More stuff....

[jetmex]

1. Name the the only Luftwaffe carrier aircraft to see combat in WWII.

2. What was the largest propeller driven aircraft to see service?

3. Name the first catapult launched monoplane to see service with the Fleet Air Arm in WWII.

4. How do you unlock the tailwheel in a P-51?

5. What is a sesquiplane?

6. The Janitrol company is most famous for what aircraft component?

7. Name as many automobile companies as you can who manufactured complete airplanes, not just subassemblies. Name the airplanes they built.

8. If ATC tells you to squawk and ident, what do you do?

9. Name the highest scoring pilot to fly the the fighter known as the Flying Barrel.

10. What does RVSM stand for?

You guys need to come up with some new ones, I'm running out of energy....

[Galvin]

1. Name the the only Luftwaffe carrier aircraft to see combat in WWII.

That is aircraft in the plural sense because there was more than one type developed for use on Germany's aircraft carriers "Graf Zeppelin" (Carrier "A"), and "Peter Strasser" (Carrier "B"). The "Graf Zeppelin" was indeed launched but never sailed and the keel for the "Peter Strasser" was laid but it was never completed. The aircraft that had been developed and modified for use on them were then put to use elsewhere in land based units.

They included:
A. The Arado 95A-0, and A-1 Torpedo/Reconnaissance biplane. The small number built ( Six A-0s and at least eight 8A-1s) equipped with floats served with the Luftwaffe from the Spanish Civil War through the Soviet and Finnish invasions. Six were produced for Chile, which ended up having no carriers either. Three survived in Spanish service until 1948.

B. The Messerschmitt Bf-109T (for "Trager" or Carrier) was basically a Bf-109E-1 with longer wings and having provision for folding, catapult spools, and an arrester hook. The whole project was assigned to Fieseler, which produced 10 pre-production Bf-109T-0s not having full carrier gear and 60 Bf-109T-1s in full carrier rig.

With the loss of the "Bismarck" and the relegating of the completion of the "Graf Zeppelin to the back burner, these T-1s were ordered re-converted to landplanes on the assembly line by removal of the hook and the catapult spools, updating the engine and other equipment to approximately Bf-109E-4 capability, and then re-designated T-2s.

With their bigger wings they proved very useful on the short and narrow strips of northern Norway and served until late 1942, long after their counterpart E models had given way to the F and G models. One Bf-109T was reportedly found at Augsburg at war's end.

C. A small number of Junkers Ju-87C-0 "Stuka" dive bombers were modified from the basic Ju-87B on the Junkers assembly line in 1939, being equipped with catapult spools, arrester hooks, and manually folding wings. They also had bigger fuel tanks and jettisonable main gear legs for water or rough terrain landings, a feature some sources claim to have been adopted for later models of the Ju-87 as well. They saw service in the Polish campaign and later in Russia and a famous photo shows a Ju-87C hit by flak whose pilot blew the gear legs in anticipation of a swim but made it back to a belly landing at his base anyway.

D. The Fieseler 167 biplane was also built as a torpedo/ reconnaissance aircraft for these carriers in competion with the Arado 95 and at least 12 Fi-167A-0s were produced. They saw service with the Luftwaffe but if that service included combat is uncertain. Some were eventuallu sent to Rumania but whether they saw combat or not is unknown.

2. What was the largest propeller driven aircraft to see service?

I believe it was the early Convair B-36 (the one before they hung jets outboard of the props) in terms of gross weight and wingspan. The Tu-95 Bear and its Tu-114 airliner counterpart has to be up there as well.

3. Name the first catapult launched monoplane to see service with the Fleet Air Arm in WWII.

Perhaps it was the clapped out Hawker Hurricanes used on the CAM (Catapult Aircraft Merchantman) ships cobbled together as a stop-gap anti FW-200 and Ju-88 countermeasure. They were loaded aboard specially modified CAM ships and launched off rails through the use of both steam power and rocket assist when shipping raiders were sighted.

After taking care of the bombers their pilots would ditch alongside a ship and hopefully be picked up before they froze to death, a window of mere minutes. Balls the size of Buicks were the primary requirement for these pilots and some success was obtained through these rather drastic tactics. Some pilots were indeed lost as well.

