BlackSheep
Banned
- 443
- May 31, 2018
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I can't answer the question but that's a great shot.Does anyone know why more carrier planes didn't carry flotation devices, like the TBD, in case they had to ditch in water?
Defeatist thinking? Ineffective for the weight? Eliminates space best used another way?
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It went wrong.A nice looking airplane. What went right at Blackburn?
I was reading about the cold, unsettled waters around the UK and the nightmare it was for pilots ditching or bailing into it. Reading the contents of the so-called rescue buoys, I thought problem solved until I listened to a real life account of a pilot talking about the hell it took to climb aboard one, the either too cold, too hot, or too humid climate, the smells of your mates in a confined space, and the puke inducing rocking. Iirc, this was in the superiorly designed RAF version. Imagine, fighting the seas to make it to a buoy, managing to climb aboard without slipping and breaking something, only to find it occupied by that Luftwaffe bomber crew you shot down an hour ago. You know, the one where everybody's favorite gunner, best friend, little brother was filled full of 303 holes and they've been huddling with his body, since he passed about 10 minutes before your grand entry. Out of the frying pan…..People joke about the UK being the worlds biggest aircraft carrier. However it was a shockingly long time before it was realised that any offensive operation from UK involved flying over water. frequently further than a carrier plane flew over water and the water is COLD.
I have seen cross channel ferries being tossed about so violently in Calais and Dover harbours that they had to stop loading. The idea that you can have moored buoys that are comfortable in all conditions is a joke. It isnt even particularly comfortable on a 100,000 ton stabilised North Sea ferry in the worst weather.I was reading about the cold, unsettled waters around the UK and the nightmare it was for pilots ditching or bailing into it. Reading the contents of the so-called rescue buoys, I thought problem solved until I listened to a real life account of a pilot talking about the hell it took to climb aboard one, the either too cold, too hot, or too humid climate, the smells of your mates in a confined space, and the puke inducing rocking. Iirc, this was in the superiorly designed RAF version. Imagine, fighting the seas to make it to a buoy, managing to climb aboard without slipping and breaking something, only to find it occupied by that Luftwaffe bomber crew you shot down an hour ago. You know, the one where everybody's favorite gunner, best friend, little brother was filled full of 303 holes and they've been huddling with his body, since he passed about 10 minutes before your grand entry. Out of the frying pan…..