hey guys,

just woondering, i was looking at some footage of fighter jets dogfighting and i noticed when they executed an evasive acent or a banked turn, there would be white lines that came off the wings. in not talking about contrails i mean on the very tips of the wings. is this a visible "draft" or temperary void of gasses made because theyre moving so fast? please tell if you happen to know. thanks

Hi,

Look here for a good description of what is causing the Vapor/wing vortices: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_vortices

The reason you see it a lot when a fighter is pulling G's is because the pressure differential between the top and bottom of the wing is a lot higher compared to just flying straight and level at 1 G. At 9 G's the wing is producing 9 times the lift. Also the Angle of Attack AOA on the wing is higher during these maneuvers and causes eairlier seperation of air flow over the wings surface and also increases induced drag: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_drag

RUN