DOCSLIB.ORG

Lowflight.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Lowflight.Pdf On a particularly hot day, a Royal Australian Air Force English Electric A84 Canberra bomber drops to within 25 feet as thrill-seeking mechanics get ready for the visceral experience of 13,000 lbs of Rolls Royce Avon power full in the face. RAAF Photo By Dave O'Malley Along the sunny Gulf Coast of Mississippi runs a VLA route (low level, high-speed flying) frequented by American military fliers for decades. Back in the early nineties, on a dock on Davis Bayou, with a cold St. Pauli Girl beer in my hand, I would sit with my face towards the southern sun and my feet dangling over the receding tidal waters brimming with shrimp and watch as pairs of A-7 Corsairs from the Oklahoma Air National Guard or RF-4Fs from Meridian Mississippi would thunder along the very edge of the horizon following this timeworn route. The “Sluffs” and “Rhinos” came from the Air Guard deployment camp at nearby Gulfport, where they would spend a week practicing being "deployed” at a base far from their home. These weekend warrior guardsman as well as regular force fighters would follow the barrier islands from west to east – Chandlier Island, Ship Island, Cat Island, Horn Island. All uninhabited, all bereft of antennae, chimneys and tall trees. My best friend, Greg Williams, whose dock I was sitting on, was one of those Mississippi Air Guardsmen who had flown this route many times. Living across Biloxi Bay from these islands, he knew them like the back of his hand. In those early days, he would take a lone Phantom and a back seater, and push himself down low over the Gulf side beaches, ripping from one island to the next heading east from Gulfport. As he came to the eastern end of Horn, the eastern most island, he would bank hard left and run like a scalded dog, low and north, to the wide estuary where the Pascagoula River dumped its brown water into the blue sound. About a mile inland, Highway 90 crosses over the bayous and the snaking Pascagoula on a slender bridge. A few miles farther north, the four lanes I-10 also leap over the two miles of marshland. For years, ass-kicking redneck pilots from Mississippi would approach the Highway 90 bridge from below, climbing to cross the bridge at extreme low level. Complaints from startled citizens in cars and trucks, who had nearly been blown from the road deck, caused the rules to change. All inbound fighters would be required to be at 1,500 feet as they crossed the bridges. Williams, a long serving and proud recce pilot, and the only Voodoo-qualified, college-educated, shrimp boat captain from Bayou Labatrie, Alabama to Boca Chica, Texas, had thousands of hours flying RF-101s and RF-4F Phantoms down where the crawdads live. Flying low was his passion. His favourite thing to do, when flying in the mountains out west, was to run up the face of a mountain, roll inverted over the top, pull down the other side, roll wings level and toboggan the far side. He was used to it, he loved it, but he admitted once to me that he lived so long on the edge, that from time to time, he toppled over it. One day in the late eighties, Major Williams and his back seater Major Bernie Cousins streaked at fifty feet down the Gulf side of Horn Island, scattering pelicans and egrets - “lower than a snakes belly in a wagon rut”. Nearing the island's slender, curving eastern end, Williams rolled hard left, then level again, heading for the mouth of the Pascagoula. To his right he could see the massive Litton Shipyards, to his left, the small town of Gauthier, Mississippi shimmered in the summer heat. Approaching Pascagoula Bay, he climbed from 50 to 1,500 feet to clear the Highway 90 bridge at the authorized altitude. At 1,500 feet he streaked like an arrow north to I-10. At the moment the I-10 bridge passed beneath his nose, Williams rolled inverted and snatched the stick back hard to dive for the deck. Flying aggressively for his entire military career, Williams realized immediately that he had pulled too hard and had "buried" the nose of the massive Southern Grey Rhino far past the right line for recovery. It was one of those “oh, shit” moments in a pilots flying career when he realizes that he has made a possible fatal mistake. It was time to employ all his skill and all his physical strength to overcome his error. Instinctively, Williams