Aviation myths that will not die

[yulzari]

How about the DH Mosquito could not be used in hot humid climates as the glue would fail?

One sub contractor was found to have done improper glueing and theirs did start to delaminate. The cause was soon identified, better procedures put into place and modern damp proof glues introduced.

So the Mosquito was perfectly capable of operating in hot humid climates. They were made in Australia who would use them in these circumstances and Hornets were in use for some years in Malaya which is about as hot and humid as you are going to get.

 

[muscogeemike]

I was given a P-38 lapel pin when I was a child (late 1960's), by a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot (later U.S. Army Air Force), Pacific Theater, who flew them and referred to it as a "Fork Taled Devil"...this is why I'm familiar with the term.

This is part of my pet "myth" of WWII. The USAAC became the USAAF months before Pearl Harbor - the P-38 was not introduced into the Pacific Theater until mid 1942 - your pilot in the Pacific was not in the Air Corps - he was in the US Army Air Force.

 

[muscogeemike]

I remember the first time I heard a P38 running. Oshkosh, 1981 iffen I remember right. As it did a low flyby, I thought it sounded like 2 P51s with glasspacks.

In the early '50's, as a kid, I was privilaged to fly in a Lightening!

 

[Matt308]

Lucky b@stard.

 

[nuuumannn]

In the early '50's, as a kid, I was privileged to fly in a Lightning!

Is that another aviation myth that will not die?

Lucky b@stard.

How about that one?

I had the utmost misfortune to watch a perfectly serviceable P-38 fly into the ground at speed at an airshow in the UK in 1996 - a most horrifying thing to stand and watch unfold before your eyes. Definitely not a myth. Pilot Hoof Proudfoot and one P-38 were written off.

 

[bobbysocks]

I had the utmost misfortune to watch a perfectly serviceable P-38 fly into the ground at speed at an airshow in the UK in 1996 - a most horrifying thing to stand and watch unfold before your eyes. Definitely not a myth. Pilot Hoof Proudfoot and one P-38 were written off.

that is truely unfortunate when an event that inspires and fills us with admiration has a horribly tragic moment.

 

[baclightning]

The Soviets used the P-39 Airacobra primarily as a ground attack aircraft.

The Luftwaffe detroyed the Polish Air Force on the ground in September 1939.

Erich Hartmann fattened his total of 352 victories by shooting down many biplanes and other obsolete Soviet aircraft.

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a copy of the Hughes H-1.

The Lockheed P-38 shot down more Japanese aircraft than any other fighter.

 

[GrauGeist]

This is part of my pet "myth" of WWII. The USAAC became the USAAF months before Pearl Harbor - the P-38 was not introduced into the Pacific Theater until mid 1942 - your pilot in the Pacific was not in the Air Corps - he was in the US Army Air Force.

Ok...once again...my great Uncle James Hughes joined the USAAC in the late 30's...he was Army Air Corps until the transition to the USAAF (1941 onwards) however, the Air Corps remained a combat arm of the Army Airforce until 1947.

So to sum it up, the Air Corps did not vanish from the face of the earth, it did exist for the duration of the war, it simply ceased it's administration by 1942 as the transition from Army Air Corps to the Army Airforce was complete and remained a department of the Army Airforce until, as stated before, 1947.

Therefore, my Great Uncle served in the Army Air Corps AND the Army Airforce AND later the United States Airforce.

I hope this finally ends this little episode...

 

[Aozora]

Perennial Myth: The Spitfire's maximum dive speed was ridiculously slow cf the Bf 109:

I came across a website a couple of years ago that features a great many myths and half truths - "Purple Fang"? Seems to really hate anything not German...

F'r instance this myth is taken to a ridiculous extreme: here: "Spitfire couldn't pass 400 mph in a dive because the "airframe (presume this meant ailerons?) went solid at 400 mph?" and several broke up because of "wing flutter". Quoting Roland Beamont...

So, let's have a look see: Alex Henshaw, Chief Test Pilot Castle Bromwich:

"Bee (Beamont) quotes a number of performance figures on both the Spitfire and the Hurricane in a surprisingly loose manner....The Vne was set by the Supermarine technical department at 470 m.p.h IAS at a height assumed to be between 5,000 and 10,000 ft....all aircraft under test were taken to 470 m.p.h IAS" You can read the rest.

Note: The following Pilot's Notes for the Spitfire VII/VIII are genuine WW2 vintage and not reproduced from a website:

470 mph IAS as noted by Henshaw:

Bf 109E Dive speed:

Bf 109G-3 Limiting speeds:

750 km/h = 466 mph.

