In a real dogfight, you're not constrained to just pitch. Your nose doesn't need to point straight up. Depending on your exact relative position, you could very well be able to input roll and yaw as well, and end up pointing your nose (and gun) in a rather more useful direction.
We can't really call the resulting maneuver a clean airshow version of the "Cobra" anymore; but that's OK: it's a bit more deadly!
The airshow version merely demonstrates the aircraft's abilities. An actual pilot practicing combat maneuvers creatively applies those abilities to an actual situation at hand.
We can't really call the resulting maneuver a clean airshow version of the "Cobra" anymore; but that's OK: it's a bit more deadly!
The airshow version merely demonstrates the aircraft's abilities. An actual pilot practicing combat maneuvers creatively applies those abilities to an actual situation at hand.