Per Ardua, Ad Astra
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@snowy I found this last year, those f4us were apparently a real handful on takeoff .
I wish Geoff Fisken got around to writing a book about his experience, he was a tough bastard .
Geoff Fisken
Geoff Fisken, who died on June 12 aged 95, was the most successful British Commonwealth fighter pilot against the Japanese, credited with destroying at least 10 enemy aircraft.
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@jegga said in Per Ardua, Ad Astra:
those f4us were apparently a real handful on takeoff
Most of the high power taildraggers at the time were. All sorts of torque and aerodynamic affects going on. Tendency to just roll over on their backs once airborne - or just ground loop and face the other way if still on the ground (esp in the hands of some poor bugger who only had a few hours training).
Might try and track down a copy of "Too young to die".
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@snowy said in Per Ardua, Ad Astra:
@jegga said in Per Ardua, Ad Astra:
those f4us were apparently a real handful on takeoff
Most of the high power taildraggers at the time were. All sorts of torque and aerodynamic affects going on. Tendency to just roll over on their backs once airborne - or just ground loop and face the other way if still on the ground (esp in the hands of some poor bugger who only had a few hours training).
Might try and track down a copy of "Too young to die".
Their nose was up so high in the air too to make room for that huge prop too, I’d imagine your sphincter would clenched tight enough to cut rebar if you had the misfortune to be taking off on a carrier .
They built a special model for the Korean War that was a beast too.
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A terrifying thing to be a rookie pilot in WW2: There are two kinds of fighter pilots -- aces and targets.
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@antipodean said in Per Ardua, Ad Astra:
A terrifying thing to be a rookie pilot in WW2:
That's what makes me smile about the "never unduly disturbed" comment. Balls of steel. Scary enough getting the things on and off the ground (worse on a carrier) and then you have some prick shooting at you. Better than some of the other options - like being in a tank - though.
Seem to recall there being a few Corsair wrecks around in PNG when I was there. Not sure if they had been shot down or just crashed...either seems to just as likely.
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I only recently learned of the existence of these , considering the amount of carriers the yanks ultimately ended up with it explains how they were able to train so many aircrew .
Apparently if you were shot down in the pacific and recovered by another US boat your pistol and anything else interesting on you was souvenired by your rescuers and your carrier had to swap you for your bodyweight in ice cream.
Too Young to Die: The Story of a New Zealand Fighter Pilot in the Pacific War: Cox, Bryan: 9780813802053: Amazon.com: Books
USS Wolverine (IX-64) - Wikipedia
