Aircraft Turrets And Defense Tactics | Interesting Historical Facts You Might Not Know | Ep. 1

This is the United States Air Force Convair B-36  bomber Mainstay of the Strategic Air Command in   the early 1950s sometimes referred to as The  Peacemaker it was the largest bomber ever built   the 36 also had another name the big stick. With  its unusual almost hushed sound of six huge pusher   propellers this cold war giant best reflected  Teddy Roosevelt's advice on foreign policy   speak softly and carry a big stick however this  Giant's tremendous size proved to be its downfall   it's good that they never had to fly military  missions because they'd a been sitting ducks   the B-36 reflected a radar cross section pattern  of 44 square meters which is tremendous the crews   always knew they were going to be in trouble  when they tried to invade any Russian target in an attempt to shore up its defenses  the B-36 also carried the greatest turret   defense system ever devised although it never  appeared obvious from the outside the B-36 was   festooned with a host of retractable  gun turrets. Each turret was equipped   with two 20 millimeter cannons capable of  firing in almost every possible Direction   however with the exception of tail defense the  big stick was the last chapter in The Saga of   the turret-equipped self-defending bomber it's  a story almost as old as the airplane itself   it was a run and gun battle 1200 miles  long high above Germany they fought against   the Luftwaffe's deadliest Fighters armed with  the most sophisticated turrets ever devised   the air Gunners from the United States Army  Air Force and the Royal Air Force not only   battled through their lives but for the success  and key to allied victory, strategic bombing born above the trenches of World War I the air  Gunner was a new type of warrior armed with one   or two machine guns it was his job to battle  all incoming enemy Fighters it was a daunting   task Sub-Zero temperatures turbulence and icy  slipstream winds made aiming very difficult the   results were often discouraging but the belief in  the self-defending bomber was firmly entrenched by the 1930s the first turret-armed  bombers began to appear World War II   the RAF has the world's only bomber Force armed  with the latest gun turrets early bomber losses   were horrendous but faith in the turret-equipped  bomber remained for the Americans belief in   the turret-armed B-17 in B-24 was unshakable by  1943 however that Faith had been torn to shreds   in the Pacific the B-29 represented the  last best hope for the self-defending bomb   armed with the world's most  advanced remote controlled   turret system determined Japanese  fighter attacks soon found their mark after World War II the air Gunner and the power  turret all but disappeared new jet bombers relied   on height and speed for protection but they did  retain one defensive turret the Stinger's tail just eight years after the Wright brothers  first took flight the air Gunner was born June 7 1910. two men flying a Model B Wright  flyer fire a Lewis machine gun while airborne   for lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling and Charles  de F Chandler it was a straightforward experiment   sitting side by side DeWitt flew the model B while  Chandler fired a full drum of 47 bullets from his   machine gun it was a remarkable feat roughly  12 percent of the bullets found their mark European tests soon followed November  27 1910 pilot Marcus D Manten and   Gunner Lieutenant Stellingworth fire a  Lewis gun from their Graham Witt biplane   25 rounds result in 11 hits a second longer burst  of 47 rounds was less successful with just 15 hits   these two experiments represented a  radical shift in military capability   for the first time armed aircraft  were capable of killing from the air   soon they would be one of the most  destructive weapons ever devised World War I at the outbreak of  hostilities all the warring nations   were equipped with aircraft but very  few were designed to carry a machine gun one exception was the Vickers FB-5 gun bus  as the world's first operational fighter it   required an observer Gunner to make a kill. The  most effective way to mount a machine gun was   to put the engine in the rear with the Observer  Gunner up front and the pilot directly behind   moderately successful the FB-5 and other  pusher types would be rendered obsolete   with the introduction of the Fokker Eindecker in  July 1915. the Focker the world's first   true fighter using synchronized gun gear it was  capable of shooting between its propeller blades   the advantages were enormous guns mounted in  front of the cockpit were well placed straight   line aiming was now possible success  was immediate and so was the response   British and French reconnaissance aircraft added  more free mounted machine guns for self-defense flying solo often meant certain death staggered  formations were devised to give small formations   of aircraft covering fields of Fire but it wasn't  enough fighter pilots on both sides