There was great speculation when a World Cup competition for aerobatics was announced in e
There was great speculation when a World Cup competition for aerobatics was announced in early 1934, to take place at Vincennes, Paris, on 9-10 June. The French Aero Club's invitation to this first ever World Championship included total prize money of 275,000 francs on offer. The winner would receive 100,000 francs.
It was an enormous event, a high-spot of the Paris society season, with 150,000 spectators crowded into the military parade-ground at Vincennes which had been converted expressly for the occasion, with grandstands specially erected. Nine competitors took part, drawn from six nations: Ambruz and Novak from Czechoslovakia, Cavalli and Detroyat from France, Achgelis and Fieseler from Germany, Christopher Clarkson from Great Britain, Ambrogio Colombo from Italy and Placido d'Abreu from Portugal.
The initial compulsory programme required a list of figures to be performed within a time limit of eight minutes, including a right-hand and a left-hand spin, a bunt, a negative loop forward and upward, and an inverted 360 degree turn. On the Sunday, each contestant flew his free programme, for which he had ten minutes: his sequence was submitted in advance to the Jury, and each manoeuvre was assigned a difficulty coefficient already set out in the rules, new figures were also awarded appropriate coefficients, but most were to be found already in the current catalogue of 87 manoeuvres. The task of the judges was to assign each figure a mark between I and 5 for quality of performance, with a zero mark for figures not executed. These were then multiplied by the difficulty coefficients, the totals of all the judges were added together, then they were divided to arrive at an average.
On the second day, Sunday, after the morning's air display, German star Gerhard Fieseler had the harrowing experience of watching a French pilot crash to his death on landing right next to him shortly before the contest resumed. The atmosphere became charged, but this was only a foretaste of later events: the fourth competitor of the afternoon, the Portugese Captain d'Abreu, mishandled his controls during a half-roll from inverted and got into a spin at very low altitude, his aircraft speared into the middle of the field and burned . . . pandemonium reigned. Two men dead in the space of an hour.
The organisers were at a loss; should the competition be stopped? Many felt that it should. Gerhard Fieseler stepped forward and assumed the role of spokesman for his fellow pilots: " Each man among us knows that he may meet his fate at any time. We are prepared for that. What if the early pioneers had given up when one of their number lost his life to aviation? I believe we will best honour our comrade by continuing to fly."
The contest was resumed, and immediately afterwards another mishap occurred: the Italian Ambrogio Colombo, flying a newly-built aircraft from the Breda factory in Milan, started a spin without enough height and collided with the top of a tree. He retired with a branch embedded in his landing gear. On a later take-off, with the machine repaired, he had an engine failure and crash-landed the aeroplane rather than risk coming down in the public enclosures; the aircraft was destroyed, though he himself escaped without serious injury. The crowd remained calm.
The afternoon wore on: Cavalli, Novak, Ambruz, Achgelis, Detroyat; Fieseler flew last. He had spent five weeks practisng his free programme, which contained 38 extremely complicated and taxing figures, among them super-slow rolls which carried very high marks if performed precisely. Suddenly, four minutes before the end, he felt his shoulder harness come loose. This was his main security during manoeuvres under negative g; and it had happened at the worst possible moment: immediately before a negative loop. His only solution was to make a much bigger circle - widen the diameter of the loop - so as to reduce the amount of negative g he would have to sustain. But in doing this he consumed vital seconds from his time limit, and at the end of the sequence he had over-run by three whole manoeuvres. Surely this must dash his hopes of the title.
When the results were announced however, Fieseler had a lead over Detroyat by 23 points despite the over-run; he was the first World Aerobatic Champion in history. Michel Detroyat finished second, Gerd Achgelis third. Fieseler now took the decision to retire from the sport at the pinnacle of his success. He is a valued patron of sport aerobatics to this day, and thanks to his generosity the Fieseler Trophy contest is one of the most prestigious international events in the modern competition calendar. Fieseler is remembered today as the designer of the Fieseler Storch, a utility aircraft with remarkable STOL capabilities.
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 6,031
Note, the pilot close up is of Bob Stephens (not Gil Talbot), a Flight leader and Ace with
Note, the pilot close up is of Bob Stephens (not Gil Talbot), a Flight leader and Ace with the 355th Sq. This footage may actually be the day he became an ace.
I believe Gil Talbot is the pilot climbing out of "Peggy" at around 1:46
This aircraft was originally issued to 1st Lt. Gil Talbot who named it "Peggy". When Talbot received a new P-51B, 4312451 was passed on to Gross. Gross was once asked by his fellow pilots to fly at an altitude to attract enemy planes. He responded by asking "What do you want, live bait?" Thus the name on the nose of this aircraft.
