Bob,
I keep thinking of the terms in aviation that have evolved. In World
War I Max Immelman performed what we would call a chandelle, creating a
maneuver that was given his name. It was a maximum performance
maneuver for the Fokker Eindecker he flew and was most definitely not a
half loop and half roll, the airplane would not do it and none of those
who observed it described it as such. Looking at books on aerobatics
in the '20s, the Immelman is a steep climbing turn. Sometime in the
'30s it became a half loop and half roll and the original Immelman turn
became the chandelle. Despite the error, we've long since accepted the
misuse of the name and probably couldn't correct it if we tried. The
only problem is that Max is credited with doing a maneuver he could not
have done, nor would he have ever done in combat because of the radical
loss of speed and risk of stalling at the top.
Warmest regards,
Rick
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