Hanseman does not say anything about his initial speed????? He describes several 360° turns on the deck, with AA firing on him whenever he got close to the airfield... He "gradually" worked the 109 away from the airfield 360 by 360...
Nope, not only did Hanseman not say he did it "360 by 360" but it also isn't possible. You can't move away from a fixed point by turning in circles, by definition, turning in a circle means moving around its centre point. Your interpretation is obviously wrong. When Hanseman said a "dog fight developed" he was clearly referring to a more dynamic sequence of maneuvers and not just 360 degree turns.
Do you really think that means his speed is still above 350 MPH on-the-deck!!!???
Of course not, I never mentioned 350mph, you have used a logical fallacy known as the straw man argument. What I said was that the only way throttling back would help, would be if they were above corner velocity, otherwise it would not be helpful. Since Hanseman claims it was helping, that is the only possible conclusion, because the alternative you have suggested is aerodynamically impossible.
I guess you must, otherwise your whole argument against downthrottling being a low-speed tactic falls apart...
Nope, I'm simply explaining well known and well understood aerodynamic facts. Your interpretation is in conflict with the laws of physics.
As for the argument against the obvious interpretation of the Johnson account, I don't know where to begin...: IF it was downward spiral, they would then NOT be on opposite sides "of an ever decreasing circle"... NOT a FLAT turn????
Firstly, Johnson never used the term "Flat turn" that's another misinterpretation and two pilots in a descending spiral turn could certainly remain on opposite sides, the point being that during the time they were on "opposite sides" the fight was obviously neutral.
I love the omission of Johnson's quote: "He was gaining on me (in the same ever decreasing circle, remember?):
Nope, when Johnson noticed that the 190 was gaining on him it was while he was doing "the tightest of vertical turns" during the time they were whirling round on opposite sides of the circle, the fight was neutral. You are confusing the chronological sequence in Johnson's description.
(how could "an ever diminishing circle" be a bunch of vertical loops?)
They were clearly different phases of the fight one followed after the other.
WWII terminology: "Vertical turn" is WWII short-hand for a "Wings vertical turn", a diminutive in effect, for a 90° bank turn, which means, by definition, a fairly flat turn...
Absolutely not, if an aircraft banks so that the wings are vertical, the aircraft will be accelerating towards the ground at 32.2ft/s^2 and would lose at least 10,000ft of altitude in the first 30 seconds, since you claim they were only at 5000ft that phase of the fight could only have lasted for a few seconds if Johnson still needed room for his near vertical dive. So regardless if it was a vertical turn, or a turn with wings vertical, it still wasn't a sustained turn, which by definition occurs with no loss of altitude. If it was a turn with wings vertical, then it would have lasted just a few seconds, and certainly for less time than it would take for them to make it around the circle even once. So if you are right about the wings being vertical, there wasn't time for a sustained turn, or much turning of any kind. Either way, your interpretation does not fit the description, and is obviously wrong.
More importantly, it doesn't matter how you interpret that anecdote, you still can't use it to justify the idea that reducing throttle improves sustained turns, because you maximise sustained turns at full power.
Badboy