1. During World War II, why were some Boeing B–17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B–24 Liberators painted with brightly colored polka dots or stripes?
2. Why was the Ercoupe not more logically called the Aircoupe?
3. From reader Bill Havener: Why are falsified logbook entries used to overstate a pilot’s experience referred to as “P–51 time”?
4. Explain how this is possible: The To/From flag is in the Off position, and the course deviation indicator is deflected fully right during 30 minutes of cruise flight. Shortly thereafter and while the aircraft maintains the same track, the CDI swings fully left and remains there while the To/From flag remains in the Off position.
5. The resting G tolerance of a typical individual is 3 to 5 Gs, depending on the individual. A G suit—or more appropriately, an anti-G suit—adds ______ to that tolerance.
A. 1 G
B. 2 Gs
C. 3 Gs
D. 4 Gs
6. Why is attacking ground personnel or installations by aircraft firing machine guns called strafing?
7. From reader John Schmidt: In June 1929 (two years after the Lindbergh flight), and despite a French ban on trans-Atlantic flights (because of numerous fatal attempts), three French pilots departed Maine in a single-engine French Bernard-Hubert 191GR and landed in Spain. Why was there also an American nonpilot on board the flight?
8. True or false? An Englishman departed Montreal in a glider (not a motorglider) and flew it across the Atlantic Ocean to southern England.
Test Pilot Answers
1. When assembling a group of airborne bombers for a formation flight, the bright colors made it easier to identify the lead aircraft.
2. The Ercoupe was manufactured by Erco, the Engineering and Research Corporation.
3. P-51 is a reference to the Parker Pen Company’s Model 51 fountain pen, not the P–51 Mustang. The number 51 represented 1939, the company’s fifty-first year in business and the year in which the pen was introduced. The ambiguity of “P-51” was used to avoid directly confronting the suspect pilot.
4. The pilot flies toward, over, and beyond a VOR with a selected course that is approximately 90 degrees left of track.
5. A. A G suit doesn’t increase a pilot’s G threshold (G limit) as much as it helps him to sustain a given G load longer and with less fatigue.
6. Strafe comes from the German verb strafen, which means to punish.
7. Arthur Schreiber was aviation’s first stowaway and planned to write a book about his trans-Atlantic adventure. He hid in the tail of the airplane, which dangerously affected the center of gravity. When discovered, the crew of Yellow Bird seriously considered tossing the American overboard over the Atlantic.
8. True. The Waco-designed glider was towed across the Atlantic by a Douglas C–47 and piloted by Squadron Leader R.G. Seys of the Royal Air Force in June 1943 for delivery to Russia.
