Immelmann turn

/ -mən; ˈɪməlˌmɑːn /

noun

1. an aircraft manoeuvre used to gain height while reversing the direction of flight. It consists of a half loop followed by a half roll

Word History and Origins

Origin of Immelmann turn¹

C20: named after Max Immelmann (1890–1916), German aviator

Example Sentences

He was a flying fanatic until one day in 1932, when he tried to do an Immelmann turn from the ground, cracked up with two broken ankles and his face halfway through the dashboard.

From Time Magazine Archive

He side-slipped the bus, pulled it around in an Immelmann turn, and then felt the rudder-controls until we were in the required direction.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet the 'Immelmann turn', so called, whereby a machine, after performing half a loop, falls rapidly away on one wing, was a manœuvre which, when first used by the enemy, proved fatal to many of our pilots.

From Project Gutenberg

Men have been killed trying to loop off the ground, and Vernon Castle was killed doing an Immelmann turn at fifty feet to avoid another machine.

From Project Gutenberg

At the end of four, five, or six hours' solo these men could do all the high maneuvers, commonly thought dangerous, such as the barrel roll, the loop, the stall turn, the Immelmann turn.

From Project Gutenberg