Page 5
Learning from History
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Contents
SPINS WERE A ONE TIME THING
IN 1914; ...Buying
the Farm; ...How we got patterns A and
B; ...Holding patterns(IFR);...Why
We Squawk; Absolute Altitude; ... WHY PILOTS WALK FUNNY; ...Shirt tails; ...Society of Automotive
Engineers; ...Johnson Bar; …Trim
Tab Inventor...Pitot tube inventor; ...Names and What; ... Wifferdil;
...Hundred Octane Aviation Fuel; ..Air
Traffic Control; ...Autopilot called George;
...Windsock; …Buchannan
Field; …Associated Airport;…Teaching 30-years Ago; ...What's
new; …521 Maintenance; …Development of Aviation;
Radio Q-History; …Phillips
Head Screws: …
An unheralded aviation
pioneer is British scientist, F. A. Lindemann. "The Prof",
as he was known, led a very checkered scientific and social career
from early WWI through WWII. He was an "idea man" and
advisor to Churchill for thirty years. He was a social butterfly
and a scientific gadfly in the opinion of more capable scientists.
However, his place in history could well lie in aviation and you
never heard of him?
Born of German/American parents, he spoke heavily accented mumbled
English. He knew all the "right" British nobility and
used their influence to gain both position and prestige. In 1914
he attempted, but failed because of eyesight, to join the Royal
Flying Corps. He then used influence to join the scientific staff
of the Royal Aircraft Factory.
In 1914 the "spin" was the most dreaded unintentional
flight occurrence which resulted in accidents. More to be feared
than the more frequent landing accidents. At least, landing accidents
could be explained. Once an aircraft was in a spin there was no
way out of it. The spin turns would increase in speed until the
ultimate crash. All flight instructors warned, "Get into
a spin; get killed". Lindemann initiated a study of the instrument
readings and pilot procedures that seemed to cause the stall/spins
occurring during turns.
A letter to his father said, "Nobody can make out quite what
happened." Lindemann could find no apparent pattern as to
when a stall or a resulting spin might occur. A British naval
pilot was said to have recovered from a spin. If not known if
Lindemann used this event to develop an explanation, a theory,
about spins. While never publishing his study results, Lindemann
gave many oral accounts of his findings.
The spin frequently occurred when the aircraft stalled in other
than an absolutely level condition. If one wing dropped any effort
to raise it would cause the other wing to flip over uncontrollably.
Even at high speeds, a tight turn might cause one wing to flip
over and cause a spin. Without any flight skills, Lindemann had
worked out in theory the probable forces which, caused and existed
in a spin. He also figured out, in theory, the control movements
required to counteract these forces.
His study showed that any instinctive response would not work.
The rudder must be held fully against the spin while the nose
was kept pointed toward the ground. You could not pull back on
the stick until the spin stopped and flying speed was gained.
His theory also seemed to indicate that during the recovery the
wings of the plane could be pulled off. The way Lindemann used
to test his theories was somewhat akin to a medical researcher
doing a self-inoculation for a deadly disease.
He insisted that further study to prove the theory required that
scientists fly. He worked through and around the bureaucracy,
used influence, memorized the eye chart for his "blind"
eye and learned to fly "poorly". One 1914 flight of
uncertain date justifies Lindemann's place in history. One Fall
day, he discussed his theories on spin recovery and the planned
experiment with observers at Farnborough Aerodrome. He would be
using a B.E.2 aircraft of most uncertain flight characteristics.
The fragile airframe was held together by a maze of wires and
struts that maximized a power off vertical speed of about 90 mph.
He told them he was planning to do a deliberate stall spin. He
certainly must have said his good-byes. He departed and climbed
for many minutes. Far below, the observers saw him reach what
must have been the B.E 2's service ceiling of 14,000 feet. They
saw the spin well before they heard the cessation of engine noise.
Lindemann now began to test his theory. He pulled the power, slowed
the plane and entered into a stall. He held the stall until the
left wing dipped and the right wing flipped up for the spin entry.
A deliberate entry into a maneuver from which no one had previously
recovered and few had survived. A maximum test of accountability
and courage.
Lindemann held the spin, intentionally or otherwise, until it
was fully established and then he initiated his unique recovery.
A deliberate application of control forces never before applied.
He put in full opposite rudder. Nothing happened. He waited. Still
nothing happened. He applied forward control pressure. He had
already fallen thousands of feet with no control effect discernible.
Was his theory going to fail at this critical moment? But the
rudder was starting to have an effect. The spin was slowing and
finally stopped. From the vertical, but without the spin Lindemann
now had to complete a recovery. Survival demanded that the pull
out would not remove the wings from the fuselage. Slowly, carefully
the nose rose and as it rose the aircraft slowed thus easing the
stress on its components. The first intentional spin and recovery.
All that and survival. Enough?
One such experiment and proof would have satisfied most people,
but not Lindemann. He climbed back up to altitude and did the
spin and recovery in the other direction. A theory twice applied
and proven to be a life saver. From that day on, a pilot's education
has not been deemed complete without spin training. (Except, of
course, in the U.S. by the FAA).
The British had a military secret. It combined two of the very
best qualities of military combat. Deception and survival. A British
pilot, when out-numbered or fearing for his life, could deliberately
enter a spin. To the enemy such a maneuver was not survivable.
The Germans would circle and wait for the inevitable crash of
their `kill'.
