Sounds like a good maneuver to me

... Ive done this one from time to time, I'll be RTB'n Either no fuel or combo no fuel, ammo Low on the deck and ill see a plane coming in from way high directly to my 6, ill watch him till about 1k-800, and drop flaps, cut throttle, and pull back hard to almost a vertical, then push the nose down hard while throttling up+wep and retracting the flaps back in, its kept me alive quite a few times, and on occasion Ive killed a few.
It almost works like a chute to quickly slow you down and makes his convergence on you even faster causing him to overshot you or gives his plane a dirt nap