Test Pilot

1. From reader George Hulett: Who was known as the “Father of Carrier Aviation?”
   A. William Halsey
   B. Samuel Langley
   C. Chester Nimitz
   D. Joseph Reeves
2. From reader George Shanks: Pilots know that the prefix B in B–29 indicates that the Superfortress was a bomber. They know also that the prefix AT represents an advanced trainer. During World War II, what did the prefix F represent?
3. From reader Tony Bruno: True or false? In 1923, just 20 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, Billy Mitchell’s squadron of World War I Martin MB–2 bombers sank two retired battleships near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, from an altitude of 10,000 feet.
4. Why is the pilot’s compartment of an airplane referred to as a cockpit?
5. From reader John Schmidt: True or false? The first combat mission flown by a woman occurred during the Great War (World War I).
6. In what light, general aviation airplane does the pilot use the control wheel to steer the nosewheel on the ground in the same manner that he uses the steering wheel in an automobile?
7. From reader John Stoll: Aircraft storage on an aircraft carrier is facilitated by wings that fold up (and, in some cases, aft). Can you name a U.S. naval airplane with wings that folded down?
8. True or false? Concorde, the supersonic transport, had wing flaps.

Test Pilot Answers

1. The correct answer is D. Admiral Joseph Reeves graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1894 and became a naval aviator. During the 1920s and 1930s he developed carrier aircraft tactics and deployment, as well as deck handling and storage.
2. F designated a “foto”/reconnaissance aircraft. (Beginning in 1948 F represented a fighter aircraft.)
3. True. The Army and Navy brass did not want Mitchell to succeed and insisted that the bombs be dropped from 10,000 feet—the record altitude for a loaded bomber—to make the demonstration as difficult as possible.
4. A cockpit was the pit in which fighting cocks battled; any small place where battles were waged, as in the adage, “Belgium is the cockpit of Europe.” By analogy, World War I pilots in Europe referred to their cramped quarters as cockpits, which was any place on an airplane or boat used by the steersman.
5. True. French aviation pioneer Marie Marvingt—known as the Fiancée of Danger—was awarded a Croix de Guerre for bombing a German airfield in Metz, France, in 1915.
6. There have been a few, the most popular of which is the Ercoupe. Because it has no rudder pedals—the ailerons and rudders are interconnected—the control wheel must be used for ground steering. (Crosswind landings are made while crabbing into the wind.)
7. The wings of a Grumman F–11 Tiger folded down 90 degrees, the only operational naval fighter so configured (and apparently the only such airplane in the world).
8. True (sort of). Concorde did not have flaps per se, but its six elevons drooped for takeoff and landing to increase wing camber. Effectively, therefore, Concorde did have flaps.