learn to avoid   the rear Gunner's Field of Fire for the Observer  Gunner it was an extremely difficult task battling   icy slipstream winds and paralyzing cold rear  Gunners often fought a losing battle many observer   gunners learned their craft on the job hitting a  fast-moving aircraft from another moving machine   proved extremely difficult and would remain  so well into the Second World War and beyond by 1915 the Royal flying Corps realized a new  training program was needed new qualifications   were laid down new observer gunners were now  capable of not only defending their aircraft   but were trained to use cameras send wireless  messages and direct accurate artillery barrages by 1917 The Pusher had all but disappeared  replaced by the more efficient tractor type   one of the best two-seaters was the Bristol F2B  fighter nicknamed the king of the two seaters it   quickly became one of the most successful  fighters of the war with a forward-firing   machine gun and two in the rear the F2B  had an extremely effective one-two punch   126 observer gunners alone claimed  A status while flying in the F2B as the war progressed new and larger bombers  entered service The De Havilland DH-4 Day   Bomber The Handley Page O/100 heavy bomber and  the giant Zeppelin-Staaken four engine heavy   all had multiple gunners but it was never enough  when faced with a determined fighter opposition   by War's end the Observer air Gunner's role  and Equipment remained relatively unchanged   the Gunner's cockpit was still open to the elements   oxygen was still experimental the rifle  caliber machine gun was still in use and   protective clothing consisted of  layers of leather, fur, and canvas twenty years later early second  world war air gunners faced some   of the same problems but help was on the way   the impact of the airplane on the World War One  Battlefield was minimal what did emerge was the   vital role of the air gunner and the influence  it would have on any future bomber design the German bombing of London  during the First World War introduced   a new kind of warfare, strategic bombing.  Men like U.S Brigadier General Mitchell   and Britain's chief of air staff Major  General Sir Hugh Trenchard firmly believed   the best defense against any attack was to  bomb the aggressor's capacity to wage war   destroy his factories and cities and peace would  soon follow. Theory however was far From Reality   in June 1930 the Handley page Heyford was the  RAF's most advanced bomber. A fabric covered   biplane the Heyford's performance in bomb load was  pitiful a new type of bomber was needed in 1932   the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company introduced  the Revolutionary Martin B-10 monoplane bomber when the Martin B-10 bomber was introduced  in 1932 it revolutionized bomber design it   was an all-metal monoplane bomber tractable  landing gear and variable pitch propellers   had enclosed cockpit for the pilot in the first  turret mounted on the nose now it wasn't powered   but it was manually operated and gave the  Gunner full enclosure from which to operate   it had a high speed about 250 miles  an hour so at the time it was faster   than the leading fighters in the world and that  just reinforced the proponents of the bomber that   the bomber would always get through with its speed  the fighters couldn't catch it with its armaments   even those fires that did get close to it would be  shot down and the bomber would get to its Target   across the Atlantic the RAF introduced the Boulton  Paul Overstrand bomber equipped with the world's   first powered turret mounted on the nose it  was a major step forward and received worldwide   attention. For Gunners it was a marvel. seated in a  draft free heated enclosure Gunners achieved a hit   rate of 55 percent against towed targets compared  to just 15 percent using Scarrf rings in open   cockpits but it was far from perfect powered by  compressed air it had a slow rate of rotation and   could only defend the bomber from head-on attacks  to solve the problem of turret propulsion the   British turned to a French design that combined  electrics and hydraulics the self-contained   hydraulic generator powered by an electric motor  was confined to the rotating portion of the turret   as a self-contained unit it provided the Gunner  with a comfortable seat and sealed gun apertures   remarkably the French aircraft industry and  government were not interested in the design   Britain was more than happy to acquire  the license for the turret and quickly   instructed their firms to  produce competing designs Bristol, Frazer-Nash and Boulton Paul  all responded with new powered turrets surprisingly Germany's aircraft rearmament program  in the 1930s did not include powered turrets   major advances in airframe and  power plant development produced   bombers like the Heinkel He-111 Junkers  JU-87 and the multi-role Junkers Ju-88 The Germans believed that speed altitude   and handheld rifle caliber machine  guns would defeat any fighter attack the Junkers JU-86 