Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, From the Red Baron to the F-16 Read Online Free PDF Page B

1918 Lancet study titled “The Essential Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Aviators.” Sixty-one pilots turned in questionnaires that sought to identify commonalities. The pilots came from all walks of life and, by 1918, also from the middle “artisan” classes of society. The results, correlated by an RAF medical doctor (T. S. Rippon) and an experienced pilot (E. G. Manuel), were illuminating but not surprising.
    The picture that emerges is of a young man under twenty-five (the average age was twenty-three), high-spirited, and in excellent health, with superb eyesight and coordination. Only a third were married—thirty-six of the sixty-one pilots considered marriage a handicap! Occupations had generally been technical (engineers, architects, and accountants) but there were also farmers, students, and lawyers. Nearly all enjoyed “motoring,” and the majority surveyed listed “horseback riding” as a favored pastime. “Sports” and “women” were also frequent amusements, and “it appears necessary for the well-being of the average pilot that he should indulge in a really riotous evening at least once or twice a month.” * Natural history, the theater, and music were listed as pastimes as well, while one pilot mentioned “killing Huns and dancing” as his primary interests. Having good “hands” was another recurring requirement. This quality goes beyond the ability to simply fly in the mechanical sense. Gifted pilots can truly feel their aircraft, and they control it through a light, supremely confident touch. You’re thinking ahead of the plane, and your desires are almost unconsciously transmitted through your hands to the controls.
    “Hands appear to be congenital and cannot be acquired, although they may be improved,” Rippon and Manuel concluded, adding that a man with good hands is “invariably a graceful flyer, and never unconsciously throws an undue strain on the machine, just as a good riding man will never make a horse’s mouth bleed.” People can be taught to fly, but you can’t teach “hands,” and having that gift is a defining characteristic of a fighter pilot over other types of aviators. It would become strikingly obvious when men began shooting at each other in the air. Flying is one thing; fighting while flying is something altogether different.
    The other fundamental trait, a “fighting spirit,” was more elusive to isolate. It is a combination of aggressiveness, confidence, and attitude that transcends one’s background or training. Crossing nationalities and enduring, as we shall see, down through the generations, this fighting spirit also cannot be taught. But it can be developed and, above all, encouraged. According to the report, “Anyone who has lived with pilots for any length of time cannot fail to notice that they possess in a very high degree a fund of animal spirits and excessive vitality.” Fighter pilots are different, truly a breed apart.
    The life expectancy of a frontline pilot during the Great War was about two weeks, and anywhere from 15 to 25 percent of Allied and German pilots were killed during the war. This casualty rate was generally higher than that seen in infantry units. Added to the daily stress of possibly dying in flames or a crash was the normal pressure of flying. It was, and remains, an extremely taxing combination of physical and mental strains.
    Aircraft flown during the Great War all had open cockpits, exposing the pilots and observers to all types of weather; wind, rain, and sleet were normal and the air temperatures usually below freezing. There were no autopilots, and trim tabs, if they existed at all, were primitive. So the pilot had to be constantly focused on flying the aircraft from takeoff to landing, without a break. Rotary engines were particularly fatiguing, as the motor itself was spinning and considerable strength was required to counter this force.
    The transition from unarmed reconnaissance pilot to fighter pilot