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For somebody who has a healthy interrest in everything that flies I learned about certain lingo used by airforce pilots and I figured it to be funny to put some of it down.
This is a Northop "SNARK" missile
This was one of the first serious attempts at making an unmanned aircraft that would guide itself onto the designated target, the crude autopilot would guide the thing by means of navigating by homing in on a large bright star and using that to determine a straight level flight to the target zone. It worked well in simulated tests but in practice the forces of launching the thing threw the computer off balance and once airborne, the missile would fly too fast for the computer to even get a hold on the star it was supposed to guide itself on. As a result many of the missiles which were tested at Cape Canaveral landed in the sea soon after they were launched. Eventually when the plug on the project was pulled, so many Missiles were lost that the crews on Cape Canaveral joked that the waters were "SNARK infested"
This is a Curtiss SB2C "helldiver" bomber.
The Helldiver was meant to replace the aging Douglas Dauntless bomber on american aircraft carriers but it quickly proved a dog. The helldiver had a notoriously stubborn attitude which was a far contrast from the forgiving nature and easy to fly character of the Dauntless. Many Helldiver pilot lost their lives by just trying to land the aircraft. In which the pilots who survived the ordeal joked that "SB2C" stood for "Son of a Bitch Second Class"
A common joke is the so called "Colonel's landing" in which they take on the highest rank which a flying officer can have: Colonel. The joke is about a colonel spending more time behind his desk than in the cockpit of his aircraft so he gets out of practice after a while. And the joke is "The higher the rank, the worse the landing."
This is a Northop "SNARK" missile
This was one of the first serious attempts at making an unmanned aircraft that would guide itself onto the designated target, the crude autopilot would guide the thing by means of navigating by homing in on a large bright star and using that to determine a straight level flight to the target zone. It worked well in simulated tests but in practice the forces of launching the thing threw the computer off balance and once airborne, the missile would fly too fast for the computer to even get a hold on the star it was supposed to guide itself on. As a result many of the missiles which were tested at Cape Canaveral landed in the sea soon after they were launched. Eventually when the plug on the project was pulled, so many Missiles were lost that the crews on Cape Canaveral joked that the waters were "SNARK infested"
This is a Curtiss SB2C "helldiver" bomber.
The Helldiver was meant to replace the aging Douglas Dauntless bomber on american aircraft carriers but it quickly proved a dog. The helldiver had a notoriously stubborn attitude which was a far contrast from the forgiving nature and easy to fly character of the Dauntless. Many Helldiver pilot lost their lives by just trying to land the aircraft. In which the pilots who survived the ordeal joked that "SB2C" stood for "Son of a Bitch Second Class"
A common joke is the so called "Colonel's landing" in which they take on the highest rank which a flying officer can have: Colonel. The joke is about a colonel spending more time behind his desk than in the cockpit of his aircraft so he gets out of practice after a while. And the joke is "The higher the rank, the worse the landing."
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