Having not been aware of the Firefly’s sequence at the time of the crash and watching the footage, I assumed the next part in the sequence would be a right wingover at the top of the climb so as to position back towards the airfield.
However this wasn’t the case and TempustNut describes the fatal manoeuvre more or less as I saw it. One thing that did strike me was that there seemed to be some hesitation on the pilot’s part prior to initiating the roll at the apex of the climb.
A few months later, I saw longer footage of the Firefly’s sequence on the Biggin DVD and I was surprised at how much height was lost during the Derry Turns, compared to how I’ve seen the manoeuvre flown in the past. In all the instances I’ve seen, energy and height are maintained throughout the manoeuvre with no hint of the nose coming down as the roll is started.
And this is always what I understood the manoeuvre to be – a three quarter roll so as to reverse your direction for a turn the opposite way e.g. you three quarter roll left so you can now turn right to position yourself for whatever the next manoeuvre in your sequence is.
Btw, the latest edition of Pilot magazine has an A-Z of Aviation terms and this is how it describes the Derry Turn:
“A manoeuvre in which a tight (e.g. left) turn is reversed by rolling (left) and under, effectively reversing the direction of the initial turn.”
Maybe some of the display pilots that post here can clarify this.
Cheers
Paul
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