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Author Topic: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?  (Read 1462 times)

Offline Thepiratecaptainmorgan

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Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« on: November 10, 2009, 04:38:24 PM »
Ok, perhaps you've heard of them, They have been around for along time on aircraft, Cockpit Mounted REAR VIEW MIRRORS?

hehehe

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Offline MachFly

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2009, 04:44:20 PM »
you do realize the mirror does not help much, it works only when you have a guy directly on your six, In others words it's to late.  :airplane:
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Offline Thepiratecaptainmorgan

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2009, 04:49:45 PM »
Ok, maybe this is a head of the times for everyone, but... CONVEX Mirrors?
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Offline Karnak

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2009, 04:56:48 PM »
Mirrors were not successful in WWII.  A Bf109 in firing range was the size of a - in a paperback book.  In AH it would be more like the size of a . in said book.

It would significantly increase the work load on the computer for no significant gain.
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Offline batch

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2009, 05:03:32 PM »
someone should have tried the SEARCH feature....... something else thats been standard equipment for a very long time

this topic has been discussed many times and always boils down to the same conclusion.......... mirrors were absolutely useless in WWII......... you couldnt see anything until they were close on your 6 and even if you did see something the vibrations made it nearly impossible to tell what it was...... you could just as easily mistake a bird flying by for a B17
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Offline BnZs

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2009, 12:27:27 AM »
If real pilots could have looked directly behind them by flexing their thumb a nanometer, instead of twisting their torso to look over their shoulders, they wouldn't have needed or asked for rearview mirrors.
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Offline Delirium

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2009, 12:43:58 AM »
Not to mention, every reference I've read by vets said those mirrors didn't help much anyway. They were too small, vibrated like mad, and if the enemy aircraft was close enough to be visualized it was already too late.
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Offline AirFlyer

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2009, 12:49:06 AM »
An easy way to see why this would be useless, you'll need some sort of mirror for this project.

Now once you have a mirror, find a road with traffic on it and a clearing of 200 - 400yrds(2 to 4 football field lengths) beside it. While shaking the mirror some try to see how easily you can make out what kind of car is driving on the road at those distances, or even see the car at all. Now after seeing how difficult it is, imagine compressing this imagine even smaller to scale with the size of your monitor.

This is probably the main reason we don't have mirrors on our A/C.
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Offline Simba

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2009, 01:51:32 PM »
What do you want a mirror for when you've got Linda Blair all-round vision?

 :t
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Offline guncrasher

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2009, 10:26:52 PM »
we had mirrors back in the AW days.  they sucked big time, think of it as flying the f4u and trying to look behind you, just about the same view.

semp
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Offline Enker

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2009, 10:56:01 PM »
They were not standard on all planes, the 109 didn't have mirrors, neither does the Stearman. The S.E.5a didn't have mirrors. The B-17 didn't have rearview mirrors; at most, the navigator or radioman would have a small mirror for flashing Morse code. The Boeing 767 doesn't have any mirrors.

No, I don't think mirrors are standard equipment on all airplanes.

Quote from: Thepiratecaptainmorgan on November 10, 2009, 04:49:45 PM
Ok, maybe this is ahead of the times for everyone, but there are such things as convex mirrors?
Yanno, if you are going get snippy and devolve into hyperbolic attacks, no one will take your points seriously.
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Offline Pongo

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2009, 12:41:20 PM »
Well.
I would like to see references where every pilot says it wasn't useful.
You guys seem to think the mirror has to be in high def to be any value, a black spec where your not expecting to see it is all that the mirror is intended to provide. It is not a maneuver or gunnery device, it is purely a detection device. Somethings behind me!
Anyone in ww2 trying to get more out of it then that was misguided. We can see the pictures of aces ADDING these things to their aircraft..they did that for a reason.
The effort to track down Spit mirrors and put one or two of them on  a pony says volumes about its utility.
In Il2 they provide that capability, it works great.
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Offline BnZs

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2009, 01:01:58 PM »
Its not that they would be useless in the real world, its that they would add nothing to the visibility we already enjoy in AHII but would add alot of graphics load.

Quote from: Pongo on November 12, 2009, 12:41:20 PM
Well.
I would like to see references where every pilot says it wasn't useful.
You guys seem to think the mirror has to be in high def to be any value, a black spec where your not expecting to see it is all that the mirror is intended to provide. It is not a maneuver or gunnery device, it is purely a detection device. Somethings behind me!
Anyone in ww2 trying to get more out of it then that was misguided. We can see the pictures of aces ADDING these things to their aircraft..they did that for a reason.
The effort to track down Spit mirrors and put one or two of them on  a pony says volumes about its utility.
In Il2 they provide that capability, it works great.
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Offline Simba

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2009, 01:36:20 PM »
"In Il2 they provide that capability, it works great."

It does - and it has to, because IL-2 has no 'Linda Blair' direct view behind.

 :cool:
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Offline BnZs

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Re: Standard Equip on ALL PLANES?
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2009, 10:48:37 PM »
Quote from: Simba on November 12, 2009, 01:36:20 PM
"In Il2 they provide that capability, it works great."

It does - and it has to, because IL-2 has no 'Linda Blair' direct view behind.

 :cool:

I can leave my right hand on the steering wheel and look *almost* 90degrees behind me, by twisting torso and neck to the right. Takes longer to describe than to do. Not comfortable, not a position I'd hold for a long time. But you can see behind you alot better than Il2 lets on.
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