the Luftwaffe's first  monoplane bomber introduced in 1934 the   JU-86 Incorporated a number of  new self-defense Innovations   the nose was fully enclosed with a manually  manipulated front turret a retractable Dustbin   turret provided lower defense and the  dorsal position was partially enclosed just as the new monoplane bombers  began to enter service a new and   bold aerial experiment began to  unfold over the Skies of Spain in 1936 Spain erupts into a savage civil  war both sides received the latest Fighters   and bombers for major Powers eager  to test their aircraft and tactics during the Spanish Civil War the Germans and the  Italians and the Soviets had a great test bed for   their latest designs when the Germans introduced  the Heinkel He-1111 and the Dornier DO- 17 bomber   while the Italians introduced the SM-79 three  engine bomber now all these bombers were monoplane   the German bombers were all metal quite fast and  armed with handheld machine guns and no turrets   early versions of the German Heinkel  He-111 proved extremely effective   sleek and fast the all-metal He-111 only  reinforced what many already believed   a fast well-defended bomber would be immune from  fighter interception bombers like the He-111 the   Dornier DO-17 and the Italian Savoia Marchetti S.M.79 were difficult to intercept and shoot down the results didn't go unnoticed bomber  advocates in Britain and the US saw the   Spanish experience as proof well-defended bombers  could attack their targets with near impunity but there was a major flaw. fighter interception  during the Spanish Civil War was rudimentary   there was no radar with both sides relying  on ground observers to spawn incoming raids   fabric covered bi plane fighters like the Fiat CR-32 in polikarpov I-15 found it difficult to   reach the high-flying monoplane bombers now one  of the key things you have to remember about   bombers is and fighters is interception for a  fighter to intercept a bomber it had to have a   lot of lead time you had to know the bomber force  was coming the fighter had to climb to altitude   and getting into position to shoot the bomber  down now in order to do that the the folks on   the ground had to know the speed of the bombers  the height of the bombers so for a fighter to   get off the ground climb to altitude and reach  a bomber formation it was extremely difficult   especially in the Spanish Civil War there was no  radar and maybe warning for bomber Rage or visual   so by the time a visual sighting was made  and interceptors took off the bombers were   well on their way home the other problem was the  fighters their speed comparison to the bombers   was sometimes slower so in order for them to  intercept they had to get up to height and be   above the bombers and dive on the bombers in order  to intercept so for the Germans and the Italians   the lessons they learned from the Spanish Civil  War was that they're fast the bombers armed with   handheld machine guns were enough to get to the  Target and bomb the target the Lessons Learned in   Spain would have a direct effect on the use of air  power at the outbreak of World War II and beyond. in the United States turret development  before 1939 was slow to non-existent   even the famous B-17 when it first  appeared did not have powered turrets   American attitudes at the time considered  turrets to be too heavy and too complicated September 1939 the German Blitzkrieg begins the Royal Air Force has the only  strategic bomber Force equipped   with the most advanced turrets in the  world bombers like the Vickers Wellington   and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley are equipped  with nose and tail Frazer-Nash powered turrets   the Bristol Blenheim had the  Bristol Mark V center turret   with just five squadrons of Wellingtons and nine  with the Whitley it's hardly a strategic force   many believed however that the bomber armed with  powered turrets would always get through. A belief   that was based on nothing but faith political  expediency and fear. The British also developed   the world's first powered turret fighters  the Boulton Paul defiant and Blackburn Roc both were two-seat single-engine Fighters with no  guns in the wings. The Defiant and Roc were never   designed to engage other enemy fighters. Their  sole purpose was to shoot down on escorted enemy   bombers using their power turrets. Both aircraft  never got the chance against enemy fighters. Both   the Roc and Defiant suffered heavy losses. It rather  looked like a hurricane and they were going to fit   a turret on this fighter and mix it with gaggles of  hurricanes. Hoping that it was surprise their enemy   fighters. indeed initially that was true but it  didn't take them long to twig this and they also   twigged that it had no forward firing armament. so  it was a very short period of if you like success   Air gunner training at the beginning of the  war was in many ways a rudimentary affair   armed with a 12-gauge shotgun a gunner  manipulates his Frazer-Nash FN-5 turret   clay pigeons