4. How do you unlock the tailwheel in a P-51?

Push the stick forward to pull the pin out of the lock and stand on a brake in the direction you wish to turn. Do not forget to re-lock it by pulling the stick back once you straighten out unless you want an unguided tour of the local rhubarb. (Don't ask me how I know this.) The AT-6/SNJ tailwheel and the one on the Yak-11 I put back together all worked the same.

5. What is a sesquiplane?

Any aircraft having a lower set of wings significantly smaller than the upper set of main wings qualifies as a sesquiplane. Many of the big Bellancas with huge struts having airfoil shapes qualify as do the Fiat CR-42, Laird Biplane, Nieuport 17, Albatros DV, and something called the "Wiley Post Biplane" as I recall.

6. The Janitrol company is most famous for what aircraft component?

Aircraft heaters that sometimes caught fire in flight. Or were those the Southwinds? They ran on Avgas and many were ADed for removal.

7. Name as many automobile companies as you can who manufactured complete airplanes, not just subassemblies. Name the airplanes they built.

Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors: FM-1 and 2 Wildcats, TBM Avenger.

Buggatti built a beautiful little racer that is now at the EAA museum but it sadly never flew.

Ford Dearborn; Ford 4AT Transport, 5AT Trimotor, Ford Flivver sport plane.

Ford Willow Run: B-24J Liberators

8. If ATC tells you to squawk and ident, what do you do?

It is "Squawk ident" actually. (You are already squawking a transponder code when they ask you to "Squawk Ident".) When you push a button marked "ident" on your transponder panel at ATC request your radar return blossoms on the ARTS III scope so they can pick you out of the herd.

Question for you or anyone who thinks they know: Where did the term "Squawk" originate?

9. Name the highest scoring pilot to fly the the fighter known as the Flying Barrel.

Finnish pilot Hasse Wind. He scored 39 kills while flying the Brewster 239 Buffalo. The nicknames for this airplane varied depending on the people flying them. "Sky Pearl", "Flying Barrel", Bustling Walter" (Finnish) , "Suicide Barrel"(RAF), etc.

10. What does RVSM stand for?

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums. Above 18000'MSL everyone goes to a standard altimeter setting of 29.92" Hg so that the constant resetting of the barometric altimeter is not required as local pressure changes take place. Everyone up there is thus using a false sea level as an altitude reference (unless the local SL baro setting actually happens to BE exactly 29.92") but at least everyone is using the same reference and will therefore miss each other by the amount prescribed by law. That amount is 1000' for aircraft on opposing courses.

Above Flight Level 290 (29000' QNE) that amount of vertical separation normally increases to 2000'. Aircraft whose course is from 0 degrees to 179 magnetic fly at FL 310, 350, 390, etc. while those whose mag course is 180 to 359 degrees fly at 290, 330, 370, 410, etc.

Over the North Atlantic, however, there is so much traffic that vertical separation minimums can be reduced back to 1000 feet if the aircraft and crew meet certain certification requirements involving the aircraft's pitot static system and crew training. This practice allows almost twice the traffic to be handled on these NA routes than would normally be the case. We never got that certification on the 727 we were flying for the sheikh so we were limited to FL280 westbound and FL290 eastbound and had to use a lot of extra fuel due to flying so low.

[jetmex]

Wow, that was fast. Go away for a few days and look what happens..... ;D

So, #3 is still up for grabs. It was not the Hurricane, but the answer might surprise you.

Dave, we always used to refer to Janitrol heaters as flying bombs..you never knew when one would go off. We had one in the right wing of one of our turbine Twin Beeches that never did work right. They ran ok most of the time on avgas, but they didn't like Jet A much...


So how about someone else doing something over here?

[Galvin]

I think that we should stipulate that we are talking about catapult launched monoplanes in the sense of launching them from ships other than aircraft carriers because monoplanes were certainly launched from carriers as early as the thirties.

The first successful launch of a Hurricane from a catapult equipped merchantman took place in April of 1940 and CAM ships went into immediate service escorting convoys. They were quickly replaced by the introduction of jeep carriers and long range patrol aircraft such as the B-24.

