wanttaja@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ronald J Wanttaja) (08/13/85)
> 1. Most everyone has seen the B-17 belly landing sequence that was originally filmed for the movie, "Twelve O'Clock High." You know, that's the one where the Fort slides through a tent, etc. > a. What famous stunt pilot was flying the B-17? Paul Mantz > b. What component of the B-17 was missing? The ball turret. I do believe that it was removed before takeoff, however, I think the wartime crews jettisoned it before gear-up landings. Could really mess up the belly slide, I suppose... > 2. What superstition did Manfred von Richtofen violate before he took off on his last flight? He allowed his picture to be taken. Ever since Boelke had his picture taken just before his final mission, no GAF pilot would allow it. > 3. Speaking of the Red Baron, who replaced him as commander? Fella by the name of Herman Goering... > 4. In the movie, "Test Pilot," what type of aircraft is Clark Gable flying when he tries to set the transcontinental record (Real type... not what they called it in the movie)? Seversky P-35. According to a older friend of mine, the P-35 was the standard "Hi-tech" aircraft in movies of the '30s. > 5. Airplane Nicknames! What aircraft have (had) the following unofficial nicknames? a. Tante Ju <Junkers JU-52/3M> b. Converter <Cessna T-37, also known as the "Tweety Bird" or "Tweet," because of the high-pitched scream of the engines. Why "Converter?" Because it converts fuel and air into noise, natch...> c. Wichita Fokker <Beech Travelair, the original biplane, not the 50s-60s twin. Had "Elephant ear" control surfaces, similar to those on the Fokker D-7, so was a common stand-in during movies in the pre-WWII days. d. Buff <B-52 Stratofortress. Stands for "Big Ugly Fat, uhhhh, Fellow...:-) > e. Mossie (easy) <DH Mosquito> > 6. Name the song: >"You can keep the goddamn Zeros > for the other goddamn heroes, > For I'd rather lay a woman > than be shot down in a Grumman, > Buster..." "I Wanted Wings" (till I got the goddamn things, now I don't want them anymore...) > 7. Where did FDR say Doolittle's Tokyo raiders came from? "Shangri-La" > 8. Who was Tomi Zai? (Now THAT is an obscure one...) He was the kamikaze pilot that finally took USS Enterprise out of the war, in early 1945. He crashed his Zero, carrying a 500 lb bomb, into the forward elevator. They found calling cards with his name on what was left of the body... > 9. Although bombardiers and navigators operated machine guns from their stations, gunners assigned to bombers were non-commissioned officers (Corporals, Sergeants, etc)- with one exception. Who was the only commissioned waist gunner in the Eighth Air Force? Now, I can hear you gnashing your teeth out there about ridiculously trivial trivia, but... the guy was Captain Clark Gable! He volunteered for the Air Force, was commissioned, and washed out of flying school. He also had no aptitude for navigating or dropping bombs, so all that was left was gunnery school. They couldn't take his captaincy away without cause. His war record? He flew a few missions, and after a particularly rough one, climbed out of the airplane shaking his head and saying, quote, "This shit's not for me!" He was transferred stateside. > 10. If you see a picture of a German aircraft with "FE-" and a number on it, what does that signify? Axis aircraft returned to the US for evaluation were assigned a "Foreign Equipment" serial number. Therefore, if it has an "FE" number, the plane was in the CONUS undergoing evaluation. > 11. Pactra special time again, folks: a. "Ding Hao!"- whose aircraft had this painted on it? <Don Gentile, ETO. Flew for a while in China, and had "Number One!" in chinese painted on his P-51B.