Instrument Flying: Technique in Weather Page: 5
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T. O. No. 30-100D-1terrupted by a break in the engine's rhythm. Quickly
he cut in his reserve tank and gave the wobble pump
several strokes; the engine resumed its normal, com-
forting roar. But this time Scratchy was decidedly not
comfortable. The tanks had not been topped before
take-off. Just how much gas did he have? Another
1/2 hour. Maybe less. Anything he was going to do
he would have to do "pronto."
At this point, Scratchy was pushed solidly into his
chute pad by an updraft. In 2 minutes he was tossed
2,000 feet higher. At 7,000 feet he ran out of the up-
ward current of air but immediately the rate-of-climb
indicator spun around past 2,000 feet per minute de-
scent. He hit bottom at 4,000 feet, but only for an in-
stant. As he started dropping again, turbulence hit
him and it was all he could do to keep the plane up-
right. There was a distinct hollowness where his
lunch should have been.
HOW HIGH IS HIGH ENOUGH?
Any thought that Scratchy had about food at that
moment was not hunger. His mouth.felt cottony, and
inside his gloves his hands felt sweaty and not too
warm. After that last drop the altimeter showed 2,500
feet. That was too low for comfort even though he
was, or ought to be, over the flat country of south-
eastern Kansas. He felt sure that the highest ground
elevation was not much above 1,000 feet and if he could
trust his altimeter he ought to be all right. He tried
to remember what altimeter setting had been given
for Chanute on that last broadcast, but it would not
come to mind. He decided that 29.92 would do. More
downdrafts had brought him to 2,000 feet; there he
leveled off, still in turbulent air. This, he saw, amount-
ed to sitting there and doing nothing. That was what
he must not do, so he tried feverishly to organize a
plan.
"Well," he thought, "I guess I still have 1,000
feetunder me. Maybe 1,500. I could let down anotherf OU6 7
-' 7 8 F , 4 r
PLt~,500 feet and maybe break down underneath. There ought
to be a cow pasture or something big enough to set this
crate down in and I can't go on forever on 1/2 pint of
gas. So here goes.'
SCRATCHY PAYS HIS BILL
No sooner said than done. At 1,800 feet indicated,
the clouds appeared darker ahead. Scratchy stared
for an instant, then recognized through the rain-blurred
windshield that the darkness was not just cloud. It was
a small wood lot on a barren hillside.7-
'-'-I
#K
Frantically Scratchy pulled the nose up and shoved
the throttle full forward. The plane zoomed upward in
a steep climb and immediately the ground disappeared.
Not much ceiling, that. With the altimeter hands indi-
cating an increasingly safe altitude, he was wondering
now if he could trust that instrument. It was a cinch
that no trees grew 1,000 feet in the air. Something
was very wrong.
Suddenly sensing a stiffening of the controls,
Scratchy turned his attention to the air-speed indicator.
It showed better than 300 mph. For a split second he
wondered if all the instruments were crazy; and then
he knew what the trouble was. While he was puzzled
over the altimeter reading, he must have let his right
wing drop and gone into a steep spiraling dive. Gripped
now by real panic, he used full left aileron, but the
P-40's response was plainly too slow. Hard left rud-
der brought it back on an even keel, but buffeting of
the wings told him how near this maneuver had brought
him to a spin. He glanced at the altimeter. Fifteen
hundred feet!
YOU CAN'T WALK HOME
Scratchy didn't feel so good. With that hill, or
whatever it was, around, he would be into the ground
at any moment. He had to gain altitude.
Pushing the throttle forward, he pulled the nose up
again. The engine failed to respond. Only intermittentRESTRICTED
Section 1
5
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Army Air Forces. Instrument Flying: Technique in Weather, book, January 1, 1944; Ashland, Ohio. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth873973/m1/11/?q=+date%3A1941-1945: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.