Captain Clayton Kelly Gross flew P-51B Mustang "Live Bait", GQ-I (312451), when he was assigned to the 355th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, 9th USAAF, based in Boxted, England. He completed two tours with the 354th FG, and flew 105 combat missions. He shot down six enemy fighters, including an ME-262 on April 14, 1945. He was awarded the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 16 Air Medals.
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 12,220
Clark Gable is just a two-bar Joe doing a job
By Andrew A. Rooney, Stars and Stripes s
Clark Gable is just a two-bar Joe doing a job
By Andrew A. Rooney, Stars and Stripes staff writer June 7, 1943
Herewith a report on Capt. Clark Gable:
Last summer he quieted a rumor that he was going to accept a direct commission as a major by enlisting as a private in Los Angeles. On Oct. 28, after completing the air corps OCS at Miami. Fla., he was commissioned second lieutenant. He served at Tyndall Field, Fla., for a while, and later was shipped to a mid-West field. He came to England about seven weeks ago, has been on one raid, (Antwerp, May 4) and his job here is to make a training film for aerial gunners. He is 42 years old, six feet one inch tall, his hair is grey. He seems like an OK guy.
With the possible exception of the German Army, no one is having a tougher time trying to fight this war than Capt. Clark Gable.
They Want to Know
A few hundred thousand relatives of privates in the infantry who have been fighting in North Africa want to know why Clark Gable isn't a private in the infantry fighting in North Africa. The fathers and mothers, sisters and friends of the staff sergeants on combat crews of B17s and B24s want to know why he is a captain instead of a staff sergeant. And some of the boys wonder.
He is not a captain doing a staff sergeant's job. He is a captain doing a job that has been done by majors and better, and he went from a second lieutenant to a captain in less than six months, not because he had a direct pipeline to the commanding general, but because he is an intelligent man doing a good job for the Air Force.
Last Saturday a couple of carloads of newspapermen, most of whom were women, were taken to an Eighth Air Force field to watch the public relations office take the wraps off their man Gable. They were prepared to write cynical articles of the movie star playing a phoney part, but Gable fooled them. He was a very nice guy about it all, and his performance at the press conference left nothing to be cynical about.
He didn't try to act any part. He was Clark Gable in the Air Force, a little tired, but resigned to being looked at and talked to — and he looked like a very decent guy with no angle to his being where he was.
The conference was held around a B17, and there were several combat men from Gable's station hanging around. The captain was dressed in pinks, a leather jacket, cap and solid English shoes. He looked like what America thinks the boys in the air corps look like.
His mustache has acquired a slightly RAF look, his hair is a little long, and the collar of his leather jacket is turned up with that casual nonchalance which makes life look easy. The cap he wore looked just a little more like an air corps cap than most, and he pulled it just a little further over his right eye than the rest.
He is in England on the orders of Brig. Gen. Luther S. Smith, director of the Air Force training program. With him are 1/Lts. Andrew J. McIntyre, former MGM cameraman, and John Mahin, who wrote several of the scripts for Gable's pictures.
Together the three of them, with the help of several veteran gunners, are putting together a film they hope will be some help in the training program for aerial gunners. In the film, Gable interviews men, gets opinions and observations on equipment and combat problems. He appears in some of the scenes — does not appear in others.
He went on the Antwerp raid so that he could talk through something besides his hat about raids. One of the correspondents asked him if he was going on another.
"I'm going to do what I have to do to finish this job."
After Capt. Gable introduced T/Sgt. Kenneth Hulse and T/Sgt. Phil Hulse (not brothers) to the correspondents, and they told a brief story, it was decided that the newspapermen should hear what a cal. 50 machine-gun sounded like being fired by Capt. Gable. It sounded just like a cal. 50 being fired by anyone.
Phil Hulse, whose home is in Springfield. Mo., has worked with the captain quite a bit on the picture, and he is at the field with Gable.
"He is a regular man," Hulse says "He gets an awful lot of unfair criticism. He used to go out to the towns once in a while but the people won't let him alone, so he just doesn't go out any more."
Capt. Gable himself says that he has been to London once, and has been to some of the pubs in the small towns near his station several times. He hasn't seen a movie since he's been here. (GWTW still plays at the Ritz, in Leicester Square.)
Herewith ends the report on Capt. Clark Gable. For our money he is an OK Joe fighting a war, and, until he bites a dog or figures in a legitimate news story, just like any other Joe, The Stars and Stripes will leave the guy alone, as he would like to be left, for the duration.
