View Full Version : Dambusters, Channel 4 Sat
foxmoth
24th Sep 2011, 20:22
Surprised no one had already posted on this, "Arctic" pilots trying to reproduce the Dam's raid, some interesting flying!
DH106
24th Sep 2011, 20:44
Just watched this - excellent stuff ! :-)
More like this please & less reality & cooking c**p :):p
foxmoth
24th Sep 2011, 20:55
Found out now it was a repeat, but I missed it first time round so pleased to see it.:ok:
Nice bit of flying and engineering - and didn't she look great? (and the plane..........)
L1649
25th Sep 2011, 18:04
There's more Buffalo Airways action in 'Ice Pilots' on the Discovery Channel for propliner fans.;)
Lightning Mate
26th Sep 2011, 14:49
Great stuff, but why didn't he fit a radalt?
bingofuel
26th Sep 2011, 16:36
why didn't he fit a radalt?
Because with over 37000 flying hours his mark one eyeball was pretty accurate I recall they disputed his height then checked and found he was within 10 feet
Chris Scott
26th Sep 2011, 17:53
It's a while since I saw the programme, so can't remember what was done to calculate the optimum height for the drop; in particular the minimum height to avoid the splash striking the horizontal stabiliser. Anyone who doubts the fact that the tailplane of a conventional aeroplane exists to generate negative lift in all normal parts of the flight envelope – and there seem to be quite a few here on PPRuNe – needs to watch the sickening post-war footage they showed of a bomber launching a full-scale bomb too low, leading to the loss of its tail section and the inevitable result a split-second later.
In the event, however accurately the veteran DC-6 pilot followed his brief, the shower of water looked alarmingly close on the successful run. On the other hand, the essential precaution of omitting high explosive from the air-dropped bomb produced something of an anti-climax at the dam wall. The bouncing bomb story aside, worth watching just to see Douglas's masterpiece in action at close quarters, and some great flying.