CM,
I was trying to quote your comment about me at #344 but for some reason it won't work.
I'm not trying to set myself up as an expert. I can hardly do that since it's some 33 years since I last flew a Hunter and I didn't display them. Display pilots may well use flap all the way round a loop quite safely but it's not something I recall ever doing in normal aerobatics. In ACM, IIRC, we used to make a point of having it all retracted by 300 kts. What I do recall quite clearly is how it felt the day I left some flap down during a low-level combat and got to 480 kts or so before realising and raising it. It was quite a lesson which I never forgot. So I don't think it passed me by.
Regarding G-LOC: It can happen at surprisingly low G levels and I believe the onset can be delayed to a some time after the manoeuvre which provoked it. I think this is where fitness on the day can be a factor. I have personal experience of this which I again remember clearly when, flying a Harrier GR3, I blacked out at only 3G or so and recovered with the nose well below the horizon and 120 degrees of bank. We used to burn the candle at both ends in those days and I think that was at the root of it. A mate had a similar experience which the SMO ascribed to his habit of skipping breakfast.