are used to sharpen the gunner's  aim and fine-tune his turret manipulation skills   but just how effective were these early turrets in  terms of the the efficiency or the effectiveness   of the turrets the early turrets especially  they were really calibrated for aircraft that   were possibly slower than the ones that they  were actually intercepting it was new to them   as well it's really new technology you've got  rifle caliber machine guns that are supposed to   give an effective spray to hit an aircraft that  is now approaching at probably over 270 300 knots   especially in the head-on which is going to  be much more than that they were also moving   towards more of an optical arrangement for  for targeting so their aiming was different   as well and they're moving from training gunners  in Virginia's and Hawker Harts and Hawker Demons   to all of a sudden be in closed turrets that in  itself with the fogging and all the other things   the efficiency of the the early  turrets it's it's difficult to assess   the RAF and United States Army Air Force  both believed in the dominance of the bomber   they also believe that with enough  defensive Armament bombers in tight   formation could fight off any fighter  attack, strike a target and return to base   early results were not promising. Raids on German  Naval targets by Blenheims and Hampdens suffered   heavy losses poor formation keeping and  inadequate defensive firepower were to blame   December 18 1939. twenty four RAF Wellingtons target German  warships off Wilhelmshaven. The weather is   perfect. From 70 miles away an experimental German  Freya radar station detects the inbound formation   Fighters are scrambled. The Frazer-Nash turrets  armed with just two 303-inch caliber machine   guns are not enough. Canon armed BF-109s and  Me-110s ripped the Wellington formation apart   shooting down 12 over the target. six more  crash land after reaching the English Coast   it's a devastating blow. further losses during  the battles for Norway and Denmark in April of   1940 force bomber command's hand with  few options and no long-range escort   Fighters RAF bomber command changes  tactics and turns to night bombing well the decision by the RAF to  turn to night bombing was obviously   in response to being heavily mauled  especially during the Battle of France   some of their light bombers were really  decimated though they knew that they could   not defend themselves against any fighter force  or even anti-aircraft there was no fighter at   that point that could defend the bombers  but it was an interesting decision because   with the accuracy of bombing at that time night  bombing increased the level of inaccuracies if   you will. getting close to the target at that  point was probably 30 miles from the target whereas when we go later into the war with  radar they're bombing within feet with their   Precision bombing but it was a it was an  interesting decision but I think it was   really precipitated upon the fact that they  had developed fighters that weren't escort   fighters they were interceptors and they  were turning to strategic bombing which   was not the same way that it was in  1918 when they had first started it   The Boeing B-17. No other aircraft represented  the idea of the self-defending bomber better   than the mighty B-17. July 28 1935 Seattle  Washington. The Boeing model 299 takes flight   bristling with multiple machine guns The Seattle  Times dubs the new bomber the Flying Fortress   the YB-17 would follow with the B-17B  and C model entering service in 1937.   from this point forward the B-17  along with a Consolidated B-24   were Central to the development of both  strategic bombing and the powered turret the first B-17 to see combat belonged to the  RAF's number 90 Squadron equipped with the B-17C   operations began in July of 1941. The British  were eager to test the B-17's High Altitude   performance and defensive armament. Hardly a  fortress the B-17C was far from combat ready   armed with handheld 50 caliber machine guns in  the dorsal ventral and waist positions with one   303-inch caliber gun in the nose it had no powered  turrets equipped with turbo supercharged engines   the B-17 was capable of flying higher than any  other British bomber Missions at 30 000 feet   were common but the results were disappointing  bombing was inaccurate guns froze at altitude Luftwaffe Fighters undeterred by the  B-17s defensive armament pressed   home their attacks with increasing accuracy by the end of 1941 only four of  the original 20 B-17Cs remained.   in response a massive redesign was ordered the  result was the B-17E the first American bomber   to see action with powered turrets. Equipped  with both a Sperry Top and ball turret the   B-17E carried 850 caliber machine guns including  two in the stinger's tail. hydraulically powered   by a self-contained electro-hydraulic unit the  Sperry A-1 top turret had a traverse speed of 40   degrees per second and 360 degree rotation  armed with two M2 50 caliber machine guns   and a K3 computer Gun Sight the Sperry turret  posed a real threat to any attacking fighter the Briggs Sperry ball turret was an ingenious  design as the most compact turret in service   it was capable of holding a gunner two  M2 50 caliber machine guns and a gun Sight   turret speed was 30 degrees per second with a full  360 degree rotation the Sperry Ball turret was the   only really effective Belly turret of the war.  