Fact: There wasn't a significant difference between the dive speeds of the Spitfire with the original wing design and the Bf 109 series.

 

[fastmongrel]

I came across a website a couple of years ago that features a great many myths and half truths - "Purple Fang"? Seems to really hate anything not German...

There was an interesting thread on that particular forum that by the use of mountains of statistics proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the LW beat the RAF in Aug/Sept 1940 and it was only by not playing fair that the sneaky British wouldnt give up and surrender as they should have done. I think its simple to say that members of that forum have a slight pro German bias

 

[tomo pauk]

Ah, yes, Purple Fang - the 'Spitfire was a draggy non-performer' and 'P-51 was no good' mumbling dude.

 

[Milosh]

I think its simple to say that members of that forum have a slight pro German bias

Slight pro German bias! Now that is an understatement of an understatement.

 

[oldcrowcv63]

anyone know if ground pounders in the PTO called either the P-38 or F4U flying foxholes?

 

[mhuxt]

Here's one:

The received wisdom about the Ta 154 is that it was cancelled just before series production began, due to an RAF raid on Wuppertal which destroyed the glue factory.

However, in his book on the subject, Dietmar Hermann says production was cancelled by the RLM for its own reasons in favour of the Do 335. He says meeting minutes only mention the glue issue once, and acknowledge that the original glue was no longer available due to air-raid damange, but that an alternative had been found and issues overcome.

Certainly there doesn't seem to have been a raid on Wuppertal around the time of the Ta 154's cancellation - the firestorm raid had taken place more than a year earlier.

 

[Njaco]

Perennial Myth: The Spitfire's maximum dive speed was ridiculously slow cf the Bf 109:

I came across a website a couple of years ago that features a great many myths and half truths - "Purple Fang"? Seems to really hate anything not German...


Fact: There wasn't a significant difference between the dive speeds of the Spitfire with the original wing design and the Bf 109 series.

When I tried to check the website, it said the link "http kurfurst freeforums org index" was bad. Kurfurst, hmmmmm.........

 

[fastmongrel]

When I tried to check the website, it said the link "http kurfurst freeforums org index" was bad. Kurfurst, hmmmmm.........

Try this link Kurfürst Discussion Boards • View topic - Roland Beamont, Spit dive

 

[nuuumannn]

it said the link "http kurfurst freeforums org index" was bad.

Its not the only thing about it...

Here's one I encounter on this forum from time to time; Britain had a shortage of aluminium before WW2 and that's why the Mosquito and the Hurricane are made of wood.

 

[Edgar Brooks]

Here's one I encounter on this forum from time to time; Britain had a shortage of aluminium before WW2 and that's why the Mosquito and the Hurricane are made of wood.

It comes up all the time; strange, when you think that there was a large factory, in Scotland, churning the stuff out by the ton, and recycling shot-down German aircraft, as well.
When Stanford Tuck, and Stainforth, were given a rebuilt Me109 (don't know if it was a -1 or -3) to test against a Spitfire I, they did several dives, at various preset settings, and found that there was no difference, worthy of consideration, between the rates of dive. They did, however, find that the 109 pilot could take higher G levels, in turns, because his legs were straighter, and higher, than those of a Spitfire pilot; this led to the two-bar rudder pedals, introduced into the Spitfire Hurricane, but too late for the majority of the Battle of Britain.

 

[tyrodtom]

It comes up all the time; strange, when you think that there was a large factory, in Scotland, churning the stuff out by the ton, and recycling shot-down German aircraft, as well.
When Stanford Tuck, and Stainforth, were given a rebuilt Me109 (don't know if it was a -1 or -3) to test against a Spitfire I, they did several dives, at various preset settings, and found that there was no difference, worthy of consideration, between the rates of dive. They did, however, find that the 109 pilot could take higher G levels, in turns, because his legs were straighter, and higher, than those of a Spitfire pilot; this led to the two-bar rudder pedals, introduced into the Spitfire Hurricane, but too late for the majority of the Battle of Britain.

And replies keep coming back that the Hurricane wasn't made of wood. It had a steel tube fuselage structure just with wooden formers and stringers to round out and streamline the shape. Wooden wings on the very early models, but metal stuctured wings onall models after those first few.

But still in a few weeks or months, you'll see someone that says the Hurricane was built of wood.

 

[nuuumannn]

But still in a few weeks or months, you'll see someone that says the Hurricane was built of wood.

We could play W**k Bingo; the rules are for as many people to post the word 'Bingo' in the thread when it (and the shortage of aluminium story) gets used again.