Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: al.weaver@rose.uucp
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Piece of Cake
Message-ID: <1990Jul31.223517.6167@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 31 Jul 90 22:35:17 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 42
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: al.weaver@rose.uucp

phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson) writes:

>I am a pilot, and I can confirm what you say.  Tailwheel, or
>"conventional gear" aircraft sit at a steep climbing angle when
>they're on the ground. Visibility during taxi, takeoff and landing is
>problematical even from, for example, the rear seat of a Cub.
>Taxiing is usually handled as a series of shallow S-turns to allow
>the pilot to see where (s)he's going.  In something like a Stearman
>or (I assume) a Spitfire, with an immense engine hanging out front,
>you simply can't see forward at all until the plane rotates.  On
>landing, with the nose high, you sorta hafta stick your head outside
>and hope...
>
>Anyway, most modern aircraft use tricycle (nosewheel) gear, both to
>improve visibility and to make takeoff and landing easier.
>Conventional gear is used mostly on planes needing short and soft
>landing strips.

At last, someone who agrees with me!  I was thinking that opening the canopy
could be for escape and rescue as well.  Spitfires had the fuel tank just in
front  of  the  firewall,  so it would be dangerous in case of a crash on
takeoff.  It was also why so many Spitfire and Hurricane pilots were  burned
if  their  plane  was hit in the engine area.  The tank was not self-sealing
(in the early versions of Spitfire).  Also, the early Spitfires had to  have
their  landing gear manually pumped up and down (something like the Wildcat,
only the Wildcat pilot used a crank handle), and the pilot may have left the
canopy open in order to have more  room  to  perform  this  task.   Spitfire
cockpits  were  notoriously  close-fitting.   British pilots marveled at the
size of the cockpits of the American planes  (Mustang,  Corsair,  Tomahawk),
which they received through Lend-Lease.

Regards, Al
al.weaver@rose.uucp

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