Look at that biplane torpedo bomber and consider the aircraft that were doing the job just 5 or so years later. The Dauntless and others........ That's progress when there's a war on!
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Look at that biplane torpedo bomber and consider the aircraft that were doing the job just 5 or so years later. The Dauntless and others........ That's progress when there's a war on!
The caption leads the imagination on a terrifying way to mean one's demise:
Perhaps the pilot survived with a 'chute? The caption doesn't really tell us what happened to that fellow.Quote:
...thrown from the aircraft during a high speed dive.
While reading online to see if I could learn about the fate of that pilot I did come across this image:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...2/medium-1.jpg
After reading records of period aviation accidents, and researching online records for the NAS listed in the caption and the Aircraft serial, I cannot find any other reference to this incident. Perhaps the pilot survived incident and didn't get mentioned in the annuals of history. I did learn development of this aircraft was awful, air frames ripping apart in dives, wing detachments, a rough go. I can imagine the engineers to the test pilots; "Here's your parachute, point her at the ground and see if the wings stay on this version. Happy trails!"
Was it normal practice for U.S. Army aircrew to always fly with parachutes in 1937 or were parachutes only issued when on deployment and on "special occasions"? I believe that I am correct in saying that with British aircraft of a similar period the parachute and reserve parachute often formed part of the seat for the pilot and co pilot and trying to fly without a chute would be a somewhat of an uncomfortable experience for those involved. For British aircraft of the period fitted with gun turrets, mainly bombers, the gunner didn't always wear a parachute while in the turret for the simple reason that there wasn't always enough room. In this instance, if it was necessary to exit the aircraft in a hurry, the person involve first had to remember to go back into the fuselage and put the chute on before jumping.
All of that is the same as I understand it. The crew had chutes stored and pilots and co pilots, specially in the smaller aircraft used theirs as seat pads.
so much for wearing a seat belt or keep the canopy closed before the dive.
My pilot friends have an interesting saying:
"It's only a "crash" if somebody dies. Anything else is a "heavy landing".