by captjeff | Nov 30, 2020 | Plane Tales
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When examining pilot deaths in WWI it was discovered that 90% were put down to pilot errors whereas only 2% were due to enemy action! Things didn’t improve in WW2 either. A lowly 23 year old analyst challenged the assumption that cockpits should be designed to fit the Average Pilot. This is the story of Human Factors in Aviation.
An RAF pilot’s annual assessment of ability.
Quételet, the man who invented averages.
The University of Ghent.
It was the study of Astronomy that gave rise to the first calculations of averages.
The study of the average Scottish Soldier.
Very few deaths during the First World War were due to enemy action.
The Second World War also saw an unacceptable number of deaths due to accidents.
The USAF conducted a large study into the size of their men to discover the dimensions of the average pilot.
Lt Gilbert Daniels discovered that not one USAF pilot matched the average!
The study of ergonomics let to better cockpit design.
Human factors also covers the limitation of the human body when flying.
Modern glass cockpits prevent many pitfalls from previous designs but bring their own problems.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Congress, Frederik de Wit, the Deseronto Archives, the USN, the Australian War Museum, Henry Vandyke Carter and Airbus.
by captjeff | Nov 22, 2020 | Plane Tales
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Having recently talked about of couple of embarrassingly awful US World War 2 aircraft it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention some from my side of the Atlantic that were knocked together in the jolly old British Isles! Sadly, there are way too many to cover so I’ll just take a deep breath and mention a few!
Adverts for Boulton and Paul garden sunrooms.
The Wonderful Airfix Defiant model.
The ungainly Rhino parachute that the Defiant gunners wore.
The Sopwith Camel that Boulton Paul built under licence.
Boulton Paul had become well known as a turret manufacturer.
The ungainly Rhino parachute that the Defiant gunners had to cope with.
Boulton Paul Defiants lined up on the ground.
Taken out of front line operations the Defiant found a place as a target tug aircraft.
The large and slow Fairey Battle.
The Battle’s bomb aimer’s position.
Bombing up a Battle.
How many apprentices does it take to push a Fairey Battle?
The Fairey Swordfish.
The aircraft due to replace the Swordfish, the Fairey Albacore.
An Albacore departs from HMS Victorious.
The damaged and sunk capital ships of the Italian Navy after the Battle of Taranto.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Boulton & Paul Ltd, Airfix, the RAF, Air Historic Branch RAF, RN, and The Australian War Memorial Collection,
by captjeff | Nov 13, 2020 | Plane Tales
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It was in the early predawn that Pilot Officer Richard Pryce Hughes crashed his aircraft on the heathland a little less than 500 yards from where I live. That was 78 years ago and I was yet to be born and where my house is was still a pine covered heathland. A marker has been erected to show the location of the crash and as we approach the 11th of the 11th my wife or I place a cross on the small monument in remembrance, lest we forget.
The heathland upon which Pilot Officer Richard Pryce Hughes crashed.
RCAF recruitment poster.
The Handley Page Halifax.
A painting depicting a 1,000 bomber raid.
The 10 Squadron winged arrow – approved by King George VI in September 1937.
The Bomber Command memorial depicting a typical crew.
A Halifax during a raid.
The fate of a heavy bomber hit by flak.
The Bristol Blenheim.
The De Havilland Mosquito.
The graves of the two brave Hughes cousins.
The Canadian memorial to their bomber crews at Nanton.
The marker placed in memory of Pilot Officer Richard Pryce Hughes.
Each year as we approach the 11th of the 11th my wife or I place a cross on the marker in remembrance… lest we forget.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Royal Air Force, the Ministry of Defence, Google Maps, the Royal Canadian Air Force.
by captjeff | Nov 8, 2020 | Plane Tales
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Orford Ness is a remote spit of marsh and shingle covered land that sticks out into the North Sea. Part of the chilly, windswept Suffolk coast of East England it became the secret location for a place where boffins could work on the latest experiments in aviation and nuclear weapons. It was also the place where one of the very last pilots to die in WW I would meet his end.
In ancient times, Orford Ness was home to smugglers!
Orford Ness in modern times, not far from Bungay!
The village of Orford with its medieval castle and Norman church.
The RFC version of interrupter gear.
A Martello tower.
A Heath Robinson cartoon.
The Bristol Fighter.
Beacon tower.
The Blue Plaque.
The Orford Ness Pagodas.
The experimental Over The Horizon radar codenamed Cobra.
The grave of Lieutenant Oliver Byerley Walters Wills, R.F.C. who was killed at Orford Ness a few hours before the end of WW1.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Ananias Appleton, Google Maps, the RAF, Alesey Komarov, Andrew Helme, Peter Norman, George Wolfe and Chris Gunns.
by captjeff | Oct 9, 2020 | Plane Tales
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I’ve done plenty of Tales about the triumphant aircraft of World War 2 that fought in the skies over Europe, Africa Russia and the Far East. Quite naturally, I guess, not so much is known about the horrible failures. Not all of the aircraft we will look at were quite that bad… many were just misguided ideas, old designs or put into the wrong role!
Vultee P-66 Vanguard.
The Vanguard with its original cowling design which gave insufficient cooling to the big radial engine.
The Vanguards at Karachi during their ill fated transit to China.
The Bell P39Q Airacobra.
The Airacobra with the big supercharger cooling vents that created so much drag.
The rather unusual, for a fighter that is, Airacobra cockpit door.
Guns blazing, the Airacobra was indeed quite well armed.
The RAF 601 Sqn with their renamed Caribou (Airacobra)… not much admired, the soon requipped with Spitfires.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to SADSM, USAF, Bill Larkins, WMFerguson, National Museum of the Air Force and the RAF.
by captjeff | Oct 3, 2020 | Plane Tales
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Any of Brien Wygle’s achievements would be enough for most of us to dine-out on for the rest of our lives. A World War 2 pilot who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy. A man who flew Hump missions in a vulnerable C-47s and who saw three of his comrades go down in a single day. A pilot who volunteered to fly bombing missions for the fledgling Israeli Air Force, who taught Howard Hughes to fly jet aircraft and who became a notable test pilot and yet was one of the most unassuming people you would want to meet.
Much of Brien’s love of flying came from magazines and building model aircraft.
As a young man Brien saw a formation of Hurricanes which lit the flame of his desire to become a pilot.
Brien’s flying training started in the Tiger Moth.
Brien’s first operational type was the Douglas Dakota.
Brien spend much time in the Far East flying dangerous mump missions and supply drops to the Chindits.
Back in Canada, Brien got some rare jet time on the De Havilland Vampire.
Joining Boeing, Brein started work flying the B47.
Famously, Brien was the project test pilot for the Boeing 737.
Posing with Lew Wallick after a successful maiden flight of the B737.
Brien was also part of the crew that flew the maiden flight of the B747.
Brien Wygle passed away on the 15th of September 2929.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Phil Major, MOD, RAF, RCAF, Bill Barnes Magazines, USAF, RAF, Boeing Corporation.