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 13,222
|
At 12.30 pm, on Wednesday 20th January 1943, Sandhurst School was bombed. According to eye
At 12.30 pm, on Wednesday 20th January 1943, Sandhurst School was bombed. According to eye witnesses the pilot waved to the children in the playground as he flew at rooftop height over the school. Half the building collapsed into aheap of rubble killing 38 children and six teachers. More than 60 children and staff were injured. For two days people picked through the rubble digging out the casualties.
Eye Witness accounts:
"65 years ago last week my old primary school, Sandhurst School in Catford, was shockingly bombed by a German fighter plane, eyewitnesses including my grandmother used to say that the plane was flying so low that you could see the evil in the pilot's eyes.
When I was there in the 1970's the air-raid sirens were still situated around the corner from the school. On January 20th, 1943 just after lunch had began the then familair sound of sirens sounded. Some kids made their way to the shelter, a bricked up classroom on the 2nd floor, others ignored it and continued chatting with friends and eating their sandwiches. These were young school children, blissfully unaware that a fellow human being would want them dead.
The pilot flew his FW190 Fighter-Bomber down low over Downham Way and the nearby playing fields around midday aimlessly firing bullets at gawping and ducking people below. The pilot then turned his premeditated intentions to his major target, the school situated between Minard and Ardgowan Roads.
Flying at roof level the German pilot flew down the top of Ardgowan Road where my Grandmother, pregnant with my Mum, was like her neighbours drawn to the window of their house to investigate the sound of roaring engines. My late Nan told us the story many times of the determined look in the face of a killer. Other eye witnesses said that the Nazi pilot actually waved to children in the playground before he dropped a 1,100lb on their young innocent heads.
Half of the school building collapsed into a heap of rubble killing 38 children and six teachers, most not even having the decency of dying instantly, just suffocating under a collapsed building. More than 60 children and staff were injured, many being plucked from the debris by hundreds of rescuers. For two days people picked through the devastation digging out the casualties. The dead were buried in a mass grave at the nearby Hither Green Cemetery."
"Although only a small child at the time in 1943, one of my vivid memories of the war was a day in January when my mother and I heard the sound of a low aircraft. We went out into the road and saw an aircraft flying at roof level. We could see into the cockpit and even after all these years I can see the pilot with his helmet and goggles. He then went in a straight line to Sandhurst School where he dropped his bomb killing many children and teachers, many of whom were in the dining hall when the bomb exploded.
The is a memorial garden in the school grounds with the names of those who lost their lives inscribed on individual paving stones"
"Remember, remember — yes, I remember how it happened. That day, January 20th, 1943, though now far away, will never be forgotten. To me, as child of twelve, it was the most terrible day of my life. Yet I think I learned a lot on that day about how brave and self-sacrificing people can be... the whirr and screech of a diving aeroplane right above us. My friend, Edna, and myself clung together, our hearts thumping very rapidly. "It's alright," we tried to console ourselves. "It's only one of our fighters." Then two girls rushed into the shelter — "The plane," they said, "it's got black crosses on it!" We all looked at each other, the silence being shattered by a tremendous thud which shook everything and everyone in that shelter."
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 5,243
From May 1942 to July 1945, the Eighth planned and precisely executed America's daylight s
From May 1942 to July 1945, the Eighth planned and precisely executed America's daylight strategic bombing campaign against Nazi-occupied Europe, and in doing so the organization compiled an impressive war record. That record, however, carried a high price. For instance, the Eighth suffered about half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties (47,483 out of 115,332), including more than 26,000 dead. The Eighth's brave men earned 17 Medals of Honor, 220 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 442,000 Air Medals. The Eighth's combat record also shows 566 aces (261 fighter pilots with 31 having 15 or more victories and 305 enlisted gunners), over 440,000 bomber sorties to drop 697,000 tons of bombs, and over 5,100 aircraft losses and 11,200 aerial victories.
All ETO Losses
Type.......... Number Lost
B-17.......... 4,754
B-24.......... 2,112
P-47.......... 1,043
P-38.......... 451
P-51.......... 2,201
Total.......... 10,561
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 4,689
Note: 'Spokane Chief' shown in the opening and ending sequences is identified as P-47C-5-R
Note: 'Spokane Chief' shown in the opening and ending sequences is identified as P-47C-5-RE WZ-Z (41-6630) 84th FS, 78th FG, 8th AF, USAAF
At one time in the days before Pearl Harbor, it had been hoped that it would be possible for the RAF to test the Thunderbolt in combat in the Middle East. However, production difficulties caused the British Air Ministry to be informed in September 1941 that it was not a good idea to do this until all the bugs had been wrung out of the design.