Imagine their chagrin, when the British plane would level out
close to the ground and scoot to safety. Indeed, the spin was
often used in WWI as a deliberate escape maneuver. It wasn't long
before the Germans discovered the deception and began to follow
spinning planes all the way to the ground. It is not known how
the Germans gained the secret of spin recovery. Pilots are known
to brag about their flying exploits while talking flying with
other pilots.
Most great aircraft flights recorded in aviation history are about
distances, speeds and kills. Why not a special "save"
category for Lindemann along with Immelman? But again, wouldn't
your entering his name into your memory and applying his theory
and practice to your own "Lindemann" spin recovery be
sufficient.
An aside: In WWII Lindemann served as Churchhill's scientific
advisor. He stood alone against all other British scientists in
his contention that the greater military potential lay in infra-red
than in radar. He lost the contest in WWII and radar saved Britain.
In 1990, Lindemann was partially vindicated. Desert Storm would
not have been possible without infra-red. A little known man of
his time and ahead of his time.
Buying the Farm
In the `20s' barnstormers
would travel the countryside to small cities and set up an "airplane
ride" concession from some farmer's field. The pilot was
expected to reimburse the farmer for any crop damage that occurred.
When a pilot incurred a fatal accident he was deemed to have bought
the entire farm.
How We
Got Pattern A and Pattern B (IFR)
These patterns have been for many years a part of the Instrument
Flying Handbook as among the first lessons in acquiring the aircraft
control required for instrument flying. Prior to WWII few aircraft
were equipped beyond an airspeed indicator, compass, altimeter,
and at most a needle and ball.
During WWII the gyroscopic instruments began to be installed on
all training aircraft. However, the use of these instruments was
sadly neglected for two reasons. First, the instructors had mostly
learned during an era of `seat of the pants, wind on the cheek'
flying. Secondly, they were placarded to be caged during maneuvers.
Until shortly before the end of the war, instrument instruction,
was most cursory. A pilot would often be sent overseas with fewer
than ten hours of instrument flight instruction and perhaps another
ten in a Link Trainer.
Hundreds of pilots were lost because instrument skills were thought
to be exclusively an airline pilot skill area. Airlines, viewing
schedules as profits, had moved ahead in training and instrumentation.
A good case could be made for the statement that more pilots were
lost in WWII due to weather flying than due to combat. Hard at
work to correct this situation was a Joe Duckworth. He learned
to fly at Kelly field in the late twenties. As a reservist he
flew with Eastern Airlines and had acquired thousands of hours
of instrument time and an understanding of the importance of instrument
flying. Shortly before the war began Duckworth returned to active
duty. He was assigned as director for training at a multi-engine
facility in Mississippi. Duckworth found flying was being taught
as though there were no gyroscopic instruments.
Combat returns were indicating that weather constituted a life
and death hazard comparable to combat. Duckworth initiated an
instructional program which first evaluated flight instructors
and secondly standardized teaching programs. The most immediate
result was a 40% reduction in night flying accidents. The relationship
between the absence of visual reference at night and instrument
flying was quite apparent to Duckworth. "Needle, ball, and
airspeed" was the original instrument system. From this,
with the invention/installation of the artificial horizon and
directional gyro, Duckworth developed attitude flying instruction
based upon a scan of the full panel of instruments. The pilot
first needed to learn to fly the aircraft performance envelope
using the instruments. Then these skills were applied to the flight
maneuvers required to fly the radio range stations of the day.
To train pilots in flying this way Duckworth devised the "Pattern
A", "Pattern B", and the "Vertical S".
Duckworth had found a system that would enable survival in weather.
Next he developed a program for instructors. Their enthusiasm
and acceptance of the attitude flying system soon began to be
felt and heard throughout the training command. A head to head
competition between the worst of Duckworth's students with
the best of the "needle, ball and airspeed" students
was held. The results convinced, General Hap Arnold the commander
of the Air Force, to open an Instrument School just for instructors.
Col. Duckworth became the commander of the base and its program.
For the last two years of the war flight instructors were sent
to Duckworth from all parts of the training command for a months
duty. These instructors in turn would return to base and establish
training programs for more instructors. By the end of the war
no pilot was graduated from the Air Force Training Command who
was not proficient as an instrument pilot.
Holding Patterns
IFR
The shape of the
holding pattern was based upon a requirement that older gyro instruments
be allowed to settle down in a turn. The one minute straight legs
gave the gyros the time to settle down before beginning another
turn. A holding pattern of continuous turns would cause precession
and unreliable indications.
During WWII the British
developed a top secret 10" x 10" x 10" radar transceiver.
It would respond to a radar interrogating signal by responding
with a coded transmission. A code would allow the land based radar
station to distinguish British from German aircraft on their radar
screen. The radio also contained an internal thermite bomb which,
when triggered by an inertial switch (crash), would destroy the
interior of the set. This was supposed to prevent German discovery
of the codes. (A reverse ELT?) The British code named the system
Parrot. The United States Army Air Forces version of the
system was called IFF, for Identification Friend
or Foe.
As with many WWII developments, the IFF system was designed to
prevent a clever German ruse. The Germans were following the night
bombers back to England. German aircraft would join in the stream
of returning British bombers. They would wait until the bombers
were most vulnerable, just prior to landing, and then shoot them
down. Parrot allowed detection of these German aircraft
since their (primary) return would not have a distinctive code.
