Originally posted by goober69
so do you mean to correct by ruddering the nose up or down?
if im in a left turn do i raise the nose with rudder or lower it?
if you correct with alerion you roll back to the right a few degrees, right?
Rudder does not really raise the nose. It induced a yawing roll. So, if you are in a left hand turn, cranking it in real tight and the inside wing stalls, the wing then drops. You can correct with a nudge of right rudder and/or apply some right aileron. You may also have to relax a bit of back pressure on the elevators too.
When you do any of the above, you roll out of the left-hand bank and increase the turn radius. Adding rudder adds drag. Adding drag moves the whole aircraft closer to a genuine stall.
Some guys use top rudder the whole time they are turning, trying to offset or prevent the inside wing from stalling. What this does is reduce bank angle and add drag. Thus, both turn rate and radius suffer.
The secret of getting the smallest turning circle out of a fighter is being able to sense or feel when you have flown as deep into a stall as possible, just short of stalling the inside wing. Then, have the skill to hold it there for as long as needed. A highly skilled pilot can milk the stall, letting air flow across the inside wing burble, but not quite stall. Then relax back pressure a hair, smooth out the airflow and repeat it over and over. If you can do that with precision, no one will ever out-turn you in the same aircraft. They may match you (unlikely), but not out-turn you.
To get to that level, you must be completely familiar with that aircraft. Jumping into a plane you have little practice in means that you will not immediately recognize the limits and you will find that you will be dipping wings and not getting the tightest turn radius. It may take a few circles to get zeroed in on the limits... You could be dead by then too.
All of the above apply mostly to flat turning contests on the deck, called a lufbery circle after a WWI fighter pilot who supposedly invented the tactic. Lufbery circles were often used by a squadron of fighters to deny the enemy the ability to get on one plane's tail. To do so means the next friendly fighter is on enemy's tail. It is usually a totally defensive maneuver. However, if the other guy bites and pulls into the circle, a pilot skilled at max rate, minimum radius turning will gain the advantage, either coming around for the eventual shot, or forcing the other guy to break out and try to reposition. If he waits too long to do the latter, he's likely to die.
My regards,
Widewing
