Who is THE pilot?

5x5 · Post by **5x5** » Sat May 22, 2004 7:06 am

My vote is conditional for Wilfred Parke. Sounds like one cool customer and probably something that would have been figured out anyway, but still, he was the one to do it.

"The first pilot to perform, recover from and demonstrate recovery from a spin was Lt. Wilfred Parke, Royal Navy, on August 25, 1912 while flying the Avro cabin tractor biplane during the Military Trials that year. On this occasion Parke and his observer, Lt. Le Breton, RFC, were flying about 600 ft and commenced a spiral glide prior to landing. Finding that the glide was too steep, Park pulled the stick back, promptly stalled and entered a spin. With no established procedure in mind for recovery he attempted to extricate himself from danger by pulling the stick further back and applying rudder into the spin, and found that the spin merely tightened. After carefully noting this phenomenon he decided, when only 50 ft from the ground, to reverse the rudder, and the machine recovered instantly. Parke was able to give a carefully reasoned resume of his corrective actions, thereby contributing immeasurably to the progress of aviation."

The reason he might not actually be the best pilot ever.......

"A few months later he was killed, after engine failure, while turning back to the runway. Apparently, knowing how to recover from a spin is of no avail if you are not aware of the conditions and initiating factors for spins."

Kind of why we teach students recognition and avoidance rather than just recovery.

ahramin · Post by **ahramin** » Sat May 22, 2004 2:35 pm

Best Airshows: Bob Hoover / Sean Tucker

Best Test Flying: Eric Brown (RN) / Yeager / Hoover / Shepard

Deadliest: Erich Hartmann

Best Racer: Steve Wittman

Most Class: Gordo Cooper / Tex Johnson

Best Glider Pilot: Ray Linskey

But THE pilot can be non other than:

Squadron Commander The Lord Flashard

shitdisturber · Post by **shitdisturber** » Sat May 22, 2004 10:28 pm

Either of these two

Bill Barker, survived a dogfight solo against an estimated 50 huns, getting something on the order of 5 kills in the scrap, while fading in and out of consciousness from his own wounds.

Billy Bishop, even Richthofen stayed out of his way. Following the death of a friend, challenged Goering to a one on one. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing the incompetent boob never showed. Was called by A Roy Brown, a fairly well known pilot for some reason; perhaps the best on either side.

From the other side of the fence

Werner Voss, was disliked by Richthofen because it was a given he would exceed his kill total if he lived that long; unbelievable skill. Last battle was with something like 6 of the best in the air for the RFC at the time including McCudden, who was in awe of the fight he put up when he could have escaped that McCudden felt badly that they were forced to kill him.

mysidesdone · Post by **mysidesdone** » Sun May 23, 2004 12:45 am

Air Commodore Len Birchall gets my real vote!

I found this excerpt on a DND web page:
---
World War Two, about 350 miles southeast of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean, Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall of 413 (Tusker) Squadron, RCAF and his crew are aloft in their PBY-5 Catalina flying boat, searching for the Japanese invasion fleet approaching from the Celebes. They have been flying since dawn and Warrant Officer Bart Onyette is setting course for their base at Lake Koggala when specks appear on the horizon. S/L Birchall alters course to investigate, and wireless operator Sergeant F.C. Phillips sends the first sighting report at 1605 hours Universal Time. He is supposed to transmit this signal three times.

At that very moment, the lead Japanese cruiser opens fire and three flights of Zero fighters dive to attack the Catalina. S/L Birchall begins corkscrewing the heavy flying boat through the full repertoire of evasive manoeuvres and the nose and waist gunners return fire, but to no avail: there isn’t a cloud in the sky to hide the Catalina, so the best they can do is to land on the water. During the battle, a 20-mm shell destroys the radio half-way through Sgt Phillips’ third transmission. Once down, the Catalina and its crew are targets for the strafing Zeros, and the men have to squirm out of their life-preservers to dodge bullets as they swim away from the flaming gasoline spreading from the wreck. Two injured men cannot shed their Mae Wests, and they die in the barrage of machine-gun fire. Finally, the Japanese destroyer Isokaze picks up pilots S/L Birchall and Pilot Officer P.N. Kenny, navigator W/O Onyette, wireless operator Sgt Phillips, flight mechanic Sgt W. Cook, and waist gunner Sgt B. Catlin. Nose-gunner Sgt J. Henzell and waist-gunner Sgt I.N. Davidson are dead.

The Japanese immediately begin beating S/L Birchall and the other crewmembers to make them tell whether a sighting report was made, and they are almost convinced that no signal went out when Colombo comes on the air and demands that third transmission. All the crew are savagely beaten and flung into a paint locker, destined for four years of terrible captivity, but they know their message got through.

The depth S/L Birchall true heroism was demonstrated in the Japanese prison camps. Many POWs attributed his leadership to their survival. S/L Birchall lives today in Kingston, ON.
---

I believe that Air Commodore Birchall would have been a house-hold name like Bishop and Barker, except that he has been publicly angered his whole life by the Japanese government's refusal to appologize for the treatment of the POWs. I suppose we are Canadian and we wouldn't want political correctness to be sacrificed in the appreciation of our heroes!

ramjet · Post by **ramjet** » Mon May 24, 2004 4:29 pm

Pete Conrad. Naval Aviator
Test Pilot
Astronaut - Gemini program, 3rd man on the moon, skylab.

