Fwd: Re: GRGR(28): Pirate's airplane

[Mark Wright AIA]

oops
> Howdy
> 
> 
> --- Jeremy Osner <jeremy at xyris.com> wrote:
> > A few things:
> > 
> > "The barred field of sight gives Pirate twinges of memory in his
> neck
> > muscles." I'm totally in the dark about the meaning of this
> sentence
> > --
> > it's just words to me. I understand that the airplane is vintage,
> so
> > maybe the same model as Pirate learned to fly in; but why "barred
> > field
> > of sight"?
> 
> The canopies of the fighters produced early in the war were made up
> of
> several segments of glass held together in a steel frame. 
> Bubble-style
> one-piece units came later in the war.  Hence "barred" view.
> 
>  why "neck muscles"?
> 
> Fighter pilots had to constantly scan the sky all around, above,
> below,
> behind, etc. in order to avoid being shot down by another plane. 
> Sore
> neck results.  This is also why that snappy silk scarf pilots sported
> was a practical bit of field gear -- it kept the neck from going raw.
> 
> The barred field of view causes him to remember the neck pain, even
> though he is in no danger of being shot down now...
> > 
> 
> > Is "Jug" a nickname for this P-47 model of airplane?
> 
> Yes.  It had a stumpy snubnosed profile and short wings.
> > 
> > What is an Immelmann?
> 
> A sort of a half loop where the pilot rolls up and back and at the
> top
> of the loop rolls tightly 180 degrees.  He ends up flying
> right-side-up
> back the way he came...  This from Eddie Rickenbacker's
> autobiography,
> read when I was in the 7th grade.  I think I've got it right...
> 
> > The description of Pirate's manoever -- "he starts his roll a hair
> > too
> > slow, just this side of one-thirty, and nearly stalls it, jolts
> over
> > a
> > set of surprise points" -- reminds me of nothing so much as Bach's
> > *Jonathan Livingston Seagull*. Anyone else make this connection?
> 
> *shudder*  Now that you mention it...
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> 
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