To control the operation of the airborne coded set to the best
advantage, the ground based radar station would radio instructions
regarding the operation of "Parrot". The aircraft would
be directed to "squawk your parrot", meaning
to turn on the set for identification; or to "strangle
(not kill) your parrot" as a directive for turning
the set off. The power of the transponder signal would often hide
other targets.
The only vestige of this that remains today, other than the entire
ATC system itself, is the term "Squawk", as an
ATC directive for operation or code for the transponder. Old time
ATC controllers may still have you "strangle" your parrot
(x-ponder)
Today the transponder usually has a four position switch; off,
stby (standby), on (mode A), and alt (altitude Mode C), a test
button, and ident (identification) button, a response light, and
four selector switches with numbers from 0 to 7. Certain aircraft
letters and numbers cannot be reproduced but frequently the discrete
code can be seen to represent a specific aircraft due to their
similarity.
ATC has a system by which the code used on the transponder shows
a specific type of operation. Operations such as VFR without advisory,
VFR with advisory, IFR, specific airport operation, TCA, ARSA,
Local IFR, Tower enroute IFR, X-country IFR, emergency, hijack,
and radio failure all have differing first two digit codes which
tell ATC controllers your situation.
There are 4096 possible code selections on a transponder from
0000 to 7777. This is a Base 8 number system which is used by
computers as a short method of storing Base 2. Base 2 is the number
system of computers.
The four places of the transponder from right to left are
1's, 8's, 64's, and 512"s. We know it is a base 8 because
the highest digit is 7. The eight possible digits are 0, 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Counting in Base 8 proceeds as follows: Base
10 Place Values 512 64 8 l equivalent
0 0 0 0 = 0
0 0 0 1 = 1 (1 one)
Set as transponder to code numbers. 0 0 0 7 = 7
(7 ones); 0 0 1 0 = 8 (1 eight, no ones) ; 0 0 1 1 = 9 (1 eight
and one one) to 0 0 7 7 = 63 (7 eights, 7 ones); 0 1 0 0 = 64
(1 sixty-four, no eights, no ones) ; 0 1 0 1 = 65 (1 sixty-four,
no eights, one one); to 0 7 7 7 = 7 sixty-fours, 7 eights, and
7 ones) 448 + 56 + 7 ones =511; to 7 7 7 7 = 4095; 4095 added
to 0000 makes the possible 4096 transponder codes. More than you
ever wanted to know?
Emergency 7 7 0 0 = 4032 in base 10
Nordo 7 6 0 0 = 3968
Hijack 7 5 0 0 = 3904
VFR 1 2 0 0 = 640
Absolute Altitude:
Absolute altitude is obtained by the use of radar. The first
radar altimeter was the A/N 718. I worked with it during WWII.
It consisted of two one-foot long antennae that were placed about
20 feet apart under the wings on each side of the aircraft fuselage.
This was a frequency modulation system, which transmitted a burst
of radio energy to the ground through one antenna and picked up
the burst echo from the ground on the other antenna. During the
transmission period the frequency was undergoing a constant rate
of change in microseconds. The receiver measures the frequency
change difference between the first burst and the frequency when
it returns to the aircraft receiver. This amount of change is
recorded and displayed in feet on a circular cathode ray-tube
display. I would suspect that the ground proximity warning system
(GPWS) system used on airliners works much the same. Doppler radar
uses frequency modulation today but to my knowledge this was the
first practical use of FM technology.
Ever wonder why propeller pilots walk funny? They do. The P-factor
explanation from the instructors handbook tells the instructor
how to explain this to the student. It has nothing to do with
how much liquid consumed? Part of the difficulty comes from having
two or more generations of pilots, none of whom have had the opportunity
to drive a team of Missouri Canaries. Mules that is. This educational
and experience deficiency can be partially overcome while explaining
the P-factor. Thereby leading to the ultimate answer of the initial
question.
Start with an airplane which has the training wheel under the
nose. A Cessna 152 will do. With all three wheels on the ground
the student should be carefully walked around the propeller to
note that, when the aircraft and propeller is horizontal, the
blades each form approximately an 11 degree angle in pitch from
the vertical. The airplane should be imagined as a wagon and the
painted tips of the blades as harnessed to two mules of identical
size and strength. In this configuration the wagon (airplane)
would be pulled straight ahead until made to gee or haw. Gee meaning
right and haw meaning left. O.K. so far?
Now have the instructor hold the aircraft tail down while the
student observes the angle from vertical the pitch of each propeller
blade. The left blade is near vertical while the right blade has
doubled its angle. Now the airplane/wagon suddenly has two completely
different mules. The left blade mule becomes of donkey size or
less while the right blade becomes a dray that once pulled a beer
wagon. Now which way will the wagon, nee airplane, go? Will it
gee or haw?
More often than not our last two generations of student pilots
will chose the wrong direction. The odoriferous experience of
mule driving having been denied them. Using the wing struts to
move the airplane should show the student the error of his ways.
Then it follows as the night the day that in a climb attitude
an appropriate application of right rudder is needed to keep the
airplane on the straight if not narrow. Whatever it takes to prevent
a "haw" Which, of course, leads us in the great cyclonic
circle to the answer of the initial question. It takes a lot of
"Gee" Leg to prevent a "Haw".
Shirt Tails.
There has been a long
tradition in aviation related to cutting off the shirt tails of
newly soloed student pilots. One story has it that the practice
began because of the student need to clean his goggles.
Pilots had scarves to use in keeping their goggles clean but the
student had to use a shirt tail. The cutting of the shirt tail
was giving the student the symbolic scarf of a pilot.
