An extract from RNZAF Contact magazine dated October 1943
“New Zealand fighter pilots swear, with some vehemence, that they saw this over Rendova Island. A Zero hotly pursued by an American Corsair, took unusual evasive action. It pulled up into a tight loop, and the Corsair followed. When on his back, the Zero pilot, instead of half-rolling out or completing his loop, pushed the stick forward and did an outside loop, completing a perfect S with apparently no trouble at all.”
Was such a stunning manouvre possible by a Zero? Surely it would be quite a shock to the airframe in terms of G-Forces.
*Note: In the magazine they stated the place as Bendova Island, but since the previous paragraph refers to Rendova Island, which was indeed a place in the Pacific where many aerial battles took place, I think it was merely a typo and not some tongue in cheek joke. I doubt that sort of humour would have appeared in print in those days.
By: DazDaMan - 24th January 2005 at 12:17
Dave – I dunno if you have been taken in. Surely in wartime circumstances, if a fighter pilot wants to get away from another one who is trying to blow his brains out, then he/she (remember the Russians!) would, and probably did, try anything.
The Zero is quite a lightly-loaded, but pretty powerful aircraft, compared to, say, the Corsair, so given that, I think it might have been possible for the Zero to do this manoeuvre.
Bearing in mind that the report doesn’t say what the Zero was doing prior to carrying out this manoeuvre. Was it in a dive? Could it have built up the speed to first go into the inside-loop, then carried it over into the outside?
By: Dave Homewood - 24th January 2005 at 11:08
Thanks guys. Hmm, maybe if it were impossible, perhaps it was meant to be Bendover Island!
Have I been taken in (despite my scepticism and need to ask?)
By: turbo_NZ - 24th January 2005 at 08:11
This was taken from :http://www.j-aircraft.com/faq/A6M.htm
This from James F Lansdale’s fascinating “Lt. William Thies & the KOGA Zero” a few entries below on this page:
“Though the early US aircraft were no match for the Zero, the discovery of its flight characteristics, the fact that at high speeds aileron control stiffened, such that the Zero could roll faster to the left than to the right, also in a push over to a dive the Zero’s engine would cut out temporarily due to negative gravity’s effect on its fuel system, were important revelations.”
Explains that a negative-G outside loop might be tricky…
hmm…not so sure on the story now.
TNZ
By: Distiller - 24th January 2005 at 08:05
G-wise this is not necessarily a problem, depends on the airspeed. The Zero was limited to 3.5g negative with a 1.8 safety factor. Question is more whether the carburetor could handle negative g.
By: turbo_NZ - 24th January 2005 at 06:48
Well, I just finished watching a documentary on the Wildcat/Hellcat and they stated that there was actually no US Fighter during WW2 that could match the maneuverability of the Zero. They also said that perhaps the Bearcat may have been able to but of course was introduced too late.
However, they obviously said that this was achieved at the expense of strength & undergunning etc.
So based on the is knowledge, perhaps it could have…
TNZ
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January 24, 2005 at 6:11 am