Aviation myths that will not die

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Then there is Pickleball. A racquet sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. Two, three, or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, similar to a wiffle ball, over a net. The sport shares features of other racquet sports, the dimensions and layout of a badminton court, and a net and rules similar to tennis, with a few modifications. Pickleball was invented in the mid 1960s as a children's backyard pastime but has become popular among adults as well.
 
pbehn said:
I never grasped the strategic significance of pickle barrels
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That's because you misunderstood their contents. We're not talking fermented cucumbers here; those barrels are full of pickleswitches, without which the aircraft produced in the factory cannot release their ordnance. One little missing part can clog the production line for a month!
 
We had those at school, no one knew what they were for.
 
But it wasn't just the Norden sight that made it possible to hit a pickle barrel from 30,000 ft.
It's only recently been 'de-classified', but special ordnance at the time, known as ASB ( Aroma Seeking Bombs), were used in conjunction with the Norden sight.
A sensor in the nose of the bomb was activated approximately four seconds after release of the bomb(s), which then sought out and locked-on to the aroma of vinegar generated by pickle barrels, ensuring extremely accurate flight to target, and impact within six inches.
Unfortunately, this also lead to the destruction of numerous kitchens preparing pickled cabbage, pickled herrings and similar delicacies and it was, of course, unable to detect aromas from other sources, such as railway yards, tank factories etc etc.................
 
Capt. Vick said:
B-24 pilots have massive left arms
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A late neighbor of mine was a B-24 pilot (Ploesti 2x), and he used to chuckle over that myth. He said that saying implied you could one-hand a Liberator in a tight box formation, which as far as he was concerned was a joke. He said especially if you were tail end Charlie, it was a two handed affair and you left the throttle jockeying to your copilot and flight engineer at your command. He said that (and plenty of "stick time") sharpened copilots up pretty quickly and improved them to the point they could become replacement aircraft commanders. Not the way it was taught in training command, where the skipper drove the bird and the copilot operated the gear and flaps, sat on his hands, and stood by for emergencies.
He said by the second half of his tour he was Squadron Commander, and always flew lead, so everyone formated on him. He advanced so quickly, unfortunately, due to high attrition amongst the leadership and few experienced replacements. Ten months from 2nd Louie to Brevet Light Colonel.
Cheers,
Wes
 
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