"Priceless" in Afghanistan

The A-6 loft profile was 4 g's from on the deck as fast as you could go so call
it 450 indicated at the beginning of the pull. we would top out at about 8K. So
even with the B-47's 2-3 g pull I doubt that they topped out much above
10-12K. When the manuver is viewed from the side from the ground the manuver
looks like an egg with the narrow corner at the top hence the fighter reference
to the combat egg. Lower air speed = smaller radius of turn.

The Immelmanns were done from the deck while making LABS tosses, starting
in
1957.

Well, I've seen a picture (I'll try to find it) of a B-47 nearly inverted
and
while exact altitude is difficult to determine, there's no visable terrain
in
the shot....which has always left me the impression they were at least 20K.

Hmm. It could be that they were topping out that high. IIRC, when
they were doing the LABS drops, they were entering the pullup at aound
420 KIAS, and pulling up at 2 - 2 1/2 Gs. It's still impressive,
nonetheless.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster