Eiffel Tower

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GrauGeist said:
One thing I found out about the missing Bf109 claim, is that he never filed claims for victories.
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Frank Olynyk lists three combat reports with claims by Overstreet, all backed up with credits from their respective Victory Credit Board (VCB) reports.

He did file claims.

I don't know the details of the Eiffel tower incident and haven't had time to hear what the man himself says in the interview. If he did pursue a Bf 109 under the Eiffel tower and subsequently destroy it he didn't file a combat report to be reviewed by the VCB for that one for some reason.

I'll just stick to the known facts and sit on the fence

Cheers

Steve
 
after some flak hit his plane and severed the ox line the plane flew on the heading he was on. most likely he had it trimmed for straight and level flight and that is they way she went...until the drop tank ran out of fuel....then it probably stalled and went into a spin. he started out at 25k feet and once below 10 grand where you dont need oxygen he probably started to come around. he had to figure out what was going on....switch fuel...start the engine...and pull out of the spin. he was pretty low when he finally did.

the tower incident was witnessed by a lot of parisians and actually incited a mini revolt in the city for 3 days.

the white sidewalls....that seemed to be a big deal with the early B/C models. i have heard/read ( but cannot find any confirming reports or evidence ) that is was an experiment to reduce the effects of the sun on the rubber tires. but i also know that big wide white walls were the fashion for cars of the day so can also believe they were painted up that way to dress up the plane.

as for what can fit under the tower...i came across this pic.
 

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bobbysocks said:
the white sidewalls....that seemed to be a big deal with the early B/C models. i have heard/read ( but cannot find any confirming reports or evidence ) that is was an experiment to reduce the effects of the sun on the rubber tires.
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Yes. It's often quoted as a reason for white wall tyres on Luftwaffe aircraft. I've never seen any primary evidence for that and I've seen plenty of Luftwaffe aircraft with white wall tyres in environments where that can't be the case (like Norway). Nonetheless it seems reasonable.
Many tail wheel tyres were electrically conducting to earth the aircraft. This innovation was introduced pre-war as tail skids started to be replaced by tail wheels. The Dunlop ECTA tyre was one of the first. It has also been suggested that some tail wheel tyres were made white walled to indicate that they were conducting tyres.
Cheers
Steve
 
According to "Günter Sengfelder's" book "Flugzeugfahrwerke" the white walled tail gear tires indicates to the refuelling team that the aircraft must not be grounded by a cable during refuelling because the tire is made from conductive rubber.
cimmex
 

Yes. Many tyres used on British aircraft were electrically conducting, but they were not distinguished by a coloured side wall. This is an early Dunlop advertisement for their ECTA (electrically conducting tyre aircraft) tyre.



Sengfelder suggested that the white side wall on German tyres signified electrical conductivity. Ullmann stated that white wall tyres were 'a requirement for tropical service'. I can't remember how he justified this and don't have time to look it up now.

Cheers

Steve
 
Njaco said:
Well, my question is: does it take 90 minutes to flat spin down from 25,000 ft? That just doesn't seem right to me. But I may be wrong and again, no disrespect.
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They were two different incidents Njaco the flat spin and the black out were in different planes.
 
if the white walled tires were electronically conductive....negating the need to ground the plane for static electricity during fueling....that would make sense.
 
I think I recall reading that after the liberation of Paris, flying under the eiffel tower was a favourite stunt of the USAAF fighter pilots returning from escort or strafing missions on Germany. It was apparently a fairly regular occurence
 
The history of 409 Squadron RCAF (The Nighthawks) from which this image is taken was recently reproduced by a relative of an original 409 member on behalf of the extended family. He asked us if we would publish it on our site to perpetuate the memory of this brave RCAF unit. We were happy to undertake the labour of love to do so. We've got a first person account of this event of flying under the Eiffel on page 50 of the book. Check it out at aircrewremembered.com/Nighthawks/nighthawks50.html and whilst you're there, read the whole book. It's a vivid personal recollection of the Nighthawks.

And if anyone else has similar material, or memories of stories of flying personnel, please get in touch.
 
It's always good when you have a first-person account to rely on. Those Nighthawks were something else, as were many of the RCAF flyers. We've got a lot of Canadian material on the site and I make a point to read every word looking for their amazing antics. Screwball Beurling, Buck McNair... all characters. Glad we were on the same side!
 
Terrific information guys and great images and posts, Bobbysocks. I'd also heard about electrically conducting tailwheels, but not mainwheels.

negating the need to ground the plane for static electricity during fueling
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You still need to bond the refuelling truck to the aeroplane to place it in the circuit.
 
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