Loss of control at high altitude?

[DimSim]

Question for the experts:  When I try to perform turns at altitudes of around 20K feet, I lose control very easily even though air speed is > 220 knots.  There is little advance indication, perhaps slight vibration or sound immediately before loss of control.  At lower altitudes, say < 10k feet, the airplane feels much more controllable and similar to IL2 which I played before DCS.

 

Question is, am I correct that this is altitude related? I must keep air speed much higher (near impossible at high altitude), or limit turns to be very gentle, or lower altitude.  This means any altitude advantage I have, while flying above bombers to protect them, is lost after the first pass, as I can not turn tight enough without loss of control to dog fight at high altitude.

[itzlxchy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is probably due to the lower air density at higher altitudes limiting the effects / stability the control surfaces can give out. I don't know much about warbirds but from my personal pilot training this seems like the probable cause. Although the aircraft are rated to go at such altitudes, for optimum performance you are probably better off flying lower.

[grafspee]

Max alt for P-51 is 42k ft, but don't expect that you can do there anything more then just flying straight.

Main factor is average lower airspeed, second is higher mach those 2 things handicap available G. At alt 30k you are limited to gentle flat turns, forget about loops

Every single plane suffer from high alt, warbirds and modern jets as well. Climb to 70k and try do some stuff.

 

300mph at SL is not the same as 300mph at 20k due to higher mach number.

So you need higher entry speed to do the same thing. All speeds are IAS.

Edited March 27, 2021 by grafspee