Apropos of John's "Send Me Some Stukas!" post, I got a few pix from one of my VHPA gunship buds that I think clarify a couple of sentences in the An Loc battle vignette.
Although a pair of Cobras at altitude made a fairly small target for Bad Guy AA gunners...
...Cobras generally didn't hang around at that altitude.
This illustrates the phrase "...the Cobras dived at an extreme angle in order to place their unguided rockets directly on target..." kinda nicely, don'tcha think?
And, of course, every time some guy who drove a fighter for a living moaned about going into a radical dive to hit a target, we'd jes' smile...
The smoke's not from farmers burning off rice paddies, just in case you were wondering...
Although a pair of Cobras at altitude made a fairly small target for Bad Guy AA gunners...
...Cobras generally didn't hang around at that altitude.
This illustrates the phrase "...the Cobras dived at an extreme angle in order to place their unguided rockets directly on target..." kinda nicely, don'tcha think?
And, of course, every time some guy who drove a fighter for a living moaned about going into a radical dive to hit a target, we'd jes' smile...
The smoke's not from farmers burning off rice paddies, just in case you were wondering...
Ooooh ... An Loc ... One of those wouldn't be flown by Maj. Larry McKay, would it?
Ehhhh, I don't think this series showed *that* much excitement. The pix were shot through the side canopy of another Cobra, because the originals show sunglow in the upper right (I cropped 'em some to keep the aircraft as the center-of-interest). Black lines and dots are crud on the canopy, and the darkish smudge is probably a grease smudge.
The smoke is all from fires started by rockets and tracers -- which means that's where the scouts found targets. Lotta smoke in the last pic = lotta targets on the reverse slope of the hill.
A pretty narrow range -- +0.5 to +1.5.
I'm guessing the wingover maintains positive G since the masts seem to be staying on,
Yup. It's a 1G maneuver when you do it properly. But the mast will stay put -- it's the rotor hub that snaps off and goes on its own merry way. We call that, "Launching the frisbee."
but how about the pull out?
*tsk*
It's called "recovering from diving flight" and it's done with a smooth, rolling cyclic application to either side before initiating any aft cyclic input. Otherwise, you launch the frisbee.
Orrrrr, you get into settling with power at 4,000fpm and fold the blades. This is called, "racing the rockets to the target." and it is frowned upon by the other occupant of the aircraft...
And, of course, every time some guy who drove a fighter for a living moaned about going into a radical dive to hit a target, we'd jes' smile...
If they don't enjoy radical dives, why are they fighter pilots? They could have driven a nice sedate 737 for a living instead...
I've told you and *told* you, the trilobites were already dead when I stepped on them!
Oh, wait. That was the Permian. Okay, Cretaceous, Cretataceous -- ah!
I've told you and *told* you, the theropods were already dead when the bomb went off!
Ummmmm -- wait, that didn't come out right...