Nickodell
Donation Time
Bill: It wouldn't roll over, but any high-powered tail dragger will pitch over on its nose if you gun the engine while stationary, or even when on takeoff while you're still going too slow for the elevators to have "authority." If you have to run the engine up to high revs on the ground, you need to tether the tail or weigh it down. In the RAF (and for all I know other air forces) the procedure, when a fitter needed to test-run an engine, was to get a couple of "bods" (slang for odd-bodies, i.e. lowest-rank personnel) to sit on the horizontal stabilizer. Must have been real fun to sit in the howling propwash, on a 20 Degree F day, at the same time breathing exhaust.
Here's a couple "tail squatting" a Seafire in happier times:
Sometimes, on a bumpy grass field, one would have to do this while the pilot taxied out, and drop off as he began his takeoff run. One WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) bod didn't drop off soon enough, and ended up being taken aloft on a Spitfire. How long she could have remained, arms around the vertical stabilizer, nobody knows, but the pilot reported to ground control that he couldn't trim out an excessive tail-heavy condition. Not wanting to panic him, they said to complete the circuit and land, which he did.
When introduced to the WAAF, he told her to "put in for ten minutes' flying time." She has appeared on several UK TV shows, and her log book was on sale on ebaY:
http://cgi.ebay.com/WAAF-Who-Flew-O...book_W0QQitemZ260039888002QQihZ016QQcategoryZ 112473QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
The actual plane, Ser. # AB910, coincidentally, is a member of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Here's a couple "tail squatting" a Seafire in happier times:
Sometimes, on a bumpy grass field, one would have to do this while the pilot taxied out, and drop off as he began his takeoff run. One WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) bod didn't drop off soon enough, and ended up being taken aloft on a Spitfire. How long she could have remained, arms around the vertical stabilizer, nobody knows, but the pilot reported to ground control that he couldn't trim out an excessive tail-heavy condition. Not wanting to panic him, they said to complete the circuit and land, which he did.
When introduced to the WAAF, he told her to "put in for ten minutes' flying time." She has appeared on several UK TV shows, and her log book was on sale on ebaY:
http://cgi.ebay.com/WAAF-Who-Flew-O...book_W0QQitemZ260039888002QQihZ016QQcategoryZ 112473QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
The actual plane, Ser. # AB910, coincidentally, is a member of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.