Can't be sure if it is for real, the question wasna that stupid to me. Seems to come from R/C fliers and those chaps do live in a world of their own. Where I was taught that the best flights are when the plane's axis is parallel to the ground (and can manage that fairly well, recently), RC'ers pride themselves on suspending their craft from the propellers - not sure which would first give way if I tried that, my guts or my stomach or the plane.
But I am willing to believe it was tried - many people tried many strange experiments in that strange era - and as you say, it is certainly brilliant writing!