released the stick, rolled 180 degrees and pulled as hard as he possibly could on the pole. There was nothing else to do but hold on and ride the Phantom out of the mess. Cousins, in the back, having no way to prepare for the maneuver, blacked out immediately under the massive g-load. Pulling for all he was worth, Williams experienced tunnel vision as he grayed out. He never really saw anything on his periphery, describing the effect of tunnel vision as looking through a toilet paper tube. At zero feet, the sagging Phantom blew swamp water, mudbugs* and sea grass out from behind as she staggered upward in the humid air and climbed for the heavens. He had overstressed the jet and his own body and very nearly killed himself and his back seater. When I spoke to him about it the other day,he said, "You know, I got complacent and I am not proud of that, it was one time I almost lost it.” It takes a good pilot to admit it, and learn. To this day, Williams says that if you look carefully, you will find two deep parallel grooves in the muddy bottom where he dragged his burner cans though that bayou. Williams' story of joy, error, terror and redemption illustrates all that is found in low level flight in any aircraft – the extreme sensation of speed, a breathtaking sense of your own powerful abilities, the risks of complacency and deadly danger waiting only feet away for the pilot who makes a fatal mistake. There are two types of flying that are for the skilled and the experienced only - aerobatics and low level. A show of aerobatics is a beautiful thing indeed, poetry in motion. If aerobatics are ballet, then low level flying is slam dancing - violent, aggressive and heart stopping. Firewall the throttles of a Phantom and drag a cranked wingtip through the mesquite at the bottom of some gulch in the high Colorado desert and you have a YouTube video gone viral. Despite all the risks associated with the practice, it is in fact a safe and critically important skill when practiced by military fliers. The British Ministry of Defence lists some of the key benefits of training their RAF fliers at low level: Is an essential skill that provides aircrew with one of the best chances of survival Is a highly demanding skill which can only be maintained through continuous and realistic training Is conducted with the safety of people on the ground, our aircrew, and other airspace users as the overriding concern Is rigorously controlled and continuously monitored Has reduced since 1988 - the total number of sorties by a third and those by jets by more than half Over the past five years I have been sent links to hundreds of low level flying videos... and only four aerobatic ones... and they were all model airplanes flying in a gymnasium. That tells you a lot about the visceral appeal of the low level flight. There is no fighter pilot alive in North America who has not used the old saw "I feel the need for speed”. Blowing through Mach 1.5 at 30,000 feet, you are indeed fast. You would only know it..., but never feel it. You want to feel speed? Slow down and get down, way down where the trees rise above you, where men crap their pants when you pass, and the dust and water spray mark your passing. In the world's best film ever, Dr. Strangelove, George C. Scott's character, General Buck Turgidson, when asked if the rogue B-52 can get through the Soviet defenses, spreads his arms like wings and proudly expounds in the War Room "If the pilot's good, see. I mean, if he's really... sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... you oughtta see it sometime, it's a sight. A big plane, like a '52, vroom! There's jet exhaust, flyin' chickens in the barnyard!". Right on Buck! For the past few years, I have dumped any good shots of low level that I came across on the web into a folder on my hard drive, never knowing what to do with them. Last week, my great friend Ian Coristine sent me an e-mail with a collection of low level photos someone had put together. Many were already in my folder. So, here finally is the contents of my folder, in tribute to my friends Greg “Hard Deck” Williams, whose aggressive attitude once made him engage a pair of A-10s in ACM with his Moonie (and win) and Ian Coristine, who never felt he was flying unless his floats swished in the long grass in a morning sunrise. Ian Coristine inspects the alfalfa in his Quad City Challenger ultralight. • Crayfish, crawfish, crawdads They loved to fly low in World War Two 'One more beat-up, me lads.' Flying Officer Cobber Kain, DFC, a New Zealander and the RAF's first ace of the Second World War, is seen here in France performing a low-level flypast.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Military Aircraft Crash Sites in South-West Wales
    MILITARY AIRCRAFT CRASH SITES IN SOUTH-WEST WALES Aircraft crashed on Borth beach, shown on RAF aerial photograph 1940 Prepared by Dyfed Archaeological Trust For Cadw DYFED ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST RHIF YR ADRODDIAD / REPORT NO. 2012/5 RHIF Y PROSIECT / PROJECT RECORD NO. 105344 DAT 115C Mawrth 2013 March 2013 MILITARY AIRCRAFT CRASH SITES IN SOUTH- WEST WALES Gan / By Felicity Sage, Marion Page & Alice Pyper Paratowyd yr adroddiad yma at ddefnydd y cwsmer yn unig. Ni dderbynnir cyfrifoldeb gan Ymddiriedolaeth Archaeolegol Dyfed Cyf am ei ddefnyddio gan unrhyw berson na phersonau eraill a fydd yn ei ddarllen neu ddibynnu ar y gwybodaeth y mae’n ei gynnwys The report has been prepared for the specific use of the client. Dyfed Archaeological Trust Limited can accept no responsibility for its use by any other person or persons who may read it or rely on the information it contains. Ymddiriedolaeth Archaeolegol Dyfed Cyf Dyfed Archaeological Trust Limited Neuadd y Sir, Stryd Caerfyrddin, Llandeilo, Sir The Shire Hall, Carmarthen Street, Llandeilo, Gaerfyrddin SA19 6AF Carmarthenshire SA19 6AF Ffon: Ymholiadau Cyffredinol 01558 823121 Tel: General Enquiries 01558 823121 Adran Rheoli Treftadaeth 01558 823131 Heritage Management Section 01558 823131 Ffacs: 01558 823133 Fax: 01558 823133 Ebost: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Gwefan: www.archaeolegdyfed.org.uk Website: www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk Cwmni cyfyngedig (1198990) ynghyd ag elusen gofrestredig (504616) yw’r Ymddiriedolaeth. The Trust is both a Limited Company (No. 1198990) and a Registered Charity (No. 504616) CADEIRYDD CHAIRMAN: Prof. B C Burnham. CYFARWYDDWR DIRECTOR: K MURPHY BA MIFA SUMMARY Discussions amongst the 20th century military structures working group identified a lack of information on military aircraft crash sites in Wales, and various threats had been identified to what is a vulnerable and significant body of evidence which affect all parts of Wales.
    [Show full text]
  • THE USE of WOOD for AIRCRAFT in Tilt UNITED KINGDOM Report of the Forest Products Mission
    THE USE Of WOOD FOR AIRCRAFT IN Tilt UNITED KINGDOM Report of the forest Products Mission June 1944 ( No. 1540 ) UNITED STATES REPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE \FOREST SERVICE OREST RODUCTS LABORATORY Madison, Wisconsin In Cooperation with the University of Wisconsin r%; Y 1 4 9 14. \ THE.USE OF WOOD FOR AIRCRAFT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM Report of the Forest Products Mission INTRODUCTION On July 2, 1943, the British Air Commission in Washington, D, C., on behalf of the Ministry of Aircraft Production extended to the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Agriculture an invitation for representatives of the Forest Products Laboratory to visit England for the purpose of "strengthening the present collaboration between our two countries on researches into the uses of timber in aircraft construction." The Secretar: of Agriculture accepted this invitation. At the same time, similar invitations were extended by the British Air Commission to the U. S. Army Air Forces, the U. S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, the U. S. Civil Aeronautics Administration, and to the Canadian Forest Products Laboratories. Due to pressure of work and limi- tation of technical personnel, the Army and Navy were unable to accept the invitation. As finally constituted, the participants in the group, hereinafter referred to as the Forest Products Mission, were as follows: United States Carlile P. Winslow, Director, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, Chairman of the Mission. L. J. Markwardt, Assistant Director, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. Thomas R. Truax, Principal Wood Technologist, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. Charles B. Norris, Principal Engineer, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin.
    [Show full text]
  • 136 Squadron Royal Air Force & F/Sgt 'Bob' Cross, DFM
    136 Squadron Royal Air Force & F/Sgt ‘Bob’ Cross, DFM. Formed at Kirton -in- Lindsey, Lincolnshire, on 20 th August 1941, and equipped with Hawker Hurricane MkIIs, 136 Squadron can be said to have been a truly ‘Commonwealth’ squadron. The founder members hailed from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, and even boasted an Argentine Scot! The Squadron can also lay claim to being the only known unit of the British Forces whose name, and ultimately the official Squadron Crest, approved and granted by the Monarch, came about courtesy of a somewhat bawdy song! It was in ‘The Queens Head’ pub, in Kirton village, that the first Squadron C.O., Squadron Leader T.A.F. Elsdon, DFC, broke into song, although perhaps not too tunefully, with a rendition of a slightly risqué ditty, entitled “The Woodpecker’s Hole ”, sang to the tune of “ Dixie ”, which was taken up by at least two of the young pilot’s who also knew the words, and it wasn’t long before this became the ‘Squadron Song’. The legend of ‘The Woodpeckers’ had begun! Becoming operational on 28 th September, conducting patrols over the North Sea, the Squadron was soon on the move, embarking for the Far East on November 9 th . Upon arrival in India, ‘The Woodpeckers’ were quickly redirected to Burma, arriving in early February 1942, during the Japanese invasion! Another move swiftly followed at the end of the month, with the Squadron evacuated to India, reforming operationally, still with Hurricanes, on 31 st March. The main duties were convoy patrols, and the air defence of Calcutta, and some operations actually took place from a main thoroughfare in the city, the Red Road, with take off and landing being between the stone balustrades on either side of the road, with the odd statue or two to take into consideration on the approach! Detachments based at Chittagong also began operating over the Burma front, in mid-December, with the Squadron being based there by the end of the year.
    [Show full text]
  • Local Lad Flies Into a Tree at Turvey
    1940 LOCAL LAD FLIES INTO A TREE AT TURVEY Home Counties and instructors were told to keep training flights to a level LOCAL LAD FLIES INTO A where they would not interfere with operations. TREE AT TURVEY At 3.30pm on the afternoon of 7th October 1940, Jim Bridge took to the air in an Airspeed Oxford, N4729. His pupil James Bridge was born on 28th May 1914 was Leading Aircraftman Jack Kissner, th at 12 Egerton Road, Bexhill, Sussex, the son of 7 October 1940 a local lad from nearby Northampton. Walter and Mary Bridge. His family later moved Their task was to carry out a low flying LOCATION to Pavenham and, between 1923 and 1933, Jim practice flight around Cranfield. A few attended both Bedford Preparatory School and Newton Park Farm, Turvey moments after leaving the ground the small twin-engined aircraft struck a tree Bedford Modern School. He then went on to TYPE near the end of the runway and crashed attend Bedford Technical Institute and it was here, Airspeed Oxford I in October 1934, that Jim, with the support of his between the road and former railway line near Newton Park Farm, one mile south- employer, W. H. Allen Sons & Co. of Queens’ SERIAL No. south-west of the village of Turvey. The aircraft burst into flames on impact with N4729 the ground and the two crewmen died instantly. Engineering Works, Bedford, embarked on a Above right: Flying mechanical engineering course. On 1st October UNIT Officer James Bridge A subsequent Court of Inquiry found that pilot was flying less than 100 feet with his wife and new above the ground and had flown into bright sun, which hampered his vision.