At one time trainers were two place tandem seat airplanes. The instructor sat in the back seat. Some trainers had a speaking tube that worked so that you could hear
It was noisy in the airplane and the instructors learned that the way to get the students attention and direct him was to reach under the panel and yank on a shirttail!
At student solo, the removal of the shirt tail, eliminated the way the instructor used for directing the student. The student was now a pilot and didn't need the jerking on a shirttail to fly.
Society
of Automotive Engineers:
In 1917 the SAE had an
Aeronautical Division which diagrammed and identified the stick
controls and rudder used to control aircraft.Altitude Control
diagrammed the forward and back movement of the stick to give
up-down control through elevator movement. Balancing Control diagrammed
the left/right sides of machine down by means of side movement
of stick through aileron movement. Right and Left Control was
done with the feet through rudder movement. SAE had merged with
the Aeronautical Society in 1916 and has been instrumental in
setting government standards for aircraft construction, maintenance
and safety.
The Johnson Bar
One unlikely aircraft
feature was derived from the steam engine. The Johnson bar was
used to control the amount of steam and hence the power of the
engine. The Johnson bar is a term used to describe the long handles
used in earlier Cessnas and nearly all Pipers to operate the flaps.
The term has also been used with reference to the bars used on
Mooney aircraft to hand operate the manual gear.
Trim Tab Inventor
Also known at the servo trim was invented by Anton Flettner, a
German aeronautical engineer. He worked for the Zeppelin Company
in Germany. (Will try to find out if his invention installed on
Zeppelin before airplanes.) Came to U. S after WWII and worked
for Navy. Died 1962.
First gyroscopic instruments were test flown on blimps.
First reversible propellers were installed on airships.
Trim history
The trim tab or servo trim was invented by Anton Flettner, a German
aeronautical engineer. He started work in 1905 for the Zeppelin
Company. Died in 1962.
Pitot
Tube Inventor
The pitot tube was invented by Francais Pitot, a French physicist
and dentist born in 1695. His tube was first used to measure water
flow. It measures the difference between ambient and dynamic pressures.
Only the very, very old or very, very new aircraft do not use
a pitot tube to determine airspeed. The pitot tube measures only
pressure. There is no air movement through the pitot tube.
Names and
what
Bell decibel
Morse code
Doppler frequency change
Mach speed of sound
Pitot speed tube
Venturi suction tube
Bernoulli pressure
Newton laws of motion
Pascal pressure
Buys-Ballot wind/pressure
Coriolis force
Fahrenheit thermometer
Celsius metric thermometer
Kelvin absolute scale
Hertz frequency cycle
Kollsman altimeter window
Lear ADF
Hugh Robinson,
Aviation pioneer invented basic aircraft arresting gear system
for carrier landings. First used landing on a ship in San Francisco
Bay after takeoff from shore.
Chandelle is French from montrer en chandelle, which means climb around a candle.
Armed Pilots
Pilots carrying mail had to be armed enroute by order of the U.S.
Postal Service in the 20s and 30s.
Barry Schiff thinks that pilots sit on the left because of ships passing left side to left side. This is not so. The left to left passing of ships came from ancient times when the right side of the ship used a protruding steering oar called a steerboard. The left to left passing protected this particular oar which was also under the captain's direction. Captains to this day have their post and cabins on the right side of ships.
The pilot on the left side derived from the need to mount a
horse from the left side in order to maintain an effective sword
hand while mounting. Cavalry men were the first who were volunteered
into becoming pilots. Hence, the left side mounting of aircraft
from habit. Hence, left patterns
Air pockets
Term coined by Charles willard in 1910. "The air was as full
of air pockets, as a Swiss cheese is full of holes."
N-numbers
An international convention Paris in 1919 assigned the letter
N to all U. S aircraft. N was selected because of the Curtiss
NC-4 that first flew across the Atlantic.
Hop
The term `hop' meaning a local flight came from abbreviated log
book entries in WW-1 for "high operational patrol".
First stall strips were used by Messerschmidt.
What is peculiar about the space shuttle orbiter's landing gear? It cannot be retracted.
Phillips Head Screws
John Henry Phillips, of Mass. patented his double slotted screw
in 1932. The very similar Reed-Prince screw is not approved for
aircraft, whereas the Phillips is. Inside the slots of the Phillips
are some multiple ramp angles that will cause the screw driver
to lift out before you can break off the screw head. The Phillips
greatly increased production because the screw could be balanced
on the screw driver prior to insertion.
Leonard M. Greene invented the stall warner prior to 1950.
First bomb dropped from an aircraft was in 1910 at Tanforan
Racetrack near San Francisco.
First aircraft carrier takeoff occurred in San Francisco Bay.
First pilots license was issued to Glenn in 1911. Prior law was
that of gravity.
First airmail flight and delivery was between Petaluma and Santa
Rosa. Three emergency landings enroute.
First gyroscopic attitude indicators were tested on Blimps.
Mayday is the English word that sounds just like the second French word of the phrase "venes m'aider", which means "come help me".
Hangar--Comes from the French word 'hangar' meaning shed or outhouse
Wifferdill
I'm told that "wolferdale" is an aviation (perhaps military
aviation) term meaning a 270 turn. Is this correct?
Lee Whitt
Lee,
Never heard of the term. Would appreciate any verified use of
term for my oddities file. I'll shoot it into the newsgroups for
a check.
