In between yard work jobs I sat down with a cup of tea and turned on the classic movie channel off the satellite. Either TCM of the other (FXM?).

Anyway a 1930's movie was on called "The White Sister" about a WWI Italian fighter pilot (played by Clark Gable!) and his babe.

The movie included real air to air scenes (filmed in the usual 1930's style) and one scene caught my eye. It was filmed from a distance but it appeared to be a Fokker D VII (or more likely a "Wichita" Fokker), and another that appeared to be some Nieuport-type, and they were dogfighting.

Both aircraft performed a maneuver that I guess is best described be eye as a "flip turn". They both performed this maneuver and literally appeared to change direction 180 degrees in just a little over a plane length but with a huge loss of speed - visually.

As this was real life footage does anyone know the name of this maneuver?

The internet is full of various "how to's" for various stick and rudder combos for maneuvers and I would like to try this in WOFF.
I thought I was familiar with most of the usual WW1 AC maneuvers but this one surprised me. Or maybe this is the first time I saw one of the known maneuvers done in real life.

Sounds like the original Immelmann turn or a flatter variation of that without using a stall but just rudder. With enough speed and momentum you can also do it in WOFF. If both aircraft are doing it, it looks a bit like jousting.

Well described. A very quick Immelmann without the stall would be an excellent description.
Wish I would have had a closer view of it so I could have noted AC orientation.
Unsure if it was strictly a rudder turn after a quick pull-up or the AC actually "flipped" over during the reverse.

I am on my phone so I do not have access to all my resources.
But I just had a memory flash.
Wasn't there a maneuver that involved a quick pull- up and rudder turn that the French called a "virillle" (sp).

If that was it the training charts demonstrating it don't do it justice!

This old thread might help

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2515610/1

The exact french word is "vrille" and it means a spin, so nothing to do with it. "Vrille à plat" is a flat spin.

The pull-up and rudder + ailerons 180° turn was called an Immelmann in WW1. ("Renversement" in french)
Later, until today, the Immelmann refers to a half loop followed by a half barrel roll to reverse heading and gain altitude (the opposite of a Split-S which is a half barrel roll followed by a half loop downwards) The half loop itself can be combined with some rotation to come out in any direction.

What was called an Immelmann in WW1 is now called a Hammerhead.

Thanks Creaghorn.
That old thread was one of the "resources" on my home computer. There are several others.

And thanks corsaire31. I had thought the "renversement " was the American term for a Vrille but obviously not.

And a Renversement is probably what I saw... If it can be done in a plane length and a half!

It obviously pays to have a multi national community here.