August 12th 1942 twelve B-17Es of the 97th Bomb Group   set off on the 8th Air Force's first bombing  mission of the war escorted by nine squadrons   of RAF Spitfires they successfully bombed the  railroad marshaling yards at Rouen-Sotteville France so in 1942 the US has entered the war and they  begin sending bombers over to England to begin   the buildup of the US-8th Air Force. early bombing  operations with the B-17E and the B-17F prove  successful but their bombing Targets in France  and and Belgium and the penetration isn't that   deep plus they have an escort of P-47s and RAF  Spitfires when they try to go deeper into the   occupied countries in Germany that's when they  meet more resistance from the Luftwaffe and that's   where the fighter escort drops off even though  they're flying in tight combat box formations with   overlapping fields of fire the losses begin to  mount now the B-17F was armed with you know eleven 50   caliber machine guns it had two powered turrets a  Sperry on the top and a ball turret on the bottom   it also had a tail mount with twin 50 calibers waste  gunners and two cheek mounted 50 calibers so it   was quite heavily armed later as they began to  make deeper penetrations into the Germany and   they found that even with these tight combat  boxes the Luftwaffe was finding a way to get   into the bomber stream and shoot the bombers down  one of the things that Luftwaffe learned to do was   attack head on to the B-17 because that's where  the B-17 was weakest in its defensive armament so   what happened was you had a fighter and a bomber  closing in at 600 miles per hour and the German   pilot his job was to get as many 20 millimeter  or 30 millimeter cannon shells into the cockpit   area or an engine on the B-17 and once he did this  the chances of the B-17 survived were quite Slim June 13 1943. 227 B-17s bombed the U-Boat yards at  Bremen and Kiev losses are heavy with 26 B-17s shot   down. air gunners claim 41 enemy fighters but the  lift offer records show only seven and shot dead the results were sobering even with the  most advanced powered turrets of the time   F-17s flying in tight defensive formations were  still vulnerable to determine fighter attacks as losses mounted USAAF commanders searched for an answer [Music] foreign [Music] you wanted to know about B-17 pilot training well largely it's a matter of putting across what we know about the airplane what it'll do and what it shouldn't be asked to do maybe airplanes are like people you don't really get to know them until after you've lived with them a while takes time too to get well acquainted with an airplane time to find out just how far you can go with her and still stay friends that's important and men like our instructor have lived with this airplane long enough to become pretty good friends with her so his job is just a matter of giving you the benefit of his experience the procedure is pretty well standardized and you'll learn to be thankful for that routine like this circle tour of the airplane at the start for instance makes the student's life a lot simpler in the cockpit you'll learn to follow the checklist because it helps you to keep your mind on your work detail is important when you're flying a big bomber and using the checklist means you don't overlook a thing after you get the plane off the ramp and down near the runway you're ready for the run-up one of the most important checks of all Center at an angle that gets all your props safe over concrete for the run-up and if there's a guy behind you you won't blast them when you rev them up as your co-pilot the instructor locks the tail wheel while she's rolling so that when the wheel's in line the lock pin will drop into place they'll be a lot and brakes brake set maybe here you'll switch to interphone easier to talk that way then the checklist again and the instructor's command to check trim tabs set them at zero elevator trim tap rudder aileron then before the run-up always check your oil temperature you had to have at least 40 degrees before beginning the run-up why not close cow flaps hurry up a little it might mean trouble if you're closing you get uneven cooling local hot spots metal fatigue I get it just like bending a wire back and forth Until It Breaks that's it exercise turbos right you advance throttles to 1500 RPM for Turbo exercise and you know why it's important to get warm oil circulating through the turbo regulators if regulator oil is stiff or congealed the turbo wastegates won't react properly one avoidable cause of a runaway turbo on takeoff leaving turbos on you do a repeat on the props give them plenty of time to change