An unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes(URANS) method combined with a rigid dynamic mesh technique was developed to simulate unsteady flows around complex configurations during pitching motion. First, a test case with the NACA0012 airfoil was selected to validate the numerical methods and our in-house codes. Then, we evaluated the unsteady flows around an advanced aircraft model during harmonic pitching motion at high incidence. The effects of pitching motion on the hysteresis of aerodynamic force, the evolution of the leading-edge vortex, and the distribution of pressure on the model’s surface were analyzed in detail. The roles of several significant parameters such as the reduced frequency and pitching amplitude were revealed. Several conclusions were found: pitching motion would delay the initiation of the leading-edge vortex, strengthen the vorticity, postpone the occurrence of vortex breakdown, and weaken the massively separated flows, thus causing additional aerodynamic force. Two categories of critical reduced frequency have been found, which divide the influence of reduced frequency on aerodynamic force into three stages, called the linear increasing range, slowly increasing range, and constant range. The first-order phase lag between the aerodynamic force and the incidence is a constant that is independent of the amplitude when the reduced frequency is sufficiently high. A scaled maximum value of C_L is proposed; it depends only on the reduced frequency(instead of the amplitude), and increases linearly when the reduced frequency is sufficiently low. An unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method combined with a rigid dynamic mesh technique was developed to simulate unsteady flows around complex configurations during pitching motion. First, a test case with the NACA0012 airfoil was selected to validate the numerical methods and our in -house codes. Then, we evaluated the unsteady flows around an advanced aircraft model during harmonic pitching motion at high incidence. The effects of pitching motion on the hysteresis of aerodynamic force, the evolution of the leading-edge vortex, and the distribution of pressure on the model’s surface were analyzed in detail. The roles of several significant parameters such as the reduced frequency and pitching amplitude were revealed. Several roles were found: pitching motion would delay the initiation of the leading-edge vortex, strengthen the vorticity, postpone the occurrence of vortex breakdown, and weaken the massively separated flows, thus causing additional aerodynamic for ce. Two categories of critical reduced frequency have been found, which divide the influence of reduced frequency on aerodynamic force into three stages, called the linear increasing range, slowly increasing range, and constant range. The first-order phase lag between the aerodynamic force and the incidence is a constant that is independent of the amplitude when the reduced frequency is sufficiently high. A scaled maximum value of C_L is proposed; it depends only on the reduced frequency instead of the amplitude, and increases linearly when the reduced frequency is so low.