I'm no longer a Pilot.....

Would have been pretty exciting even for the ground-pounders on those back roads when these guys went through..…one very loud explosion of sound, looking around for the source…..then the next one goes through….

 

If you have soloed and have earned a PPL, you are a pilot. You're just not this pilot. Training, flight time, and skill enter into it because there are different types of pilots who are exposed to different types of environments and they usually find their niche. That is why during the war some guys were slated as bomber pilots and others were slated to be fighter pilots. And in each specific skill there were those who rose to the top of their MOS. It is wise to recognize where you are in your operational status and admire those who can operate at a higher level. It is also wise to resist the attempt to emulate them. I have seen several fatalities where the victims were driven by a spontaneous urge to " do what those guys can do". Hone the skills where you fit and you will be classified as a good pilot.

 

Damn! Great video.

 

I'm looking for "old pilot"

 

You gotta remember all the mission planning that goes into a flight like that...checklists too. That stuff always gets edited out.

 

As Russ knows, not as difficult as it looks with lots of training. There are severe restrictions on low level speeds across Europe so he was just cruising along at 420 KTAS or so, where operationally he would have been doing 540-570 KTAS. The Typhoon has a 9 g airframe, low wing loading, and better than one to one T/W so easy to get out of trouble. You can even critique the low level technique for ski jumping off ridges when tactically it is better to climb earlier, barely crest the ridge/hill and immediately descend to stay below radar LOS. Rolling too much on low level after cresting a ridge looks dramatic, as does an inverted pull-down, but the roll flashes your wing radar cross section at whoever is trying to pick you up.

The Typhoon is a really nice late Generation 4 fighter, with all the lessons learned from the earlier Gen 4 aircraft like the F-16, F-15, and Tornado and full PGM capability.

Just to make you feel better, F-T, one of the Blue Angels was going to make a flight in a replica Fokker Dr.I to go along with a film being made. They were flying F/A-18s at the time, same as now. He barely got the Triplane off the runway before he lost control of it and crashed it into some tree tops, luckily surviving with minor injuries. Turns out all his time was in high performance aircraft, and the stick, rudder, and torque compensation required for the Dr.I was not in his skill set. You probably would have done better in the Dr.I than the Blue Angel did. So not to worry, you are a real pilot and a few hundred hours in a high performance jet is all it would take to be able to fly low level like that. Unfortunately prohibitively expensive.

 

From what I can put together when I was in--Shortly after enlistment you were given a general IQ test as well as a physical. We then went to a " reception center" where we drew clothing and the wrath of the non-coms, then another more extensive IQ test ( mine was 0430 in the morning after receiving a cocktail of inoculations the night before )...i didn't do very well. Then it was to basic military training where we were drilled and given aptitude tests to see if you were coordinated, or suited for a desk job. At this stage you could go in three directions after the tests; pilot, navigator, or bombardier. If you showed that you were pilot material, you were sent to primary flight training where you were soon judged to be a pilot who liked and excelled in aerobatics or showed a more staid approach to flying. This is where the wash-out games started and non-pilots were eliminated.
Those who survived were then sent to basic where navigation and formation work was started and the wash-outs continued. I remember that the bomber pilots were separated from the fighter types at this point before they went to advanced . The AT-6 and the AT7 twin Beech, and the AT-9 were flown. Even B-25's and B-26's were flown in advanced twin classes.
If you survived all of this you were dumped into something like a P-40, P-51 and told to fly it. The bomber guys were put into B-17, B-24's ,etc. where many months of training ensued and this is where the formation work was done. The fighter guys went into combat work, aerial gunnery, formation, air to ground gunnery,etc. Then it was a trip overseas to a combat unit where at the beginning of the war, you lived a short life. In 1944-45 you lived a bit longer life.

 

Bob- In my father's case, he went to fighters because he was too small (120 lbs and eating bananas to stay that heavy) to hold the controls with engines out in a bomber. There were some strange exceptions to general rules.

 

Thanks, Taz, for bringing up the size thing. It's an element that I knew about but failed to mention. My late friend and hero, Lew Morse, was a B-24 pilot and he talked about both him and his copilot "standing" on the rudder pedals in an engine out situation. Also of having to manhandle the airplane with brute force at times, especially when they were seriously damaged and with engines out. The B-24 took a real man at times and Lew was built of rock at the time since he was an ex-athlete and a strong farm boy anyway. I was told that the B-17 was a bit better but still took some muscle. It brought a grin to my face when you mentioned your 120 pound dad being put into the biggest fighter that we had. Great guys.

 

^^^This.