    [Show full text]
  • WW2 /Emergency Stories from Clare Clare In
    Clare in WW2 - The Emergency - WW2 /Emergency Stories from Clare Stories from Clare D Day 1944 - The 2nd US Rangers By Ger Browne The aim of this project is to find out how many men and women from Clare took part in WW2, and the effect of the war on Clare. It is hoped that an extension will be added to the Great War Memorial in Ennis that will include the names of the Clare War Dead from WW2 / The Emergency. At the moment we know that 86 died from Clare as well as in Clare. I would like to thank Keir McNamara, and his late father Peadar McNamara for all their research on WW1 and WW2. Eric Shaw, who has been providing me with amazing WW1 and WW2 information for years, and all the following who have helped make this project possible. Paddy Waldron, The Local Studies Centre, Peter Beirne, Brian Doyle, Guss O’Halloran, Sean Glennon, Jim Molohan, Joe Ó Muircheartaigh, Eddie Lough, Local Parish Booklets, The Clare Champion and The Clare People. I have also named the sources, with many of the names below. I thank them all. The following websites: findagrave website, ancestry.com, fold3.com, http://www.ww2irishaviation.com, and the Commonwealth War Grave Commission. Finally thanks to the Clare Library for publishing all the information, and Larry and James Brennan along with the Clare Roots Society, for all their help. 1 Contents Clare during WW2 / The Emergency Page 3 The LDF in Clare Page 4 Supplies, Rationong and Poverty in Clare Page 6 Plane crashes and landings in Clare during WW2 Page 9 The stealing of a plane from Rineanna Aerodrome Page 26 Ships Mined and Torpedoed off the Clare Coast Page 28 Clare Key to WW2 German Invasion Plans - ‘Operation Green’ Page 29 EIRE Signs of WW II – Loophead Page 30 The Great War Memorial in Ennis The new Clare Great War Memorial in Ennis.
    [Show full text]
  • Coastal Command in the Second World War
    AIR POWER REVIEW VOL 21 NO 1 COASTAL COMMAND IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR By Professor John Buckley Biography: John Buckley is Professor of Military History at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. His books include The RAF and Trade Defence 1919-1945 (1995), Air Power in the Age of Total War (1999) and Monty’s Men: The British Army 1944-5 (2013). His history of the RAF (co-authored with Paul Beaver) will be published by Oxford University Press in 2018. Abstract: From 1939 to 1945 RAF Coastal Command played a crucial role in maintaining Britain’s maritime communications, thus securing the United Kingdom’s ability to wage war against the Axis powers in Europe. Its primary role was in confronting the German U-boat menace, particularly in the 1940-41 period when Britain came closest to losing the Battle of the Atlantic and with it the war. The importance of air power in the war against the U-boat was amply demonstrated when the closing of the Mid-Atlantic Air Gap in 1943 by Coastal Command aircraft effectively brought victory in the Atlantic campaign. Coastal Command also played a vital role in combating the German surface navy and, in the later stages of the war, in attacking Germany’s maritime links with Scandinavia. Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the authors concerned, not necessarily the MOD. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without prior permission in writing from the Editor. 178 COASTAL COMMAND IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR introduction n March 2004, almost sixty years after the end of the Second World War, RAF ICoastal Command finally received its first national monument which was unveiled at Westminster Abbey as a tribute to the many casualties endured by the Command during the War.
    [Show full text]
  • George Hogarth, Clewiston and Beyond
