FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Because you can still cause airframe damage as you're approaching Vne rendering the aircraft uncontrollable wasting plane and pilot for completing its primary mission.
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Because you can still cause airframe damage as you're approaching Vne rendering the aircraft uncontrollable wasting plane and pilot for completing its primary mission.So why did the Kamaikaze training manual cation against overspeeding in case the loss of control precluded hitting the target? If full speed ahead was the way to go, why caution against it?
You sure can.Because you can still cause airframe damage as you're approaching Vne rendering the aircraft uncontrollable wasting plane and pilot for completing its primary mission.
Setting the elevator trim tabs I'd imagine would help with the control, there. I don't know what level of training many of these kamikaze pilots had, though.The Zero's elevators were so effective at speed that they designed elasticity into the elevator cables and bellcrank, to prevent structural damage from overcontrol at high speeds.
I remember reading somewhere where later in the war the average time was 15 hours. They did teach them to take off and land should they have to abort because of weather.Setting the elevator trim tabs I'd imagine would help with the control, there. I don't know what level of training many of these kamikaze pilots had, though.
That doesn't surprise me. You'd know better than most here I'm sure that 15 hours is hardly "aircraft familiarity." As an aside, I had the honor of sitting in on some of my Dad's flight club meetings in his "golden years." These were former War pilots from all over, but primarily Navy. They'd say about the younger Kamikaze pilots who came in at the War's desperate end, those novices should have known something was up when all they were taught to do was take off. It was somewhat of a joke, of course, but it underscores what you said on their hours logged on those aircraft.I remember reading somewhere where later in the war the average time was 15 hours. They did teach them to take off and land should they have to abort because of weather.
Because you can still cause airframe damage as you're approaching Vne rendering the aircraft uncontrollable wasting plane and pilot for completing its primary mission.
Do know what Vne is? If you exceed Vne you can and will start bending the aircraft and eventually it will come apart!!! The Zero, like many other aircraft can have it's Vne speed exceeded in a terminal dive. As stated, the Zero's AILERONS become stiff and unresponsive at high speed but one can still control flight with elevator trim and rudder. Again if the aircraft is allowed to come apart BEFORE reaching the target, the whole mission is a failure - that simple!What, so the major limiting factor on the kamikaze's speed was the structural strength of the aircraft? I dont think so. Again, to quote the kamikaze training manual: 'Beware of over-speeding and a too-steep angle of dive that will make the controls harder to respond to your touch'.
That seems pretty clear to me; go in to fast and and steep and your controls will lose responsivness, as so many tests on zeros concluded, and you risk missing the target. Nothing there about the aicraft falling to bits - that would come later. Long before the pilot of a light aircraft with low wing loading had to worry about the wings comming off, he would be compelled to limit his speed in order to retain enough control to ensure he hit the target. The limiting factor for airspeed would not have been the integrity of the aircraft but the degree of control retained by the pilot, as inferred in the manual.
It seems the injunction to pilots not to over-speed was to enable them to retain the ability to move the control surfaces. Everyone agrees that the ailerons in particular became very heavy at high speeds.
How well a pilot with minimal hours experience and zero experience in a high speed dive could control an aircraft using elevator trim and rudder after the usual controls were locked up is debateable.
A more experienced pilot would be more likely to ignore the advice anyway,like those Bomber Command crews arriving home well ahead of schedule having flown straight home at low level completely ignoring official routing. He'd also be more likely to actually hit his target.
Which comes first,inability to control the aircraft or Vne at which point there is a risk of the aircraft coming apart (definitely uncontrollable then)?
I suspect the inability to effectively control the aircraft and hit a target comes long before Vne for the Japanese types.
I say "suspect" as my knowledge of Japanese aircraft is pretty minimal
Cheers
Steve
An aggressive flight training syllabus with the right student can have one soloing in about 7 hours. If you blow off the normal pattern work and concentrate on take offs and landings, the transition to a higher performing aircraft is very doable, especially if the initial training is done in a higher performing training aircraft to begin with.By comparison, for a private ticket here in the states, I can't remember whether there is a regulatory minimum time to be logged before a student does his/her solo. IIRCM, in practice, I've heard about 7 or 9 hours as a minimum and 10 or 12 is about average. In ordinary training, the first hours are typically heavily devoted to pattern work and flying straight and level and basic aircraft handling in a variety of situations, stalls, slow flight etc. So, although some of this wouldn't be necessary, I am still quite astonished that 15 hours was possible. Over-land pilotage isn't that easy and over-water nav is a considerable level above that. Evidently there was a pathfinder aircraft? Did I miss that earlier in the thread?