Consequently, it was a USAAF outfit that was to be the first to bring the Thunderbolt into service. The 56th Fighter Group based near New York City was the first outfit to receive the P-47B, and began to reequip with the type in June-July 1942. They were entrusted with the task of shaking the bugs out of their new mounts. Since their base was fairly close to the Farmingdale plant, the Group could easily call upon Republic engineers to solve problems as they were encountered. Tests and operational training went slowly, accompanied by the loss of 13 pilots and 41 aircraft in accidents. As more Thunderbolts became available, P-47Bs were subsequently issued to the 348th and 355th Groups.
The first P-47Cs arrived in England as early as December 20, 1942, and equipped the 4th Fighter Group which somewhat reluctantly traded in their Spitfires for the type. P-47Cs also reequipped the 82nd, 83rd, and 84th Squadrons of the 78th Fighter Group. P-47Cs were also supplied to the 56th Fighter Group which left their P-47Bs back home in the States when they transferred to England. Engine and radio problems caused some delays, but the first operational sorties began on March 10, 1943, and consisted of high-altitude escort duties and fighter sweeps. The first encounter with German fighters came on April 15, when the P-47Cs of the 335th Squadron shot down three German fighters for a loss of three of its own.
The high-altitude performance of the P-47C was far superior to anything the Luftwaffe could put up against it, but at low and medium altitudes the P-47C could not match the maneuverability and climb rates of its opponents. However, the P-47C could out-dive just about anything in the sky, and many a Thunderbolt saved itself from a sticky situation by using its superior diving performance to break off combat at will when it proved necessary to do so. According to Robert S. Johnson of the 56th Fighter Group, the Thunderbolt could outroll any other fighter. The Thunderbolt's eight 0.50-inch machine guns provided sufficient firepower to destroy any enemy plane which had the misfortune to come within its sights.
The P-47Cs of the 56th, 4th and 78th Groups of the 8th Air Force were intended as bomber escorts, but were ineffectual until fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks to lengthen their range at the end of July 1943. These three groups were joined later in 1943 by seven new groups flying P-47Ds-- the 352nd, 353rd, 355th, 356th, 358th, 359th, and 361st Fighter Groups. P-47s flew escort missions until the end of 1943, when they began to be replaced by longer-range P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs which were better suited for the long-range escort role.
Once the Mustang began to take over the long-range escort role, the Thunderbolt was largely diverted into the ground attack role, where the P-47 was to gain its reputation. After seeing action in North Africa, the Ninth Air Force was transferred to England as part of the build-up for D-Day. The 362nd and 365th Fighter Groups of the Ninth Air Force were the first to receive P-47Ds. They were joined by the 358th Group from the Eighth Air Force. In May 1944, these three groups were joined by many other units flying P-47Ds in providing air cover for the impending landings in France-- the 36th, 50th, 366th, 367th,, 368th, 371st, 373rd, 405th, 406th, 48th, 354th, and 404th Fighter Groups. These units provided much effective ground support for the advancing Allied forces as they penetrated further and further into France.
The Thunderbolt was extremely effective in eliminating enemy forces in the face of the Allied advance. Even though the P-51 Mustang had largely replaced the Thunderbolt in the long-range, high-altitude bomber escort role in the ETO by the end of 1944, the P-47D continued to rack up an impressive number of air-to-air kills against the Luftwaffe, while it beat up the Wehrmacht on the ground in its destructive bombing and strafing career.
Many pilots became aces while flying the Thunderbolt. Outstanding among these was Lt-Col. Francis S. Gabreski (31 kills, the highest-scoring Thunderbolt pilot), Capt. Robert S. Johnson (28 kills) and Col. Hubert Zemke (20 kills). The highest-scoring USAAF Group in the ETO was the 56th Fighter Group, which destroyed 1006 German aircraft against a loss of 128 Thunderbolts--a ratio of nearly eight to one.
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 6,328
|
The "Mighty Eighth" began operations in England on Feb. 20, 1942, when Brig. Gen. Ira C. E
The "Mighty Eighth" began operations in England on Feb. 20, 1942, when Brig. Gen. Ira C. Eaker led a seven-man advance team to scout the country and prepare for the arrival of American combat flying units. For the next four years, England became the USAAF's "unsinkable aircraft carrier" as they fought the Luftwaffe and Hitler's Axis forces.
By D-Day on June 6, 1944, the USAAF had two-thirds of its operational forces in England and by the end of the war, almost 350,000 airmen had passed through the 8th Air Force. Weaved into the green patchwork of East Anglia were more than 130 American bases, about 75 of them airfields. East Anglia appears as the bulge on the map north of London, and it's about the size of Vermont.
