Bomb hits tailplane on release

My favorite separation mishap story is of a flight test vertical dive
bomb release from an AD Skyraider by (IIRC) Douglas test pilot Bob
Rahn. The bomb, being slicker than the Spad, flew forward through the
prop and wiped it out. A maximum dive angle restriction for bomb
release became a permanent restriction in the flight manual.

Jim Thomas

On 23 Jun 2004 21:45:09 -0700, (Jim Thomas) wrote:

My favorite separation mishap story is of a flight test vertical dive
bomb release from an AD Skyraider by (IIRC) Douglas test pilot Bob
Rahn. The bomb, being slicker than the Spad, flew forward through the
prop and wiped it out. A maximum dive angle restriction for bomb
release became a permanent restriction in the flight manual.

Jim Thomas

The old SBD used a "trapeze" release to cure the same problem.

Al Minyard

Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and destroy
the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their trajectory calcs
right!

A couple clips in the DVD titled "Terror in the Skies" from Madacy
Entertainment could fit that description. (The rear label also
mentions a copyright by Liberty International Entertainment.) I saw a
reference on the Web to Vol. V, so there must be a series of DVDs. The
one I have has no volume number; maybe it's the first one.

The subtitle is "Military Air Disasters" ("CONTAINS UNBELIEVABLE NEVER
BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE!") and it shows quite a few mishaps, from WW2 to
present. However, it also has weapon tests, gun camera footage, etc.

I think the film editing is terrible. Instead of presenting each
incident in its entirety, they chop up the footage and interleave it
with other stuff. E.g., there's a Vietnam era shot of howitzers
firing, then they cut to a drone blowing up over a range after being
hit with some totally different weapon. Later in the video you see the
same explosion a couple more times.

There's no narration, just a heavy metal soundtrack. The subtitles are
extremely sketchy, basically just identifying the aircraft ("F/A-18",
etc.)

If you can get past all these shortcomings, there is some interesting
footage.

--

Paul Hirose
To reply by email delete INVALID from address.

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 05:38:33 GMT, Paul Hirose wrote:

Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and destroy
the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their trajectory calcs
right!

A couple clips in the DVD titled "Terror in the Skies" from Madacy
Entertainment could fit that description. (The rear label also
mentions a copyright by Liberty International Entertainment.) I saw a
reference on the Web to Vol. V, so there must be a series of DVDs. The
one I have has no volume number; maybe it's the first one.

The subtitle is "Military Air Disasters" ("CONTAINS UNBELIEVABLE NEVER
BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE!") and it shows quite a few mishaps, from WW2 to
present. However, it also has weapon tests, gun camera footage, etc.

I think the film editing is terrible. Instead of presenting each
incident in its entirety, they chop up the footage and interleave it
with other stuff. E.g., there's a Vietnam era shot of howitzers
firing, then they cut to a drone blowing up over a range after being
hit with some totally different weapon. Later in the video you see the
same explosion a couple more times.

There's no narration, just a heavy metal soundtrack. The subtitles are
extremely sketchy, basically just identifying the aircraft ("F/A-18",
etc.)

If you can get past all these shortcomings, there is some interesting
footage.

I have Volume II, the Fighters. Same criticism, basically, if you hit the
"mute" button before it starts there are a few interesting clips.

Al Minyard