1. From reader John Schmidt: A towplane normally tows aloft one glider at a time. During the Invasion of Normandy, C–47s towed two combat gliders at a time. What is the world record for the most gliders towed aloft by one single-engine towplane?
2. Orville Wright was the first man to solo an airplane, but who appears to have been the first woman?
3. From reader John O’Halloran: In what year was the first in-flight motion picture shown aboard an aircraft?
4. Almost all light airplanes have one or two front seats. What airplane produced by a major airframe manufacturer has three front seats?
5. What aviation book has been in publication longer than any other, and what is the runner-up?
6. During World War II, Tokyo Rose broadcast propaganda intended to demoralize Allied airmen and troops in the Pacific Theater. Who was her European counterpart?
7. From reader Richard Wilsher: True or false? There are airplanes for which a vertical center of gravity must be calculated before takeoff.
8. A pilot flying over California is maintaining a magnetic heading of 360 degrees. If he were to begin rolling into a left turn, his magnetic compass would initially indicate a turn toward the _____. If he were to begin rolling into a left turn while on a magnetic heading of 180 degrees, his compass would initially indicate a turn toward the _____.
A. east, east
B. east, west
C. west, east
D. west, west
Test Pilot Answers
1. On November 6, 2006, a turboprop-powered Zlin Z-137T towed nine Blanik L-13 gliders at one time from the 7,700-foot-long runway at Sliac Airport in Slovakia. A video of this amazing feat is on YouTube; search for “World Record 9 Glider Launch.”
2. Blanche Stuart Scott, aka Betty Scott, aka “the flying tomboy,” was the only woman to receive instruction directly from Glenn Curtiss. She soloed a Curtiss airplane on September 2, 1910, and became a professional stunt pilot two months later.
3. The first appears to have been the showing of Howdy Chicago, a short film containing aerial views of Chicago, aboard an 11-passenger Siai-Marchetti seaplane, the Santa Maria, during the Chicago Pageant of Progress in August 1921.
4. The Beechcraft Model 50 Twin Bonanza accommodates three people on a bench-style front seat. Flight controls are provided for the left and center pilots. The person seated on the right is strictly a passenger.
5. Stick and Rudder, an explanation of the art of flying by Wolfgang Langewiesche, has been in publication since 1944 (73 years). Fate is the Hunter, a memoir by Ernest K. Gann, has been in publication since 1961 (56 years).
6. Axis Sally, also known as the Berlin Bitch, was actually two Americans—Mildred Gillars and Rita Zucca—who were hired by the Third Reich in Nazi Germany to broadcast Axis propaganda.
7. True. There is at least one, the 1950s triple-deck Blackburn Beverley, a British four-engine, heavy transport airplane. Its vertical center of gravity is limited to a maximum of 4.71 feet above the datum.
8. A. When on a northerly heading, the northerly turning error initially causes a compass to turn in the wrong direction. When on a southerly heading, it initially causes a compass to move excessively but in the proper direction.