> b. <eyes and a mustache around the cooling holes in a Fokker DR1 cowling>- whose aircraft (no, not ENEMY ACE :-) ) <Well, an enemy ace, but not the comic book one. The real-life pilot was Werner Voss, regarded as one of the best GAF pilots of WWI. He was shot down after holding off seven of the best British pilots for ten minutes or more. Well regarded by the British, unlike Richtofen.> c. "Hotter than a pistol, and twice as fast"- what aircraft? <The Wedell-Williams special, race number 44...get it?> d. "The Body" What novel (and movie) featured a B-17 with this name? <John Hershey's _The_War_Lover_. The movie starred Steve McQueen as the pilot who, uhhh, got his sexual kicks by dropping bombs on people.> > 12. What kind of aircraft was Knute Rockne killed in? Fokker Trimotor. The aircraft was banned from service soon after, as it was found the sealed wooden wing spars had a tendency to rot internally. Ford (whose trimotor was a metal copy of the Fokker) had really pushed for the ban, for obvious reasons. > 13. Last quiz, we found out that the McDoug F-15 was not the first fighter named "Eagle." Well, for that matter, the McDoug Eagle wasn't the first US aircraft designated "F-15!" What was the first F-15? The Recce version of the Northrup P-61 Black Widow. The designation "F" (for photo) was used to redesignate several famous aircraft that were used for reconnaisance. The recce P-38 was the F-5, the P-51 was the F-6, etc. > 14. What type of jet did BLACK HAWK and his squadron fly? Lockheed F-90s, which were essentially swept-wing F-80s. > 15. For that matter, what kind of airplane did Jet Jackson fly? (making up for my errors about Capt. Midnight :-) ) If I remember correctly, they used a model of the Douglas D-558/2 for Jet Jackson's flying sequences. > 16. Who was the first person to undress in an heavier-than-air aircraft? The most famous pre-WWI stunt pilot, Lincoln Beachey, who was blessed with a large ego. After a demonstration in which he felt he hadn't flown very well, a bunch of well-wishers crowded around him, slapping him on the back and telling him what a great pilot he was. Contemptuous of their perception, he took off, and began bombing them with articles of his clothing. If I remember right, he kept his red "union suit" on. I was originally going to word this, "...undress in flight," until I remembered that the "Mile Hi club" predated the Wright brothers... > 17. Kiwis are a popular net subject, lately. What did that term mean in the Army Air Force? Kiwis were aviation cadets who had not yet soloed. When an upperclassman asked for the definition of a Kiwi, an underclassman was supposed to reply: "Sir, a kiwi is a birds that runs around in circles, tighter and tighter, 'till it runs up its own ass and says, 'kiwi, kiwi, keeerist, it's dark in here..." > 18. Special Bonus question: Indentify the source of this: "He was only eighteen when he downed his first machine, and any chance of living through this war was small; He was nineteen when I met 'im... and I never will forget 'im, The pilot by the name of Albert Ball. This is from "Billy Bishop Goes to War," a one-man (one and a half, if you count the piano player) play about the wartime experiences of the WWI ace. I highly recommend it, if it comes your way. The whole thing is a "No sh*t, there I was" sort of thing, with many laughs and interesting songs, yet not glossing over the darker side of war. The Canadian stations broadcast it occasionally, and I've heard PBS plays it, too. Definitely a must-see. Well, that about wraps up another one. I may do another, in the next few years.... Ron Wanttaja (ssc-vax!wanttaja) "Did you know he checks his sanity with a stopwatch?" "What do you check yours with, a dipstick???"