    Clewiston and Beyond Books 1-2015 George Hogarth, Clewiston and Beyond Jenifer A. Harding [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/clewiston-beyond Scholarly Commons Citation Harding, Jenifer A., "George Hogarth, Clewiston and Beyond" (2015). Clewiston and Beyond. 1. https://commons.erau.edu/clewiston-beyond/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Books at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Clewiston and Beyond by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GEORGE HOGARTH CLEWISTON AND BEYOND The story of a young man from Edinburgh who joined the RAF in World War 2 and went out to Florida in 1941 to learn to fly CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1 Before Clewiston Chapter 2 Clewiston (October 2, 1941 to March 12, 1942) Chapter 3 After Clewiston Chapter 4 5BFTS Association Epilogue 1 INTRODUCTION For as long as I can remember, I have known that my father served with the RAF in World War 2. My brother, sister and I grew up with uniforms to dress up in, Log Books to read, and rescue packs and silk maps (useful when bailing out in enemy territory) to look at. My mother was in the WRENS1, and my grandparents, uncles and aunts had all been engaged on active service or other war work. We played with gas masks (they made good feeding bags for rocking horses) and as I was born in 1948, I had a National Identity Card and a ration book.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Danish Military Aircraft Volume 1 Danish Military Aircraft Introduction
    THE HISTORY OF DANISH MILITARY AIRCRAFT VOLUME 1 DANISH MILITARY AIRCRAFT INTRODUCTION This is a complete overview of all aircraft which has served with the Danish military from the first feeble start in 1912 until 2017 Contents: Volume 1: Introduction and aircraft index page 1-4 Chapter 1 - Marinens Flyvevæsen (Navy) page 5-14 Chapter 2 - Hærens Flyvertropper (Army) page 15-30 Chapter 3 – 1940-45 events page 31-36 Chapter 4 – Military aircraft production page 37-46 Chapter 5 – Flyvevåbnet (RDAF) page 47-96 Volume 2: Photo album page 101-300 In this Volume 1 Each of the five overview chapters shows a chronological list of the aircraft used, then a picture of each type in operational paintscheme as well as some special colourschemes used operationally and finally a list of each aircraft’s operational career. The material has been compiled from a multitude of sources the first of which is my research in the Danish National and Military archives, the second is material from the archives of Flyvevåbnet with which I had a fruitful cooperation in the years 1966 to 1980 and the third are the now (fortunately) many books and magasines as well as the Internet which contains information about Danish military aircraft. The pictures in Volume 1 and Volume 2-the photo album- have mainly been selected from the viewpoint of typicality and rarety and whereever possible pictures of operational aircraft in colour has been chosen. Most of the b/w picures in some way originate from the FLV historical archives, some were originally discovered there by me, whereas others have surfaced later.
    [Show full text]
  • Fles Ohio Colub
    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19930090521 2020-06-17T04:22:21+00:00Z AIRCRAFT CIRCULARS NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS No. 208 THE AIRSPEED u OXFORD' t TRAINING AIRPLANE (BRITISH) A Two-Engine Cantilever Monoplane ;I Ui AUCAi. A!]V ,!'30RY (OTT LACE( A[434liY. J)4fl LANGkf ft ;-ID, v,t4 FLES RETURN TO THE AWW( OHIO !?(QUST cA jT COLUB, ;s' rn' * 117 IZW TqEENW,. Washington WASWNGTON 25, DA., September 1937 il NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS AIRCRAFT CIRCULAR NO. 208 THE AIRSPEED "OXFORD" TRAINING AIRPLANE (BRITISH)* A Two-Engine Cantilever Monoplane The Airspeed A.S. 10 "Oxford" is a twin-engine train- er with all the essential modern conveniences: flaps, controllable-pitch propellers, retractable landing gear, and so forth. There also is provision for training in bombing, air gunnery, radio operation, navigation, and aerial photography. De-icers are the only things that the airplane seems to lack. Suitable modification of the equipment turns the "Oxford" into a useful general-purpose type. The fact that the interior of the "Oxford" looks neat and simple is a tribute to the detail design. Actually a stagger- ing amount of apparatus has been compactly stowed away. The "Oxford" is a typical Airspeed low-wing canti- lever monoplane built of wood, except for the ailerons which are metal framed (figs. 1 and 2) . Powered with two 375-horsepower moderately supercharged Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah X engines, the "Oxford" has a top speed of about 196 miles per hour at 7,500 feet. The landing speed is 64 miles per hour. The duration is 5-3/4 hours at 151 miles per hour cruising speed with the standard tanks for 156 gallons.