"Michael A. Pilla" <mpilla@mitre.org>
Subject: Re: wolferdale
Gene, You're probably referring to "Wifferdill" or "Whiferdill";
I've seen both spellings. It is the English term for either an
Immelman turn or a Chandelle turn, IIRC.I.e., a one-half loop
followed by a roll at the top (180o) for the Immelman and a sharp
pull up, rolling, maximum performance turn (also 180o) for the
Chandelle. I wish I had my flight maneuver manuals with me; could
give you the precise definition.
Michael Pilla
Could it be "whifferdill"? I used to fly with an
ex-usaf cfi, and he used that term to describe any of several
"playing-around" maneuvers (wing-overs, steep turns,
etc.)
Hundred Octane Aviation
Fuel
Early fuel had low anti-knock ability. This came along with
a widely variable quality standard which, like wine, were
identified by their place of manufacture. Fuel of the 1900-1910
would have had an octane rating of about 40 had such a rating
existed. Fifty octane was achieved in the 1920's. By definition
knock occurs after the spark; preignition occurs before the spark.
In 1912 the difference was recognized in England and determined
to be related to the chemistry involved.
In WWI the blending of benzol and gasoline at one to four would
prevent knock. This was only a stopgap with many
engine damaging negatives. A DELCO scientist found that ethyl
bromide in combination with tetraethyl lead when added
to gasoline would prevent plug fouling and valve erosion. Engine
knock was never effectively studied until high-speed cameras were
able to photograph the ignition of fuels inside a cylinder. Full
understanding of fuels was not achieved until the 1990's when
even faster photographs became possible.
Knock and preignition were once considered one and the same. In 1917 they were distinguished. Additives were used to control knock but costs and side effects were often prohibitive to future improvement. Finally in 1921 tetraethyl lead was found along with a bromide to give antiknock improvement without damage to the spark plugs. By 1930 octane rating had reached 87 at high power. To maintain a standard each fuel batch had to be blended and mixed according to the time of year and the source of the base oil. By 1934 100 octane fuel was being produced that gave a 30% increase in engine power with no increase in engine temperatures. This industrial prescience assured U.S. fuel dominance during WWII.
A one-cylinder engine was created to test the effects of variable
compression. This made it possible to test various fuels
for their anti-knock capability. Initially heptane was found to
be bad and toluene best. By 1926 iso-octane was found
to be appreciably better and a range of anti-knock capability
was created with heptane at zero and iso-octane at 100.
Iso-octane was both expensive and hard to produce. Knock was never
fully understood until internal engine photos at
400,000 frames per second and computer simulations in the 1990's.
Interestingly of all machines, only airplanes have their own fuel
In 1930 the military specified that aviation fuel would be 80/87.
The fuel had two octane ratings. The 87 was for full
power rich operations while for leaned cruise 80 was the norm.
This dual octane continues to exist even today. In the
late 1930s light weight and compact engines were being developed
with compression ratios that required fuels not
subject to detonation. 100 octane began as a scientific curiosity
by blending 70 octane with chemicals such as tetraethel
lead and hydrogen to get the higher octane.
By 1934, Shell oil came up with a way to make 100 octane aircraft
fuel. Jimmy Doolittle played a significant part in this new development.
The increase in octane resulted in a 20% reduction in specific
fuel consumption. In the late 1930s lightweight and compact engines
were being developed with compression ratios that required fuels
not subject to detonation. 100 octane began as a scientific curiosity
by blending 70 octane with chemicals such as tetraethyl lead and
hydrogen to get the higher octane.
In 1938 an alkylation process by Humble Oil greatly increased
the possible production of 100 octane. Cold acid alkylation made
it possible to raise 1943 production of 100 octane to 15,000,000
gallons per DAY! However, full power engines still encountered
detonation. The solution was to use fuel additives that would
become effective at full power operations but at lower powers
were adjusted to lower octane. 100/130, 91/95, and 80/87 aviation
octane fuels became the norm. In 1942, by accident, water injection
became a method of increasing spurts of an additional 30% power.
Octane was later changed into a Performance Number. PN number
300 was created but never used because of jet engine development.
By mid-1940 all British fighters were converted to operate on
100/130. This change allowed manifold pressures to be raised from
42 to 54 inches. This gave every engine an effective 30% increase
in power. In the U.S. 115/145 was developed at the end of the
war and continued in use into the 1960's.
In 1938 an alkylation process by Humble Oil greatly increased
the possible production of 100 octane. Cold acid alkylation made
it possible to raise 1943 production of 100 octane to 15,000,000
gallons per DAY! However, full power engines still encountered
detonation. The solution was to use fuel additives that would
become effective to prevent detonation at full power operations
but at lower powers were adjusted to lower octane. 100/130, 91/95,
and 80/87 aviation octane fuels became the norm.
The fuels used by the Air Force over the objections of the War
Department gave at least 20% more power, 6% more speed and 505
better climb speeds using existing engines. The Navy had made
the transition by 1938. England was able, using U.S. 100 octane
fuel, to get 1700 h.p. From the Merlin as opposed to 1000 h.p.
previously. At the start of WWII the U.S. was producing 24 million
gallons of 100-octane fuel per month. Using the military fuel,
commercial airlines were able to cut takeoff distances 45%, gain
a 20% increase in range. The economies of flying were greatly
increased. It wasn't until 1942 that the distinction of octane
change with changes of engine power became fully appreciated.
The 80/87 and 100/130 numbers of today's fuels reflect this discovery.
