OVERVIEW

The fighter pilots have to rove in the areas allotted to them in any way they like, and when they spot an enemy they attack and shoot him down. Anything else is rubbish.

Attributed to Baron M. von Richthofen

The term maneuver refers to any change of the flight path. There are at least three basic types of maneuvers: (1) a turn in the horizontal plane, when the aircraft changes heading (lateral maneuver); (2) a turn in a vertical plane ( pull-up), when the aircraft increases its altitude; and (3) a roll around the aircraft's longitudinal axis, when the aircraft rotates around itself, whilst following a straight flight path (longitudinal maneuver). During a turn on the horizontal plane the aircraft gradually changes its banking angle from zero to a maximum, and then back to zero. A pull-up occurs with a variable radius of curvature and speed. Therefore, a turn maneuver is always unsteady. Banking is always associated with large centrifugal accelerations. Banking at large angles and high speed leads to an increased risk of stalling the aircraft.

In addition to the cases listed, there are a large number of maneuvers, performed only by military aircraft, aerobatic aircraft and demonstrators. These include the Immelmann ^[*] (half loop and half roll), the Herbst maneuver (a post-stall 180 degree turn at minimum turn radius), the split-S (a 180-degree turn in the vertical plane with the aircraft rolling on its side, or Herbst in reverse), the cobra, and others. These...