cfiaime@ihnp3.UUCP (Jeff Williams) (08/14/85)
> > > 11. Pactra special time again, folks: > > a. "Ding Hao!"- whose aircraft had this painted on it? <Don Gentile, > ETO. Flew for a while in China, and had "Number One!" in chinese > painted on his P-51B.> (Sorry I didn't enter this one, but with the change of office, change of machine, and homework...) Anyway, Don Gentile was an Ohio boy who washed out of the USAAF flying school and joined the RAF. As a member of the 71 Eagle Squadron, he had a somewhat average career. But, when transferred to the USAAF (4th Fighter Group), and put in a P-51, he racked up quite a score. Don's airplane was named "Shangra-La." It's outstanding feature was a red and white checker board pattern under the left exhaust bank so that John Godfrey (his normal wingman) could easily pick him out in a fight. Godfrey's plane ("Reggie's Reply") also had the checkerboard pattern. Gentile was killed in 1945 or 1946 flying a P-80 Shooting Star. Godfrey died in the mid 1950s from cancer. They were one of the hottest teams in the 4th Fighter Group, both being aces 3 or 4 times over. "Ding Hao" was flown by Major Jim Howard when he flew with the 359th (I think) Fighter Group. This was the first group in Europe to equip with the P-51B. Jim Howard won the Medal of Honor in this aircraft by fighting up to 40 German aircraft alone to protect a formation of B-17s. When the B-17s landed, they inquired as to the identity of the pilot of the P-51. When Howard was located, he could not understand what the fuss was all about. It was his job to fly, fight, and escort the bombers. By the way, 3 of the 4 guns in his P-51 had jammed during the fight. Jeff Williams AT&T Bell Laboratories ihnp3!cfiaime
rlr@avsdT.BERKNET (Rhode L. Roberts) (08/21/85)
> > b. What component of the B-17 was missing? > The ball turret. I do believe that it was removed before takeoff, > however, I think the wartime crews jettisoned it before gear-up > landings. Could really mess up the belly slide, I suppose... I recently attended the Madera (Ca.) Gathering of the War Birds Airshow & Fly-in. A ball turret from a B-17 was on static display there, along with a variety of other flying artifacts. There was a captain from Castle AFB there to answer questions. While talking with him about the turret, I discovered that the bottom mounted ball turret was removable but not jettisonable while in flight. The gunner had only one entrance, from outside the turret ( no inside access ). The entrance door was also the gunners back support. There was no way for him to open the door from the inside, so it was pointless for him to wear a parachute, also there was no room inside for a man with a chute, ( mabey a small boy could do it ). If the plane had gear up problems, they bellied it in and GROUND (as in round) the turret off during the landing. It must have taken a hell of a lot of guts to be a belly gunner. R. L. Roberts Ampex Corporation One of the Allied/Signal Companies Audio Video Systems Division Computer Services Group 401 Broadway M.S. 3-54 Redwood City, CA. 94063-3199 (415) 367-3790 ...{hplabs,ucbvax}!atd!avsdT:rlr
dsmith@hplabsc.UUCP (David Smith) (08/28/85)
> > 14. What type of jet did BLACK HAWK and his squadron fly? > > Lockheed F-90s, which were essentially swept-wing F-80s. In the same way that McDoug F-15s are essentially twin-tailed F-4s. David Smith ucbvax!hplabs!dsmith
scw@ucla-cs.UUCP (09/03/85)
In article <163@avsdT.BERKNET> rlr@avsdT.BERKNET (Rhode L. Roberts) writes: > I recently attended the Madera (Ca.) Gathering of the > War Birds Airshow & Fly-in. A ball turret from a B-17 > was on [...] turret was removable but not > jettisonable while in flight. The gunner had only > one entrance, from outside the turret ( no inside access ). > The entrance door was also the gunners back support. > There was no way for him to open the door from the > inside, so it [...] gear up problems, they bellied it > in and GROUND (as in round) the turret off during the landing. > > It must have taken a hell of a lot of guts to be > a belly gunner. Actually there was access to the turret in flight, the turret was rotated until the guns pointed down, the door was opened and then the gunner entered. The turret couldn't be rotated to this position on the ground (no clearence for the barrels. Ball gunners were ALWAYS small as there wasn't room for a large person in the turret. Very small people could wear a chestpack in the turret but it usually got in the way. The turret door was openable from the inside (in either position, but there were many attitudes that prohibited opening the door (the turret ring would be in the way. The turret was jetsonable from within the aircraft by cutting the supporting mechanism away with an axe. I took a lot of guts to fly any position, but ball turret gunners did have a noticably higher casualty rate. <scw>