High-octane fuels allowed engines to be leaned for more economical
operation and longer range with no increase in temperatures. Water
injection allowed even more power over the short term.
Autopilot
Called George
When autopilots first became available, there happened to
be a saying, "Let George do it", which was part of a
wartime poster that said, basically, that you couldn't do that-
you had to do it yourself, or no one would do it. The "Let
George do it" attitude was something to be stamped out during
the WWII war years, you see...The autopilot was the only "George",
or "the other guy", that you could legitimately delegate
to. Thus, using the autopilot became "letting George do it".
Windsock
The word sock is from the colloquial French meaning close
in or conceal. When an airport was `socked in' the windsock was
taken down and its removal meant that the airport was closed.
The first lighted windsock was offered by the Heath Company in
its 1928 catalogue. Wind socks come in various sized determined
by the amount of wind required to fully extend it.
Buchannan
Field (at Concord, California)
Within the immediate vicinity of Buchannan Field, Concord CA there
have been over seven airports over the years. One of the very
first was a company strip in the flatlands just north of the Mallard
reservoir. This was used by Tosco refinery officials during the
twenties and thirties. Another was on the Martinez shoreline between
the railroad bridge and the train station. There was also a small
private strip along the hillside north west of downtown Clayton.
It was private and depending on winds and density altitudes you
had to decide on whether to take off over or under the power lines
to the west. Been there done that.
More famous was Mahoney Field approximately located where the Concord BART station is now. It was 1200' long and unpaved. The local businesses leased the field for commercial flights in 1920 to a one-plane airline that flew hotel customers from San Francisco to cities in the Central Valley and Los Angeles. The Curtiss Eagle tri-motor flew the route daily from May to near the end of June. Operations stopped when the plane crashed. No further use was ever made of Mahoney Field
The U.S. Mail service had a reliever airport at Concord to be used when Crissy Field at the San Francisco Presideo was socked in by weather. Service began in 1924 and continued until Mills Field (SFO) opened in 1927. Air mail from Concord would be re-routed via truck, train and ferryboat to S. F. Even with perfect connections this would add an additional two hours to the delivery time. This unnamed field was without designated runways at the northeast corner of West and Clayton Road in Concord. With the diversion of the mail service this field was a minimum service facility used by private aviation until Sherman Field somewhere near where the WWI Monument stands in Pleasant Hill offered both fuel and repair service beginning in the 1930's. The Pleasant Hill Subdivision of Sherman Oaks is all that remains as a memory of this airport that closed when Buchannan Field was released as war surplus in 1946.
Buchannan Field began with a slightly more than 400 acre purchase of farmland in 1942. Federal funds were used and two 5000' runways with large cement end pads were constructed with standby pads for the use of P-39 fighters. With an additional 120 acres the Military Transport Command based C-46 transports as a service and training facility. Total WWII cost of the field was over thirteen million with the county spending about a half-million.
The County, in order to promote development of the field, has
entered into 50-year lease agreements that must be the 'sweetest'
deals in the history of the county. Insiders have been able to
lease and use property with only a 1% average increase in payments
to the county per year. To my knowledge one hangar group of offices
more than make the county payments from just one rental, all the
others are gravy. The county operation of the airport would not
stand a close investigation as to the differing long-term treatment
of the insiders and outsiders at the airport. All airport security
is paid for by the individual tie-downs. Businesses pay nothing.
Associated
Airport(Two mile final into CCR 19R)
Clyde as it exists now is two small rows of homes along one side
of a railroad spur track and Port Chicago Highway.. I was once
a shipbuilding town in WWI and a part of the Port Chicago Ammunition
Depot of WWII. Clyde once had an airport.
The airport was part of the Avon Refinery complex once owned by Associated Oil Company. It was build on McNear land. near what is now Mallard Reservoir. McNear once owned all of the land along the Carquenez Straits as well as much of Sonoma County. The land that McNear didn't own, belonged to the government.
The field itself was an X with a north-south 1800 food sod
runway and the east-west runway 3006 feet of oiled sod as well.
The airport comprised 249 acres airport half bordered on the northeastern
corner
of the Mallard Reservoir. Frank Buchanan, namesake of Concords
present airport flew homebuilt gliders off these runways. The
field featured 150 foot wide runways with floodlighting for night
landings by prior arrangement.
In 1930 an airshow celebrating completion of the Martinez/Benecia bridge featured stunt flying by Paul Mantz (Flight of the Phoenix) before 8000 weekend celebrants. Another show in 1931 was called a 'circus'. In 1934 hard times closed the field for all time.
The following is a 'Preliminary Talk Notes' that I made early on in my instructing career. Going over them was of interest to me and perhaps you… I made them on a 2 x 5 note pad apparently before intercoms and headsets in G.A. aircraft. I am pleased to have shared with so many, these ideas. I have found them valuable and worthy of passing on. Hard to realize the these few words have grown like Topsey.
Student Expectations
Unlearning pre-conceptions of power, airspeed, and aircraft attitudes
Controlling instinctive reactions
Apprehensions related to clouds, ground, height, hills, turbulence,
and statistics.
Every student has a unique learning curve with plateaus of non-progress.
Student Mistakes
Most students will make normal mistakes. Every student will create
unique ones.
Instructor will create mistake situations for student who has
trouble making mistakes.
Every mistake has value, you will learn from it or live to repeat
it.
Know when not to fly due to health, weather or aircraft.
Learn to use the indexes of flight related to throttle, trim,
flaps, banks and aircraft attitude.
