speed for altitude, you do not lose as much energy as, say, a flat turn. In a flat turn, of course, you're just pulling gees and blowing energy, gaining only angle. In an Immelmann, you pull gees and blow some energy, yes, but you keep more of your energy than you do in a flat turn because you're trading a lot of that speed for altitude.
A combat turn is half-way between an Immelmann and a flat turn. It's half vertical, half horizontal. Therefore, it saves more energy than a flat turn, but isn't quite as energy-efficient as an Immelmann. It can spare you the prospect of going head-on at the second merge, but since it is slightly less energy-efficient than an Immelmann, the flier who Immelmanns will always get a small opportunity to fire at the flier who does a combat turn. As I said, I try to dodge that and have moderate success at dodging that one shot. If I do dodge it, he is almost certainly mine, for he has blown all of his energy for that one shot and is about to stall.
I would post tracks for demonstration and critque, but my webspace has been down for several days now.
