h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is this one true?

I know they used the 'Kill' switch to slow down on landing, but I never thought about it being used in flight.

to Rodney & Reggie

F S

I can't swear to it. I did find it in a list of 'facts' about World War I.

I only asked as it seems completely plausible.

I don't know how familiar you are with WW I aeroplane engines, forgive me if I am teaching my Grandmother how to suck eggs (an appropriate image for Easter Sunday)

In the early plane engines the crank shaft was firmly bolted to the frame of the plane and the entire engine rotated about it. There was a small button on the top of the joystick that most people imagine fired the machine gun, it was actually the kill switch that shorted out the spark and caused the engine to mis-fire. If you watch any really old WWI movies you will hear the engines sound like they are about to stall as the planes land, this is the kill switch in action.

to Rodney & Reggie

F S

No - as fascinated as I was by WWI planes all my life, I didn't realise that. And I've been out to see them fly at shows - I remember that sound. You've enriched my memory.

Here's one in return: back in the early 1970s, Elektra and I were at an air show in rural Wisconsin. They were offering rides on a Ford Trimotor. Elektra knew I was dying to try it out, and she's kind of scared of heights, so she insisted I take the ride. It was wonderful. A trip on a primitive airline, with little between you and the sky.

About half an hour after I got off that plane, it was destroyed. We were all in the middle of the freak storm that hit, spawned by a hurricane. We watched the plane upend and break in half. It broke our hearts to think of the loss - not only to history, but to the man whose treasure that was.

We spent the next couple of hours pushing stuck cars out of the drenched field, and came home covered in mud.

Oh, how sad

There was a Tri-Motor in a museum in Orlando that was set-up for a tans Pacific flight, apparently they would fly all day and then land and re-fuel at sundown.

Beautiful planes!

F S

Yeah, they were.

dog fightsit's because it was ruff in those days of the open cockpit

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/ww1-aircraft.asp

http://www.animatedengines.com/gnome.html