Student Standards
Being on time, notice if canceling or late, scheduling frequency
for results.
The instructor will set and raise the performance standards.
A student failure is an instructor failure
The way you are first taught is the way you will remember and
react in an emergency. (Applies to childhood as well.)
Unlearning a first taught incorrect procedure is VERY difficult.
You will never be asked to perform an unsafe maneuver…don't
do one on your own.
Don't believe that you can't be taught judgment…you can with
proper exposure.
Re-teaching and re-learning is the most difficult of learning
processes.
Your instinctive 'emergency' reflex is usually the wrong thing
to do.
Pre-flight Talk
Instructor will try to anticipate and tell you about the most
common mistakes.
A student is always different and creative in making new uncommon
mistakes.
There is a range of errors that are initially acceptable as learning
experiences.
As maneuvers become more difficult the range of acceptable errors
becomes smaller.
Do not let your learning expectations interfere with my teaching.
My expectations give enough trouble.
This instructor does not 'yell', as we fly your hearing improves.
(Before intercoms)
Your expectations as a student will not be met. They turn into
anxieties.
Anxieties over solo, money, fatigue, or family cause a 50% student
dropout rate.
In the beginning
Your greatest problem will be an initial sense of being overwhelmed
with material.
Your emotional and intellectual stress will not decrease until
the sixth lesson.
Use of trim
How to use the trim wheel...why I say you have hold of the aircraft
tail.
Finger and thumb only on yoke
Watching the nose
Left turning tendency explained. Instructor always monitors rudder
use.
Lessons
Every departure and arrival will be from a different direction.
You will become familiar with the area without the use of a sectional.
The second lesson will introduce Dutch rolls with proficiency
by the 7th lesson.
All training turns will be in 30-degree banks for at least 90
degrees. We will maintain Vy airspeed and use turns to gain altitude.
Leveling off requires acceleration and pre-planned trim movement.
Use of measured amount of flaps requires pre-planned trim movement.
All airwork lessons will depart upwind. Descents are made with
power reduction since we have trimmed already for level flight.
Stalls will be walked and talked through prior to departure. All
initial stall entries are gentle while holding heading and altitude.
By the sixth lesson... you will realize how much the same all
the lessons are.
Preflight
Start
Runup
Radio work
Taxiing
Terms:
Go-around
Low approach
Go ahead
Hold
Holding bars
North
Use of tape recorder
Reduces concern about remembering, eliminates note taking. (Wear
ear plugs)
Use tape playback to improve basic radio procedures and understanding.
Who you're talking to
Who you are
Where you are
What you want
It is important that you verbalize, not just think, before keying
the mike.
Practice getting ATIS on phone until you get it all the first
time through.
If using a hand mike, hold it to you lips to eliminate side noise.
Always practice with the mike to your lips.
Initial mike fright is normal. Going to visit the tower is a big
help.
Visit every ATC facility you can at every opportunity.
An open door is not an emergency.
Reasons for Flying
Costs and times required getting to remote places for recreation
Business use
Desire
Costs
Maintaining proficiency will equal cost of learning to fly.
Weight and Balance will become an ongoing problem.
Study Program
Required and recommended reading
Navigational devices and charts
Review of early lessons after solo with emphasis on crosswinds.
What's
New
With so much history in the past I would like to take you into
the future:
I am most proud of my older son who has been the prime project
developer of a system that is used world wide by the U.S. and
its allies for complete coordination of their naval and military
activities. It is now coming onto the civil market as ELVIS.
ELVIS demonstration can be found at:
http://elvis.inri.com:9002
You must use Netscape as your browser. When Command Center comes
up scroll down and Enter as gwhitt and again for password Click
on LOGIN
As a demo many of its features are inoperative. It is important
that you realize that all the data, names, and positions of units
and ships is just make believe. This is a demo of what is coming.
Suggest that you click on the screen to the far right. It is of
South Florida and nearby islands. Speed of Modem determines how
fast maps appear. If you click on something that you don't want,
just click on the word BACK near the top left and it will move
you back one screen.
The little world on the bottom left allows you to move the map
in any direction. The Map Option box at the top left (you may
need to scroll up and down.) Gives you some choices of what to
do.
Scroll down; Click on X4 to enlarge;Scroll up ;Click on Map Options;
Click on Zoom
Click on any point as the top left of a new map and another point
as the bottom right corner of the new map. This will give you
a higher resolution map of a smaller area.
Click Map Options; Click on center; Pick any point of the new
map that you want in the center of your screen and click on it.
Click on Map Options
Click on Bearing/Range
Click on any two points on the map and you will get a bearing/range
chart as well as a line on the map. Have fun. Play around with
the other maps. You are now at the very cutting edge of progress.
This is just the beginning of the next generation of navigation.
With transmitting GPS units you can be within four seconds of
real time position and movement of the sender. I plan to blame
ELVIS on my wife. Now I know why I have a trasmitting ELVIS on
my leg.
521 Maintenance
During WWII one of the very first airborne radar sets from England
was code-named the 521. Aircraft using this set were equipped
with a set of Yagi transmitting and receiving antennae projecting
forward on the wings. The Yagi was named after its Japanese inventor
and would be easily recognizable even today in those areas that
use housetop antenna instead of cable for TV reception.
