What a cool thread. Thanks for the info.
What a cool thread. Thanks for the info.
I will fact-dump on anyone within earshot about aircraft. There is no known cure. 
Any WWII aircraft with the yellow circle around the stars participated or was slated to participate in TORCH. The yellow surounds were for ease of identification of friendly aircraft. It was a precursor of the more widely known black and white D-Day invasion stripes.
In reply to aircooled :
That was an amazing story, thanks for sharing!!!
The0retical said:In reply to Robbie :
Here's a link to the history from US Naval Institute.
The unique features engineered into the Dauntless SBD enabled the pilot to fly a controlled vertical flight from 10,000 feet or more to sea level, tracking a moving target ship as small as 40 feet wide which was taking evasive action.
I just keep reading that and letting it sink in. That is complete insanity. The sort of stones you'd need to execute your standard attack tactic being, "I'm just going to point the nose strait down and fly like that for TWO MILES! Then I'll do a 4-6G pull right before I crash into the ocean."
Beer Baron said:The0retical said:In reply to Robbie :
Here's a link to the history from US Naval Institute.
The unique features engineered into the Dauntless SBD enabled the pilot to fly a controlled vertical flight from 10,000 feet or more to sea level, tracking a moving target ship as small as 40 feet wide which was taking evasive action.
I just keep reading that and letting it sink in. That is complete insanity. The sort of stones you'd need to execute your standard attack tactic being, "I'm just going to point the nose strait down and fly like that for TWO MILES! Then I'll do a 4-6G pull right before I crash into the ocean."
All in a plane built roughly 35 years after the Wright Flyer. The first few decades of manned flight saw just amazing advances.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
And Orville Wright got to live through it. I am not sure if he would have been more amazed at the technological advances or horrified that they had become so lethal.
The early days of aviation were much like the tech revolution were seeing today. Except with less understanding of the impacts on the human body and fewer dank memes. I remember reading recounts of how test pilots for the Wright Flyer aircraft would wrap their necks in thick rope as sort of a crude Hans device.
The rapid pace of engineering over the first 35 years of aviation is astounding. 12hp motors to compound supercharged 2000+ hp engines made on tooling which was built by hand to tolerances of less than a .0001", material development using low background steel and widespread use and development of aluminum, development of the turbine engine, developing, testing and fielding new aircraft in under a year (it takes longer than that to get an approval to hang a new engine when a test pilot hot starts one these days.) It must have been an amazing, and frantic, time to be involved in the industry.
Well, I can recommend this book if you want to read more stories of unbelievable aeronautical achievement:
Like, un-freaking-believable what they were able to do.
When asked how the Skunk Works were able to build all those amazing aircraft, Kelly Johnson replied, "We weren't afraid to fail."
A-36 Apache dive brakes are a bit different. The top one is hinged toward the trailing edge of the wing, while the bottom one is hinged toward the leading edge of the wing.
Yeah, and who knows that the A-36 is an early Mustang with the Allison V12?
In reply to Beer Baron :
Max-gee design limit of the SBD was 12 gees!!!. Supposedly not a single pilot was ever able to bend an SBD from over geeing one.
WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed said:In reply to Beer Baron :
Max-gee design limit of the SBD was 12 gees!!!. Supposedly not a single pilot was ever able to bend an SBD from over geeing one.
Yeah, but you're going to pass out before you hit that. 4 G's is the standard pull in a loop. I'm guessing these guys probably pulled around 6, which is still extreme. 5-7 G's is generally where a healthy person is probably going to start seeing sparkles as the blood leaves their head.
Appleseed said:When asked how the Skunk Works were able to build all those amazing aircraft, Kelly Johnson replied, "We weren't afraid to fail."
We could definitely use a Kelly Johnson clone abut now. Coming up with the SR-71 when slide rulers were high tech is amazing.
Ben Rich's department was thermodynamics. It was that team that managed heat, thus airflow, and made it possible for the inlets, alone, to produce 53% of the total trust at Mach 3+.
With sliderules.
In reply to Beer Baron :
Generally true, yes. But, it depends on the physical condition and level anti-g training of a pilot regarding how much gee and for how long. Some can simply tolerate more gee, over a longer period, and/or for more repetitions than others.
jimbbski said:Yeah, and who knows that the A-36 is an early Mustang with the Allison V12?
It is essentially a P51A with a stronger wing and 2 50 caliber Brownings synchronized to fire through the prop. There Are some good videos on YouTube showing them in Italy
Beer Baron said:WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed said:In reply to Beer Baron :
Max-gee design limit of the SBD was 12 gees!!!. Supposedly not a single pilot was ever able to bend an SBD from over geeing one.
Yeah, but you're going to pass out before you hit that. 4 G's is the standard pull in a loop. I'm guessing these guys probably pulled around 6, which is still extreme. 5-7 G's is generally where a healthy person is probably going to start seeing sparkles as the blood leaves their head.
You can pull some extreme G's for very short periods. It takes about 2.5 sec for your brain to run out of enough blood for you to pass out. This is why you will see some planes do some extreme pitch ups and not GLOC the pilot.
More trivia: Blackout refers to the loss of eyesight which happens as you pull g's (visions slowly closes in until black). You are still conscious, you just can't see. GLOC (Gravitic Loss of Consciousness) is when you go out. GLOC also requires a period of recovery, so even if it's just for second, you can be useless for at least few more seconds.
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