Understand, I'm not complaining...I've learned (the hard way, by losing a wing or a tail) to use an aircraft within the envelope, but the blackout/red-out thing almost completely negates the turning abilities of the aircraft altogether.
G-LOC (G-induced Loss Of Consciousness) in older fighters, (loss of blood flow to the brain) was gradual, and symptoms like tunnel vision
could be relied on as warnings. G-LOCs between 6 and 9 g are characterized by temporary loss of colour vision, tunnel vision, or an inability to interpret verbal commands. Sustained high-G turns could result if blackout if the warning signs were not heeded. Today's aerobatic pilots, flying Sukhois, CAPs, etc., typically pull 8-10Gs in extreme maneuvers, which are far more aggressive than WW2 fighter maneuvers due to their smaller size and higher wing loading.
The G-loading of a P-51 is listed by the USAAF as +8/-4 (USAAF 44-14134, 2/27/45). Unlike today, where G force indicators are often buffered within safety margins, during WW2, those standards were considered 'danger zone' numbers capable of tearing a wing off. This means that pushing a P-51 to the G-force limits are still with the acceptable range of most pilots not blacking out, especially as quickly as we do in AH.
That being said, I think they've modeled the negative G aspects pretty well, but again, I think the closure rate of the 'red screen of death' is a bit too fast...again, only by a few seconds.
A buddy of mine is staying with us. He's staging his Yak-50 out our local airport going into EAA all this week. I'll talk to him about this. He's a Navy test pilot who's got more hours than I can possible imagine in performance a/c. I think he's in the 15,000 hour range...siiiiick.
I'll get his input and pass on what's he says.
Jeff