This set consisted of a set of components consisting of a combination transmitter/receiver, a box that contained the circuits that made the pulse waves to be transmitted and the timing circuits used to present the signals on the cathode ray florescent screen. The radar operator had to use a scale on the screen to determine the distance from transmitter to target by halving the time of the transmitted wave and reception of the echo. By watching the movement of the target 'blip' on the screen it was barely possible to determine the size and speed of movement of the target relative to the transmitting aircraft.
I had occasion to take a training flight out of Boca Raton, FA using such a set in a Lockheed Hudson bomber that had been returned from Britain as war weary. It still had the bullet holes to show why it was put out to training pasture. It had the 521 installed and was being flown for training purposes. While I was being trained as the operator, the pilot asked if I had a target and if I could provide any identification for him.
Fact is I had seen the target, I had no idea as to what it was but was able to give distance as approximately thirty miles. It was a large target but too slow for an airplane and too fast for a ship. I was invited into the cockpit to see a blimp on anti-submarine patrol out by the Bahamas. As I returned to my position I found that the set had failed. It was then that I learned about 521 maintenance.
The various components of the 521 were interconnected with cables and 'cannon-plugs' that consisted of male and female components that went into each other and were tightened into position by screwing a threaded cover over the connection. The back of each box could have any where from three to six cables installed so as to feed the required power and signals to each component. The cannon-plugs were a frequent cause of electronic failure due to corrosion and aircraft vibration that affected the connections.
It did not take experienced operators long to uncover the practical solution to cannon-plug failures. All it took was for the operator to lean back in his seat and lift his feet in such a way as to allow you to give a component a good kick with the bottom of your heavy G.I. shoes. This corrective action came to be known as 521 maintenance among airborne radar mechanics and operators. On occasion, I used 521 maintenance on later model airborne radar sets with the B-29s in India. With the miniaturization of electronics political correctness made such kicking inappropriate. Use your hand.
The
Development Aviation
Progress in aviation has been a dynamic proof of the Chaos
theory. Government in all its forms as perceived by the individual
as a financial source, a leading force, or negatively regulation
entity has played a major role in the growth of aviation. The
higher education has been primarily directed toward practical
engineering. The great leaps forward have been by the dreamers
who have scorned the limits of the universities. Radical innovations
have been resisted mostly because of cost. Individuals with limited
resources have initiated innovation. Once initiated, then and
only then, do the financing, time and facilities become available.
More often than not the originator gets little recognition as
the second or third facilitator wins all the marbles.
Innovation has pauses, spurts failures and successes. Innovation requires considerable luck, faith, persistence, patience and leadership. Major aeronautical achievements very often had to wait while a related field played catch-up. The Wrights had to wait for an engine, engines had to wait for anti-knock fuel, communications had to wait for vacuum tubes, radar had to wait for the magnetron, navigation had to wait for the chronometer and GPS. Materials were improved and made possible better reciprocating engines and eventually via turbo-charging the jet engines as we know them.
The irrationality of government and military to resist change often resulted in blockages that took twenty years to remove. The Congress passed a bill in 1926 that prevented the funds of the government to be used for airport improvements. It was not until 1938 with the threat of universal war that the law was revoked. The antagonism between the major divisions of the U.S. military would prevent development that might benefit another service. That improvements were made often required interpersonal alliances between disparate personalities, institutional alliances between traditional opponents, and invisible infrastructure of materials and testing.
Of the visible infrastructure the most evident would be airports. The creation of airports in the U.S. is a mix of all the best and worst in what is America. As mentioned before Congress withheld federal funds. Little by little local communities found space near town that could be used. 1923 Pittsburgh wanted an airport but the selected area brought the very first resistance group of an Academy and a Country Club. The post office wanted to institute airmail service and were prepared to pay for it if only the cities would create airports. Cities, anxious to get into the game bent the rules to buy or lease airport space. Any field could be called an airport.
The military and postal service wanted airports throughout the U.S. It was Lindbergh who did for aviation what Tiger Woods has done for golf. When Lindbergh made a tour of the country every city wanted to have an airport for him to visit. An entire memorabilia industry grew up around Lindbergh. I recently visited a private home in Illinois that had an entire study made up such memorabilia. Museum quality and quantity. States passed enabling acts that allowed cities to build and support airports. Evasions around congressional restrictions made reclamation funds available to build airports where water existed. Lawsuits against city owned and built airports failed to halt development. The use of federal funds gave the power to regulate. Depression fed WPA projects built bridges and airports. By 1939 airports were a war preparation priority. Today, all major airports are owned and operated by cities.
Radio
Q-History
The Q codes were developed when communications wasn't as good
as now, and Morse code was till the norm.
It was a lot easier to shorten things down, made life a lot easier
on the wireless operators if they only had to send a few letters
rather than a whole sentence, and also was less likely to be misinterpreted.
Anyway, the Q stood/stands for question, and NH stands for Nil
height. In Europe an ATIS will always include QNH and QFE. If
you set the QNH, you can report your SL as "altitude QNH",
whereas if you report QFE it will be understood you are reporting
height above field elevation. Understand that QFE derived from
Q code Field Elevation hence QFE
Phillips
Head Screws
1932 is the patent year for these screws. J.H. Phillips was
the inventor. The Reed-Prince head is an imitation Phillips that
|
is designed to eject the screwdriver when pressure is sufficient
to break the head of the screw. This screw speeds production
since it will allow you to carry a screw and the driver is not
so likely to slip off.
I wonder why English and American aircraft propellers turn in
different directions?
History of navigation
Navigation required to get across the room
DR required at night
Kinds of navigation
Piloting
DR
Celestial
electronic
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