A pilot jumps from his burning plane. For many pilots the horror of being burned alive in a plane was their greatest fear. Some carried a side arm to finish themselves off. Many simply free-fell to their death.
None of the pilots on any of the sides wore parachutes. Parachutes had been invented, but the high commands of the belligerent nations believed that they would destroy the “fighting spirit” of pilots.
No parachutes to motivate the pilots! Tough times... both sides though this was reasonable.
ReplyDeleteHi CW,
ReplyDelete'Can't speak for "Those Guys!!".. 'Understood the guys in the gondola's of the tethered observation balloons did..
As an "Old SKYDIVER!!!" I can say wholeheartedly that parachutes are a great piece of equipment!!!! Now for the"Jump Story!!"
Back in the early 70's there was this Marine Aviator ..Mjr. "Stroughbah" who flew out of "Camp Pendleton" in So. Cal. He would get a CH-46 Chopper (can hold about 20 passengers and had a nice tail ramp!!) 'He'd go flying on Saturday morning and stop in at Elsinore Airport Parachute Center... he said,"Anybody with a "GREEN ID CARD" (Active Duty Military) get on board!!! story goes on the way to 12,500' ..around 8 or 9 thousand... the Chopper's "Rotor's" developed a vibration!! He gets on the mic to the crew chief and says,"Tell everyone to strap in I'm taken' her down!!".....
..He gets no reply!!... Looks into the cabin and it's "EMPTY!!" with the crew chief's head phones dangling on their hook at the tail ramp!!!!!!!!!!!!
"5-RIGHT AND CUT!!!!!!!!"
skybill-out
... but the high commands of the belligerent nations believed that they would destroy the “fighting spirit” of pilots.
ReplyDeleteHow fortunate that the high commands had no personal investment in their decisions.
And I'm sure the Crew Chief and the Major spoke afterwards about the Crew Chief's lack of confidence in the Major's piloting skills.
"Dammit, when the manifest says two crew on board for takeoff, I expect there to be two crew on board for the landing!"
Parachutes were considered bad for morale, don'tchaknow? I guess seeing your squadron mate burning in or plummeting thousands of feet was GOOD for morale? The idiot officers said the same sort of thing about the guns in Singapore. They were pointed out to sea as that was the most likely place to be attacked. However, when the Japanese attacked they came down the Malay peninsula. The smart guys wanted to turn the guns to point north, and those big guns would have devastated the Japs. Turns out they were nearly exhausted and running critically low on supplies. BUT, the tea sippers at the Club said no, turning the guns would be bad for morale... Idiots. One only hopes they, too, got caught up by the Japs, not just the poor squadies.
ReplyDeleteStupid officers are everywhere
ReplyDelete