pitch watch the tax for that if it's below freezing exercise both turbos and props four times set the lock to keep the levers from creeping then goes off before the mag check another important detail before you rev them up turn on your generators and check each one for ampere output if they balance they're all putting out all right I'm here I'll put okay now voltage and then turn them off 28 and a half on each generators checked and off check mags at 28 inches starting with number one you're boosting manifold pressure you remember there's a backfire Hazard during the mag check so you check turbos off wastegate's open just to be sure oh it's up an RPM oh right oh driving up to the stop a quick check of manifold pressure and then full turbo since you're using 91 grade fuel here you can't draw 46 inches Powers cut about 10 percent you set your lock check RPM a little below 2500 on this fuel take a look at the engine and everything okay act slowly on the throttle because of the induction backfire hazard same procedure on all engines pack the command to call the tower for takeoff clearance and you're Off to the Races lock tail wheel parking brakes hold it with your feet on the runway less has it if you have to get away fast gyro set the gyro compass and check your compass heading against the heading of the runway gyro said generators generators on yeah we're locked light out now let's see a rider three-point takeoff 3.3 Point pull the tail down but don't give it enough pressure to cause a lot of wheel drag and remember you fly the airplane now watch the engine the cow plots open right hold the brakes until you get 25 inches then let it go you have Rudder control by the time you're hitting 50 miles an hour with a crosswind you might have to use the throttles a little Runners enough today 100 octane you'd be using 46 inches and 2500 rpm little less than that with this View you leave the ground at around 100 miles an hour they had a kick on the brakes to stop the wheel spin and Gear Up Get rid of that drag fast and take off emergencies the bare belly is better than Wheels check the light visual inspection later 130 safe air speed for power reduction manifold pressure first Pilot's job but today your instructor doesn't RPM you'll find it all in the tech orders and your checklist co-pilot Trails Carl flaps returning each valve to the locked position check your landing gear up left upright and when your flight engineer gets an okay on the tail wheel the switch is returned to neutral things happen faster than the takeoff and it's easy enough to tense up a little you did well enough but don't fight as you won't throw you and our next takeoff you'll reduce power I'll just make the final adjustments hold your AirSpeed to 135 on the climb what's up power setting 35 inches 2300 let's switch back to end up phone again do you always use this power setting for climbing yes with 91 great Fuel and up to 30 000 feet if you're climbing on instruments you should hold your AirSpeed at 160. are you keeping her trimmed turbo and throttle settings always depend on altitude for instance if we taken off from a sea level field we wouldn't eat turbo or even Full Throttle to the early part of the climb another thing to always cut down manifold pressure before RPM what's your altitude for nearly a thousand feet above the field two of those pumps up at 1000 minimum check fuel pressure before and after gives you another check on engine fuel pump operation look at your manifold pressure manifold pressure creep up steadily on the climb if you don't watch it as free air pressure decreases on the climb the pressure differential across the turbo buckets increases gives you higher turbo speed and more pressure from the blower what about carburetor air filters turn them off at 8 000 don't often hit dust above that in emergencies though you can use them up to fifteen thousand just that high no not dust carburetor icing conditions so now their eyes filters in a way yes filters up he'll just take care from inside the wing and the kind of weather that ices up carburetors air inside the wing is drier and warmer than that you'd get from the ram air intake fill the lights green fill this off check your manifold pressure turning the fillers off increases the manifold pressure about an inch and a half with carburetor icing conditions of course you'd use intercooler's hot but you won't normally get carburetor icing above 12 000 and up there you'll always want intercoolers cold thin air means higher rate of compression from the supercharger and compression makes heat in the wrong places nearly always in the wrong places you level off at ten thousand feet and cutter down to the proper setting for maximum long range performance on 91 grade fuel manifold pressure down first to 28 inches RPM next you make this adjustment with one eye on the airspeed indicator because you use whatever RPM needed to get 150 miles per hour indicated in this case with your conditions 1600 RPM then fuel mixtures to Auto lean and your co-pilot closes Carl flaps since you have a safe