The Eighth flew from bases with names the GIs said sounded like they came from nursery rhymes -- Bury St. Edmunds, Bassingbourn, Eye, Kingscliffe, Podington, Bungay, Martlesham Heath, Little Walden, Molesworth and Duxford, to name a few. During the war years, U.S. servicemen outnumbered local nationals 50 to one in some villages. A normal station was home to about 50 heavy bombers -- Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators -- and 2,500 men who flew, serviced and repaired the planes or supported air operations.
Each morning bombers took off at 30- to 45-second intervals and would gather 20,000 feet above England in a slow revolving spiral before crossing the North Sea and blasting the Third Reich's war-machinery plants, fuel supplies and airfields. "The spectacle of seeing hundreds of aircraft trailing formations was an extraordinary sight," said Freeman, who was a base rat at Boxted near Colchester. "On one cold and freezing day, early in 1945, when I was 15, I saw the contrails of a thousand bombers forming in the sky at one time. I didn't count a thousand, but there were 28 groups, and I knew that each group had 30 to 40 in each formation. "At the time I didn't quite appreciate it," Freeman said. "But there were 25,000 young airmen up there going to war. A lot of times people talk about the number of aircraft going to war, and they don't quite appreciate the cost in human lives."
Although the average age of a bomber crew member was 22, flying still took a physical and mental toll on them. A combination of extreme cold, fluctuating air pressure, constant noise and vibration, 10-hour missions and stress caused by the fear of being shot down by fighters or flak exhausted the crews, and, as a result, most of them literally slept when not flying. A standard tour for a heavy bomber crew was 25 combat missions; however, most didn't make it half way. After the U.S. Army Air Forces gained air superiority, the magic number was raised to 30 and then 35 missions. Aircrew members completing their tour were inducted into the "Lucky Bastards Club."
On May 17, 1943, Maj. Robert K. Morgan and his crew joined this exclusive club first, and were sent home. "We were all very young guys, and the odds of surviving weren't very good. This was before we started receiving fighter escorts, so the chances of buying the farm were high," said Morgan. "I lost my right and left wingmen a couple of times," said the retired colonel who now lives in North Carolina. "After that you start asking yourself 'Why me? Why did I come back and not them?' There has to be some reason or you were just damn lucky."
During the latter years of the war, luck had little to do with the bomber crew's increased survival rate. The 8th Air Force owned the skies over occupied Germany thanks to fighter pilots like Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, the 8th Air Force's most successful fighter ace with 28 kills in the air and three on the ground during the war. Gabreski, an Oil City, Pa., native, flew the P-47 Thunderbolt with the 56th Fighter Group, nicknamed Zemke's Wolfpack after its commander Hub Zemke. Gabreski scored one triple and eight double kills while with the group, and he credits his success to training, equipment, leadership and faith. "Back then, we didn't have time to mourn. Sure, we were sorry and a bit depressed for a short period, but tomorrow was another day and another mission. "The mission was always No. 1," he said. "And it was a very simple job-to give escort to B-17s and B-24s at high altitude. You wanted to make sure the bombers you were escorting weren't shot down. Secondly, you thought about survival. You wanted to come back, so you could fight again tomorrow. We knew it was going to be a one-day war."
According to Freeman, the greatest achievement of the 8th Air Force during the second world war was gaining air superiority over enemy territory, which had been thought impossible. "Without an air force to attack or protect, the Germans were finished," Freeman said. "When D-Day came, Eisenhower could say to his forces, 'If you see any aircraft overhead, they will be allied.' "
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 8,325
The United States' Supersonic Transport (SST) program was initiated by the Federal Aviatio
The United States' Supersonic Transport (SST) program was initiated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1963. The program aimed for a Mach 2+ aircraft capable of carrying 300 passengers with intercontinental range. The US aimed to outstrip the British Aerospace/Aerospatiale Concorde and Soviet Tu 144 programs through the use of advanced technology and materials. By the late 1960s contracts had been let to prime contractors Boeing (airframe) and General Electric (engines) but the program was four to five years behind the European and Soviet efforts, which had graduated to supersonic flight testing while the US program had yet to pass beyond the mockup stage. In 1971 the slow pace of technical development, environmental concerns, high costs, and questions over the commercial feasibility of the aircraft led Congress to cancel the program.
This video includes silent footage of both the Lockheed and Boeing SST mock-ups.
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 11,030
Collection of clips showing the concept and development of the Concord from 1962 through f
Collection of clips showing the concept and development of the Concord from 1962 through first flight in 1969
(more)
(less)
Added: 1 month ago
Views: 4,565
|
|
See All 330 Videos
|
