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The Immelmann turn (also spelled as Immelman turn; also known as a roll-off-the-top, or simply an Immelmann) is an aerial maneuver, named after WWI German flying ace Max Immelmann who was the first pilot to successfully complete this maneuver. It is more of an aerobatic maneuver, rather than aerial combat maneuver. To successfully execute the Immelmann turn, while flying, the pilot pulls the aircraft into a vertical climb, and eventually completes half a loop in the aircraft from this climb, inverting the aircraft. The pilot then executes a half-roll to regain normal orientation. As a result, the aircraft is now at a higher altitude and has changed course 180 degrees. It has become one of the most popular aerial maneuvers in the world, being commonly used in airshows all across the globe. However, it is rarely used in actual dogfighting, due to the fact that performing this feat results in a loss of speed, and that when used in combat, it is used as a tactic to disengage and withdraw from battle, and speed is a necessity for retreating from an enemy. However, if a pilot does execute this maneuver in combat, he slightly drops his nose down, descending in altitude slightly in an attempt to regain lost speed more quickly. Singer and songwriter Al Stewart wrote a song, entitled The Immelman Turn, which appears on his 2005 album "A Beach Full of Shells". Claus Valca of the anime Last Exile gets nicknamed "Immelmann" by Dio Eraclea for his successful execution of an Immelmann turn. In the climax of the 1983 movie Blue Thunder, main character Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) uses an Immelmann turn with his helicopter to defeat his arch enemy Col. Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell).
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