The first lend-lease (lease-lend if you are a Brit) Vought Kingfisher Is (OS2U) didn't arrive for installation and service on British cruisers until August of 1942. I think the throw-away Hurricanes threfore still take the honors (honours?) for being the first catapult launched monoplanes in FAA service other than those perviously launched off carriers.

[jetmex]

Dave, I was looking for the Kingfisher. To tell the truth, I didn't even know the FAA used them before I found this article:

www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2007/10/fleet-air-arm-models-02.htm

As a potential replacement for the venerable Supermarine Walrus and the little-used Fairey Seafox, the OS2U Kingfisher arrived in Britain in May 1942 as Kingfisher Mk. I. The landplane version was tested in A&AEE and the floatplane in the MAEE with good results. Therefore the aircraft obtained the approval to operate onboard armed merchant cruisers. Thus the Kingfisher became the first catapult-launched monoplane in the FAA. It served in this role until May 1944 when all remaining aircraft were withdrawn from the Fleet Air Arm service.

It's amazing how many info sources you can find.

[Galvin]

I saw that article and others. I agree that the Kingfisher I was the first monoplane specified by the FAA specifically for use on the catapults of their cruisers as a replacement for obsolescent biplanes. But the CAM Hurricanes still preceeded them by two years as the first catapult launched monoplane to see service with the Fleet Air Arm in WWII.

BTW: Any takers on the question I appended to the answer to question 8?

[jetmex]

I'll stick with the OS2U....... ;D

I think I know the answer to the additional #8, but let's see if anyone else can come up with it. Any takers??

[jetmex]

Ok, I guess no one wanted a shot, so:

Back in WWII, the British came up with an electronic system that was the forerunner of the modern IFF. It was known as "Parrot". A ground transmitter on a specific frequency interrogated a receiver in the host aircraft, and the signal received back confirmed the identity of the aircraft. After takeoff, if the system was to be used, pilots were instructed to "squawk the parrot", or turn the system on. If the system was not to be used, the order was given to "strangle the parrot." The term squawk stuck and is still used today.

That's the story I know, and I'm sticking to it......

Where is everyone?

[trimtab]

jetmex said:

Ok, I guess no one wanted a shot, so:

Back in WWII, the British came up with an electronic system that was the forerunner of the modern IFF. It was known as "Parrot". A ground transmitter on a specific frequency interrogated a receiver in the host aircraft, and the signal received back confirmed the identity of the aircraft. After takeoff, if the system was to be used, pilots were instructed to "squawk the parrot", or turn the system on. If the system was not to be used, the order was given to "strangle the parrot." The term squawk stuck and is still used today.

That's the story I know, and I'm sticking to it......

Where is everyone?

Well, I'm right here! Didn't have time to respond.

Before the data block was developed, I observed IFF in operation on board a carrier during the 60's and that's when I first heard the "parrot" story from WWII guys still on active duty.

While aircraft from my ship were marshalling in preparation to begin their approaches with CCA (Carrier Controlled Approach) assistance, they would ident when requested by the controller, and their blip would[glow=red,2,300]glow [/glow]with a series of streaks and then fade. Once stacked, the aircraft on the bottom would begin the approach when directed by the controller. At three miles, it would be handed off to the CCA controller. Once radio contact was established between CCA and the approaching aircraft, the controller would tell the pilot: "do not acknowledge any further transmissions" just like GCA.

Over the holidays, I heard more WWII oral history from a guy who flew in the rear seat of a Kingfisher. He never forgot the thrill of being shot off the side of a ship and later, being hauled out by the ship's crane. He later became maintenance chief (CPO) in a squadron of Navy PB4Y's (B-24's) on an island in the South Pacific. Tough job, tough guy! But today an eighty-six year old gentleman.

Remember the Marine master sergeant character who played the maintenance chief in the TV series "Black Sheep SQuadron"? Perhaps slightly exaggerated for the movies yet I wouldn't want to cross any of these guys. They respected their CO's, anyone else, watch out.

[Galvin]

The British story, in which the original radar IFF was code named "the Parrot", was indeed the one I was looking for.