Just looking at it from a engineering perspective makes no sense.
it’s not technically possible for anyone other than Mikoyan or Sukhoi take an old airframe and “reinforce it”. Additionally, it’s not even a technically logical for them to do so either to an existing airframe.
It’s easier to develop a new variant instead of taking an old airframe and repositioning the countless mechanical parts, nuts and bolts a few degrees all just to reinforce the airframe for airshows.
I do not believe the Su-27s you see at airshows are specially modified airframes that are reinforced to cobra and perform high alpha maneuvers. Additionally, since the Russians have done it freely at airshows for years without any worry about the degrading the longevity of the airframe as well as the fact that that no nation demonstrates full combat capability publicly of any in-service fighter.
It is safe to say the Flanker is much more capable when pushed to the limits in actual combat than publicly known.
In the video you posted, it doesn’t show any extreme G-forces being applied to the airframe, there is no cobra in it either. Sure it does pull some nice turns but nothing that’s stressing the airframe as much as a cobra maneuver. It also appears to be going extremely slow for most of the high AoA maneuvers.
I am not saying that there ARE reinforced planes but the video you linked doesn’t prove that there aren’t any either.
Also keep in mind the flanker is known to be one of the most aerodynamically perfected designs ever. By western aviation scholars.
Though the wings are quite broad, the special placement allowed for airflow pass over the top at high angles of attack. The the elongated front fuselage that blends into the wing assist with diffusing airflow that would otherwise place enormous stress on the wings.
The cobra maneuver is not performed at transonic and supersonic speeds.The first one won’t let you do it with a pitch damper. Secondly, the strength of the structure will also not allow this to be done
Can any of you record the cobra maneuver and properly perform it in full real. Without gaining substantial altitude and not being too slow where loss of control occurs and the nose dips.
Let’s start there. The question is can it no longer be performed properly in War Thunder.
The angular velocity of rotation from the moment of pitch is shown here.Created by increasing the lifting force on the stabilizers. So the damping moment of pitch is the moment acting in the opposite direction from rotation.
If the AoA and G restriction is deactivated it is dangerous for the following reasons, at higher speeds there is a risk of over-G or G-LOC. At lower speeds, loss of controllability.
The table shows the allowed G and AoA.
It’s for the heavier version - SK, which corresponds in weight to the latest Flanker B series. For the lighter initial version it will be similar.
This is not a Su-27. The graph is for clarity. One damper from the angular velocity of rotation. The other is from changing the angle of attack
But the cobra maneuver is not performed at speeds of 800 km/h
Eventually. I want to try and check the graphs with 3g and 5g. Want to make sure I do the tests correctly and the devs implement them right and don’t inadvertently make the speed bleed even worse.
BTW, do you have any other sources that describe anything pertaining to the maneuvering energy retention?