margin in head temperatures what about the other power settings why do you use three modified for 91 grade fuel take off power 5 minutes maximum continuous operation climbing power and maximum long range they're all there on the panel the power setting use the normal cruising is always figured from your flight conditions desired range fuel available weather conditions altitude gross weight and perhaps one or two other things in special cases you'll always figure your best power setting from your flight computer all settings arrived at scientifically don't improvise plan the way they're written and always keep an eye on your mixtures in Auto lean don't use more than 29 inches with 91 grade and 2000 RPM [Music] explain something try though that three-point takeoff what about it didn't it feel right well maybe I didn't pull it right I thought it was a little mushy isn't it better with the tail up and what about the stall has it maybe we better figure it out on paper well here we are an old friend you'll remember from flying school days she knows her way around call her tail up Myrtle now take it easy Myrtle when Myrtle's parked on the ground she sure enough in a stalling or near stalling attitude so on the takeoff you lift the tail both to decrease drag and get a safe margin below the stall angle and she takes off like a nice baby and there's no arguing about it but with the misses here it's different in the three-point position she's already in a flying attitude on the takeoff run the relative winds parallel to the ground so say the ground makes one leg of your angle of attack chord line makes the other leg angle of attack in three-point attitude about 10 degrees but with power on the stalling angle for this airplane is about 19 degrees so when you hold the tail down it'll take off you have a nice cozy margin of 9 degrees below the stall angle and when you leave the ground the path of the relative wind changes so the angle of attack actually decreases you get maybe another four degrees of safety and you haven't a care in the world now let's dig a Little Deeper think of the forces at work when you take off as a team of little guys who are in there working for or against you all the time for instance gross weight of the airplane on the ground he Bears down hard on the landing gear when we're ready to start the takeoff run you'll need a pail of his wheel drag the harder gross weight Bears down on the wheels the bigger and stronger wheel drag gets that's definitely not good especially if your Runway is soft or slushy think of lift as a kind of muscle man working from the wings pulling up gross weight speed makes him pull harder and increasing the angle of attack also makes him pull harder get the relationship between lift weight on wheels and we'll drag to more lift the less weight on Wheels less weight on Wheels smaller wheel drag then of course there's thrust he's your power and aerodynamic drag he's with you all the time except when you're parked on the ground now let's try to visualize what happens on a two-point takeoff at the start of the Run lift increases steadily lift takes more and more weight off the wheels taking weight off the wheels steadily reduces wheel drag then just when things are looking good you'll lift the tail angle of attack decreases that cuts down lift lift let's wait go back down on the wheels and wheel drag increases again aerodynamic drag is cut a little but not enough to compensate for the extra wheel drag speed still won't build up as fast as it would with the tail down even on a smooth Runway you'll need more room and maybe 20 or 30 miles an hour more speed to get off than if you kept your tail down if the runway's messed up with mud or slush or water maybe you won't get off at all in the space you have but keep the tail down take advantage of the three-point angle of attack and lift goes to work on gross weight right away wheel drag gets smaller and smaller you'll be airborne at maybe a hundred miles an hour and without using up all your Runway and that's something to remember when you're lined up in a nice homemade strip in the jungle with mud underneath you and trees Dead Ahead thank you [Music] well how do you like it try a little problem when you get over the field say you're coming in after a long Mission you're a little short on gas and when you arrive the fields closed in v-line for an alternate base no sir you're the hell I've gone from nowhere you're lucky to have one base to come home to or cut the end boards and hang around until she opens up wear you to hover all right but don't cut the invoice she'll burn more colon too than she will on four on long range settings take it over [Music] all right here we are Granite stuff straight as below up to say 2 000. I don't know one will be able to find a hole in it instrument let Downs out what are you gonna do don't you like it up here like a better job a bit if I'm low on fuel need less power and less fuel for a given indicated AirSpeed air is not so thin crops take fewer horses okay that's part of it when you get down