G forces in a Stuka dive?

[ak74u]

My physics teacher said today that during a Stuka diving attack the pilots could face as much g-forces as 10 g. Is this true, its not that I don't belive him but 10 g is very "hard" for the body.

[Spandau]

Ave ak74,

10g seems very unlikely to me as I have heard that most people pass out between 5-7g. Most civilian aircraft can take up to about 4.5g, and I hear that modern fighter pilots can take about 9g (with special suits) without passing out.
I doubt very much that the stuka pilots routinely pulled 10g in their dives.

Vale,

-Spandau

[Sani116]

My physics teacher said today that during a Stuka diving attack the pilots could face as much g-forces as 10 g. Is this true, its not that I don't belive him but 10 g is very "hard" for the body.

As an ex-air-cadet. I can believe this. I once pulled a 9G loop and blacked out. The G force doesnt really effect you until you pull out of the dive, Ive read and seen accounts of Stuka pilots who said that when they dived the aircraft would pull itself up out of the dive and they would black-out, returning to consciousness a few seconds later. Although Im not sure this angle of attack was commonly used on anything other than static targets.

Cheers
Tom.

[Sani116]

Ave ak74,

10g seems very unlikely to me as I have heard that most people pass out between 5-7g. Most civilian aircraft can take up to about 4.5g, and I hear that modern fighter pilots can take about 9g (with special suits) without passing out.
I doubt very much that the stuka pilots routinely pulled 10g in their dives.

Vale,

-Spandau

If you go to disney-land and Alton Towers etc, you will see that the maximum safety limit is 4-5G's on "thrill" rides Spandau; aircraft can take quite a few G's before falling out of the sky

[hruza]

I don't know exact number but Stuka pilot had lost consciousness while pulling up from dive. For that phase of flight there was autopilot which pulled airplane up automaticly. You would turn it on before starting attack. That mean that g-forces were realy high.

[Sani116]

From :http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/b ... /ju87.html

This consisted of an Askania autopilot, which was used together with a Revi gunsight. The bomb release gear, elevator controls, and dive brakes were linked to this system. Before attacking the pilot would set the bomb release height. The deployment of the dive brakes automatically adjusted the elevator trim tab, and put the aircraft into a dive. When the bomb release height was reached and the bombs were dropped the autopilot adjusted the elevator trim tab again, so that the aircraft became tail heavy and pulled itself out of the dive. The use of the elevator was forbidden, except in case of emergency.

The pilot thus needed not to be concerned too much with the pull-out. This was just as well, because the pull-out put a an acceleration of 6G on aircraft and pilot. Under such conditions one could not expect the pilot to perform complicated control sequences. Normal procedures called for a bombr release at an altitude of about 900m, which brought the Stuka down to about 400m before it started to regain altitude.