    [Show full text]
  • Transatlantic Mission
    WARBIRDS WARBIRDS INTERNATIONAL WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS XP4Y-1 Corregidor. In my opinion, only the Arguably, the most historic wartime Martin JRM Mars of 1942 was comparable record of any surviving WWII US Navy in terms of design execution and utility, aircraft is that PBY-5A BuNo 2459. On although it’s a massive and very differ- the line at the time of the Pearl Harbor ent flying machine. raid, she was almost immediately sent The PBY-5A was the amphibious to replace her flying boat sisters that version of Consolidated’s super long were valiantly trying to guard the RETURNING THE COLLINGS range/endurance flying boat. She car- convoys from the eastern seaboard FOUNDATION’S CONSOLIDATED ried 4000-pounds of ordinance and through Greenland to Iceland. PBY-5A CATALINA BACK TO THE USA could stay aloft over 20-hours in Operating with VP-73 in one of the extreme situations. The four-engine most difficult parts of the world, the British Short Sunderland and Japan’s squadron was savaged by winter PART ONE BY JOE SCHEIL H6K Mavis were both capable of 24-hour storms packing wind gusts of 120-knots ne of World War Two aviation’s most incorrect History and records aside, NO aircraft design exceeded missions, but with a war load the Squadron insignia and this resulted in the destruction of six statements — and one that is oft reprinted and the PBY’s capabilities for persistence, durability, and utili- Sunderland’s endurance was reduced to 14- for VP-27.
    [Show full text]
  • Dropzone Issue 2
    HARRINGTON AVIATION MUSEUMS HARRINGTON AVIATION MUSEUMS V OLUME 6 I SSUE 2 THE DROPZONE J ULY 2008 Editor: John Harding Publisher: Fred West MOSQUITO BITES INSIDE THIS ISSUE: By former Carpetbagger Navigator, Marvin Edwards Flying the ‘Mossie’ 1 A wooden plane, a top-secret mission and my part in the fall of Nazi Germany I Know You 3 Firstly (from John Harding) a few de- compared to the B-24. While the B- tails about "The Wooden Wonder" - the 24’s engines emitted a deafening roar, De Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito. the Mossie’s two Rolls Royce engines Obituary 4 seemed to purr by comparison. Al- It flew for the first time on November though we had to wear oxygen masks Editorial 5 25th,1940, less than 11 months after due to the altitude of the Mossie’s the start of design work. It was the flight, we didn’t have to don the world's fastest operational aircraft, a heated suits and gloves that were Valencay 6 distinction it held for the next two and a standard for the B-24 flights. Despite half years. The prototype was built se- the deadly cold outside, heat piped in Blue on Blue 8 cretly in a small hangar at Salisbury from the engines kept the Mossie’s Hall near St.Albans in Hertfordshire cockpit at a comfortable temperature. Berlin Airlift where it is still in existence. 12 Only a handful of American pilots With its two Rolls Royce Merlin en- flew in the Mossie. Those who did had gines it was developed into a fighter some initial problems that required and fighter-bomber, a night fighter, a practice to correct.
    [Show full text]
  • SH48104 Airspeed Oxford Mk.I/L! "Commonwealth Service''
    SH48104 Airspeed Oxford Mk.i/l! "Commonwealth Service'' Airspeed Oxford AS.10 was designed according to the T.23/36 specifications that called for twin-engined trainer and light transport aircraft. When designing this aircraft the company resulted from its AS.6 Envoy transport aircraft. The first prototype flew in June 19,1937. The mass production lasted until 1945 and 4411 machines of several versions were produced in total. The main versions were Mk.l without turret and Mk.ll with gun turret for gunners' training. Versions Mk.lil and Mk.IV were not mass produced. Version Mk.V powered by P&W R-985 engines was license produced in Canada. Airspeed Oxford was cantilever low-wing monoplane with semi- monocoque fuselage and wooden tail planes.The trainer should serve for gunners, navigators, radio operators and bombardiers training. Except of these roles it also served for maritime patrols, ambulance, light transport or light bomber aircraft. Called "Ox-Box" by ground personnel became the main twin-engined trainertype for Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) and British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Thanks to this the airmen from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth states were trained on this aircraft. The type also served as liaison in US Air Force based in Great Britain. Oxford was successfully exported before, during and especially after the war. Therefore the list of the states that purchased this aircraft very long. Randomly, France, Netherlands. Denmark. Turkey, Israel, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Norway, Finland or India. When the war has ended the Oxfords were modified to AS.65 Consul version intended for civil users.
    [Show full text]