to eight thousand you give the command for carburetor filters on and you finally level off at around 500 feet above your theoretical overcast [Music] when you level up above the overcast the idea is to keep from going places now that simple cut your speed on the 120 even if you have to reduce your RPM to 12 50 to get it try it first with 1400 RPM all right reduce manifold pressure try it with 26 inches in the Bombardier are your weight's all right your views up most of your gas on the way home and I hope you didn't bring any bombs back cut your RPM down a little more 1250 is the minimum [Music] with a hovering maneuver fuel consumptions cut down to about 95 gallons an hour at the end of a mission you'll have a light load so it's absolutely Safe Keep Your banks at a 10 degree angle and just set it up regular helicopter [Music] time to go in then Landing instructions from the tower weather altimeter setting and back to work again when you're ready for a landing be sure your co-pilot runs through the checklist no matter how good you are flying means fatigue and fatigue does things to your memory so if you want to bring in this property without the insurance claim have everything checked in order now Senator okay group positions automatic pilot off crew members of their proper stations side guns too Walter at guns up and pointing rear booster pops on your power plant should be ready for full takeoff power in case you go around is necessary fixtures Auto Rich intercooler's cold carburetor filters on when the ice is off that's important when the iso operation changes the stalling characteristics of the airplane [Music] [Music] [Music] Roger landing gear down left down right [Music] tail wheel down trailing antenna in check brake and hydraulic pressure Rex okay pressure around 750. RPM 2100. turbos set now we have power immediately available for a go around if we need it flaps should be lowered on the downwind leg but not until air speeds below 147. one third flaps on the down Wing leg full flaps on Final Approach and I've had to go around you don't need to Moke up your flaps they'll come up slowly enough you hold air speed at 130 indicated on the base leg of the pattern then in a matter of seconds you make your bank into the final approved full flaps high RPM 120. 115 don't touch your throttles until you're sure of a landing 11 12. 110. [Music] freezer on [Music] hydraulic pressure is okay otherwise you'd Gunner and take off again [Music] valve flaps open and locked turbos oh pumps off when flaps up get them up sooner if you have a muddy Runway tail wheel unlocked [Music] generators [Music] generators up cutting the inboard engines is a co-pilot's duty normally the pilot should keep his mind on his taxi but it's quiet on the hangar acre today and the instructor asks you to do it good thing too since you weren't too sharp about it you can cut your invoice now check turbos off burst you need engine oil pressure to open the wastegates no no rev them up to a thousand before you cut them [Music] [Music] [Music] parking brakes don't hold it until the chalks are in if you set your brakes on hot drums you'll bake the expanded tubes [Music] [Music] don't thin off the ignition until the engines have stopped turning over [Music] foreign Tower this is 641 mission complete see that all the switches are off before turning off the batteries in the main line booster pumps off landing gear Wing flaps neutral de icer anti answer off inverters inverters off only when the instruments have returned to neutral and burners off batteries off main line off block control surfaces that's that except for the book work just give him the facts one more thing record the time of day and number of minutes of oil dilution if you were diluting in this well how do you feel okay I feel great remember it's it's just another airplane it's a little bigger than most but the fact that you're flying it means that you've moved into the big time and the payoff is it's the safest crate you ever flew that's part of it not all of it by a long shot but part of it at least it's a little more complicated than a Buckboard wagon still on the other hand it's not quite as elaborate as a battleship make things as easy for yourself as you can by taking advantage of little devices like the flight computer and the load adjuster and the checklist all the rest and that's plenty is up to you but I guess by this time you understand that pretty well

Channel: DroneScapes

Views: 1,752,290

Keywords: Aircraft Turrets And Defense Tactics part 1, turret, aircraft turret, aircraft, aircraft gunners, aircraft turrets, interesting aircraft turrets, dronescapes, aircraft gunner, Defense Tactics, turret gunner, rear gunner, rear gunner footage, history documentary, airplanes, documentary, aviation, aviation history, anti aircraft turret, wwii bombers, wwii history, wwiii, ww2 bombers, ww2 documentary, ww2 footage, ball turret gunner, History channel, gun turret, Ww2 aircraft

Id: fVjLnjvzWJo

Length: 56min 41sec (3401 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 03 2023