All Things Aviation Related

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by john70t

Since the dominance of the aircraft vs battleship, you have to ask why the Germans didn't sink the British fleet this way, prior to The Battle of Britain?

1 ze Germanz were not geared up for island/ocean control/war
1a No Torpedoes or Torpedo planes

1b The Japs were and their Airplanes had been designed for Long Range before the war even started

1.c
ze Germanz had no Carriers

1d
ze German Kriegsmarine had no Aviators.



Quite frankly they had not expected the Brits or French to mobilize right away in response to the polish invasion, so it wasn't like they were fully ready..
Hitler's expectation was continuation of policy of appeasement.

So basically he made the same mistake that the Kaiser made when he violated Belgian neutrality in 1914 to attack France and did not expect the British to mobilized "over a scrap of paper".

if you think about it, Hitler was a fool for his own history

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flipper35

Paul, did you ever meet a Jack Chappell at Sikorsky?

I did not. I was the Chief Government pilot for three years, from 1993 to late 1996. I learned a lot!

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Thanks for posting that. This explains a lot of the Midway battle way better than several documentaries or movies I have seen. I never realized how many aircraft, pilots and crew the Americans lost in that battle.

Agreed. Great video.

I can't find 2/2 - anyone?

[GH85Carrera]

From the comments of others, he is still working on part two.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I did not. I was the Chief Government pilot for three years, from 1993 to late 1996. I learned a lot!

He may have been retired by then. He was one of the lead engineers on a few airframes. It is a large company and I figured it was a minuscule chance, but you never know. He was family, on dad's side.

I never could find a part 2 of the Midway video either.

Battle 360 had a pretty good episode on it and how much we lost to turn the tide.

[James Brown]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Are you a Growler guy?

no, P-3 FE guy, i like my sleep!

[GH85Carrera]

I remember as a kid I hated history and really did not care about WW2 or what happened before I was born, it just did not matter to me.

Like many other parts of getting older and wiser, history is fascinating to me now. In all the past TV shows I had seen about the war in the Pacific with Japan I never heard that the Japs sunk tow of the premier British battleships.

The history taught and shown most of the time only concerned the American part of the fight. They never even mentioned the British losses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_Prince_of_Wales_and_Repulse

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by James Brown

no, P-3 FE guy, i like my sleep!

Very cool.

When I was at VX-1 I got about three hours of wheel time in a P-3 in three years...it was a blast.

[flipper35]

Our 10 year old could tell you just about anything you want to know, especially in the Pacific theater. When they transitioned to Hellcats and the Japanese aces that mistook them for Wildcats. How unreliable our torpedoes were, both from vessels and aircraft and how the Japanese built their armor belt to withstand our torpedoes that used TNT for explosives and that we didn't use TNT like they thought. Torpex I think it was.

He will also tell you that the F4U was the best aircraft instead of the Hellcat because it was far more versatile in its roles.

He could tell you why the B-17 is more famous than the still very capable and more efficient B-24.

Our daughter likes all the modern stuff. At 4 she went to her first Fleet Week Coronado festival of Speed she asked a Seahawk pilot how you fly a helicopter. He started saying that the rotors spin fast enough to generate lift and she stopped him and said "I know how it flies, how do you fly it".

My kids are avgeeks.

Paul, would it be easier to ask what you haven't flown?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flipper35

Paul, would it be easier to ask what you haven't flown?

I got very lucky...the CO at VX-1 encouraged us all to fly different aircraft to broaden our knowledge base.

My P-3 time was for range clearance and we had just finished a SH-60B flight test period at VX-1 so I had the time. Eight hour flight and I got 30 minutes headed to the range and 30 minutes headed home. I did it a few times because it was fun. The Pilot-in-Command was a friend of mine I had given a ride in an H-60.

Nothing hard. The Flight Engineer (FE) walked me through the instruments. He also had the crew in the back run forward and aft so I was constantly having to trim.

Rat bastard

[varmint]

A flying/gliding ME 163 Komet


https://youtu.be/BNIpJcOZPlA

[Hawkeye's-911T]

Fighter pilots from both sides knew you were an easy (sitting duck) target on the glide back home.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by varmint

A flying/gliding ME 163 Komet


https://youtu.be/BNIpJcOZPlA

that is VERY cool.
It seems to glide really well, it's not like it becomes a flying brick with poor glide ratio ?

[flipper35]

I see they cheated and didn't use the bouncy dolly for takeoff and skid for landing! Works better for display purposes this way though.

[oldE]

The propellant for the 163 was nasty stuff. The pilots had to wear a special suit. If the engine flamed out before fuel was expended you did not do a re start.
They spent a lot of money on stuff which wasn't effective.

Best
Les

[edgemar]

anyone flown one of these? looks like fun!

[James Brown]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I got very lucky...the CO at VX-1 encouraged us all to fly different aircraft to broaden our knowledge base.

My P-3 time was for range clearance and we had just finished a SH-60B flight test period at VX-1 so I had the time. Eight hour flight and I got 30 minutes headed to the range and 30 minutes headed home. I did it a few times because it was fun. The Pilot-in-Command was a friend of mine I had given a ride in an H-60.

Nothing hard. The Flight Engineer (FE) walked me through the instruments. He also had the crew in the back run forward and aft so I was constantly having to trim.

Rat bastard

LOL a typical prank on new 3P pilots, kept them trimming all night long! I have about 7000 hours flight time from all over the world, great aircraft

[john70t]

Originally Posted by vmax

This video in the http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1052955-awesome-landing-lhr.html#post10756379 got me thinking.
I wondered why the Belfast runway was not smoothed out when built?
Can there be better visual cues created to enhance pilot perception in judging distance-to-ground and/or following proper approach angles?


The crosswind landings at Heathrow were another example. Many airports don't seem to be designed to face into prevailing winds, nor be ideally located.
Time and time again, repeat pilots must land under more dangerous conditions, and airliners waste fuel climbing out quickly because people chose to build houses in front of the flight path then complain about the noise. This seems wasteful of both fuel and equipment.


Here is a flight simulator landing at the now-closed Hong Kong Kai-Tak VHHX. As a kid I once sat in the cockpit jump seat while landing exactly there. Deja vu. (Times were much different back then and my parents had a pilot friend flying for Indian airlines.)

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by James Brown

LOL a typical prank on new 3P pilots, kept them trimming all night long! I have about 7000 hours flight time from all over the world, great aircraft

The FE, a really good guy I dealt with a lot in the squadron says, in the middle of his prank: "You have a really good scan, LT".

"Senior Chief, I fly off small boats at night, I NEED one".

The P-3C was a great aircraft and I'll bet your 7000 hours comes with more than one story

Well done and thanks.

The mighty, mighty:

[James Brown]

https://youtu.be/a-SnxC-BkPo
thanks Seahawk, same to you.
it was a blast to do, i did a couple of these "penetrations" stout aircraft, don't eat too much!!!