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Plane Writing: wonderful new site about vintage flying!
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Hankie
Aug 29, 1998, 3:00:00 AM8/29/98
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-- Announcing new site about vintage flying, called Plane Writing:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~blago/planewriting/
Here, you can find short but wonderful pieces of text about early flying, taken
from the biographies of early pilots, such as Beryl Markham, Anne Morrow and
Charles Lindbergh, Roald Dahl, Nevil Shute, Saint Exupery and *lots* of lesser
known pilots.
In "scenes of war; names", comparisons are made from texts of pilots who met
each other, like Douglas Bader and Adolf Galland during the war, or Roald Dahl
and Pat Pattle...
Since I'm Dutch, I translated some texts that probably never made it 'over the
border' in English. Rare stuff!
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
excerpt from "The big show" (1951), Pierre Clostermann
about his first take-off in a Typhoon
I inserted a cartridge into the starter. (The Koffman system, which uses the
violent expansion of explosive gases to get the engine turning. If the engine
doesn't start first time it will almost certainly catch fire, being bung-full o\
f
juice.) With one finger on the coil booster and another on the starter button, \
I fired the cartridge. The mechanic, hanging on to the wing, helped to 'catch' th\
e
engine and it started up with a deafening roar. The amount of noise is about
five times as great as in a Spitfire. After missing a few times, the engine
settled down to a reasonable steady rhythm, though not without exuding oil at
every pore.
That engine! You moved forward quite blindly, picking out the way like a crab,
with a bit of rudder now left, now right, so as to be able to see in front. I
cleared the plugs, as per instructions, by opening up to 3,000 revs., and a fil\
m
of oil immediately spread over my windshield.
Christ, I must have forgotten something - and my confounded engine was beginnin\
g
to heat. A glance round - my flaps were at 15 degrees all right, my radiator wa\
s
open ...Hell, the radio! I quickly switched it on and called: 'Hullo, Skydoor,
Skydoor, Tiffie 28 calling, May I scramble?' The controller replied by at last
giving me a green light. Here goes! I tightened my straps, released the brakes,
carefully aligned myself on the white line down the middle of the concrete and
slowly opened the throttle, with my left foot hard down on the rudder bar.
Really, it had been very pleasant behind that office desk...
http://www.xs4all.nl/~blago/planewriting/
Here, you can find short but wonderful pieces of text about early flying, taken
from the biographies of early pilots, such as Beryl Markham, Anne Morrow and
Charles Lindbergh, Roald Dahl, Nevil Shute, Saint Exupery and *lots* of lesser
known pilots.
In "scenes of war; names", comparisons are made from texts of pilots who met
each other, like Douglas Bader and Adolf Galland during the war, or Roald Dahl
and Pat Pattle...
Since I'm Dutch, I translated some texts that probably never made it 'over the
border' in English. Rare stuff!
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
excerpt from "The big show" (1951), Pierre Clostermann
about his first take-off in a Typhoon
I inserted a cartridge into the starter. (The Koffman system, which uses the
violent expansion of explosive gases to get the engine turning. If the engine
doesn't start first time it will almost certainly catch fire, being bung-full o\
f
juice.) With one finger on the coil booster and another on the starter button, \
I fired the cartridge. The mechanic, hanging on to the wing, helped to 'catch' th\
e
engine and it started up with a deafening roar. The amount of noise is about
five times as great as in a Spitfire. After missing a few times, the engine
settled down to a reasonable steady rhythm, though not without exuding oil at
every pore.
That engine! You moved forward quite blindly, picking out the way like a crab,
with a bit of rudder now left, now right, so as to be able to see in front. I
cleared the plugs, as per instructions, by opening up to 3,000 revs., and a fil\
m
of oil immediately spread over my windshield.
Christ, I must have forgotten something - and my confounded engine was beginnin\
g
to heat. A glance round - my flaps were at 15 degrees all right, my radiator wa\
s
open ...Hell, the radio! I quickly switched it on and called: 'Hullo, Skydoor,
Skydoor, Tiffie 28 calling, May I scramble?' The controller replied by at last
giving me a green light. Here goes! I tightened my straps, released the brakes,
carefully aligned myself on the white line down the middle of the concrete and
slowly opened the throttle, with my left foot hard down on the rudder bar.
Really, it had been very pleasant behind that office desk...
(slightly longer version on site: find more like this at "Plane Writing; a
little lost beginning; visiions of take-off")
http://www.xs4all.nl/~blago/planewriting/
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- Just got the autobio of Antony Fokker (de Vliegende Hollander, 1931; the
Flying Dutchman) which is *very* funny at times, as weird inventor Uncle Tony
should be - will update soon!
Hankie Hoogstrate : bl...@REMOVESPAMxs4all.nl
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