Scott Crossfield - a close second... Test pilot, designer (X-15)

All you guys who voted for Erich Harrtman and his ilk, pretty easy to score 300+ kills on Polish and Russian biplanes in a 109.

Yeagher, the best pilot ever... just ask him.

oldtimer · Post by **oldtimer** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:54 pm

All you guys who vote for American test pilots who have all the support money can buy and airshow guys who rehearse and rehearse and have all the smpoke and mirrors. Have we all forgotten about great CANADIAN pioneers who blazed trails with nothing. Guys like Wop May. Punch Dickens, My vote goes to Wop May. How many pilots today would have the guts to fly an open cockpit biplane on wheels from Edmonton to Fort Vermin in the middle of winter. That takes true grit.

... · Post by **...** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:25 pm

oldtimer wrote:All you guys who vote for American test pilots who have all the support money can buy and airshow guys who rehearse and rehearse and have all the smpoke and mirrors. Have we all forgotten about great CANADIAN pioneers who blazed trails with nothing. Guys like Wop May. Punch Dickens, My vote goes to Wop May. How many pilots today would have the guts to fly an open cockpit biplane on wheels from Edmonton to Fort Vermin in the middle of winter. That takes true grit.

Firken eh...eh!?

Bcn-In-Bnd · Post by **Bcn-In-Bnd** » Tue May 25, 2004 3:53 am

umm, nothing against those guys, cause that is cool what those pilots did.
BUT ignorance is bliss.

PT6-114A · Post by **PT6-114A** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:04 pm

Ace McCool was the man only fleet of planes were they had "Have laned" light.

wallypilot · Post by **wallypilot** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:07 pm

okay PT6....i didn't get that....can you clarify why Ace is THE pilot?

I am Headed back to Africa tonight.....have fun back up north!

Driving Rain · Post by **Driving Rain** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:26 pm

First Earthling in the reaches of space.... Give up?
Lifes a bitch and so was she, Lieca the dog flew into space long before humans. Heroes know the dangers they face. Her Russian masters didn't think it important to give her landing instruction.

I was ten years old when she never came back. I hated the Russians for a long time after that.

Nobody said this was restricted to the human race.

From a sentimental ol' fool.

hz2p · Post by **hz2p** » Wed May 26, 2004 6:15 am

Honorable mention might go to Ben Walker, if I can remember his name correctly. A long time ago, before 99% of the people here were born, when slant-deck carriers were pretty new stuff.

Night landing in an F-8 Crusader with no radio, so he couldn't hear the LSO frantically waving him off when he got too low.

Ramp strike. His F-8 was instantly a fireball, broken pieces of it careening across the carrier. Ben ejected, and miraculously landed unharmed on the deck.

Legend has it the Captain was heard to mutter, "Well, that's one way to get aboard"

I know, it doesn't compare to the stories of delivering popanchips to the reserve.

Shiny Side Up · Post by **Shiny Side Up** » Wed May 26, 2004 7:49 am

Driving Rain wrote:First Earthling in the reaches of space.... Give up?
Lifes a bitch and so was she, Lieca the dog flew into space long before humans. Heroes know the dangers they face. Her Russian masters didn't think it important to give her landing instruction.

I was ten years old when she never came back. I hated the Russians for a long time after that.

Nobody said this was restricted to the human race.

From a sentimental ol' fool.

I thought it was Laika? Its debatable whether she was the first one, but definitly the first successful one. There is also rumor that Gargarin wasn't the first either, merely the first to survive the trip.

ramjet · Post by **ramjet** » Wed May 26, 2004 9:02 am

Driving Rain wrote:First Earthling in the reaches of space.... Give up?
Lifes a bitch and so was she, Lieca the dog flew into space long before humans. Heroes know the dangers they face. Her Russian masters didn't think it important to give her landing instruction.

I was ten years old when she never came back. I hated the Russians for a long time after that.

Nobody said this was restricted to the human race.

From a sentimental ol' fool.

"Leica" was the first 35mm camera in space.

Cutetoes · Post by **Cutetoes** » Wed May 26, 2004 9:20 am

I'll vote for Orville, Wilbur, and for Charles Lindberg

bigcanuck · Post by **bigcanuck** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:38 pm

I'll secound cutetoes. They started it all. If it wasn't for them the rest might have been still looking up and woundering. Or a least crossing the Atlantic by boat.

Lowrider · Post by **Lowrider** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:54 pm

My vote goes for one Mr. Portas...
Note to self, always check 3 green

GOSC

Adanac · Post by **Adanac** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:59 pm

BOB HOOVER!

I don't care if he from the US or if he was from India. He has to be one of the best there ever has been and be one of the best that ever will.

I have to get him to pour me a glass of Ice Tea.

Take Care

molly · Post by **molly** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:39 pm

My vote goes to Patty...she could outperform Hoover in her sleep.

Mitch Cronin · Post by **Mitch Cronin** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:43 pm

I don't think so Molly.
Patty's awesome, but Bob wore the airplane like he had nerve endings in all it's extremities... he became one with the machine. Patty can throw an airplane around, leaving no doubt she's in absolute, total control, but it's just not the same.

Who is THE pilot?

top pilot