Book review - Flyboys

[Bodhi]

See Rule #14

[Yankee67]

Here's a decent account of Nat Adams' experiences (pages 10 and 11):

http://itd.idaho.gov/aero/Rudder%20Flutter/2012/RF_Fall_2012_Final_WEB.pdf

and another:

https://disciplesofflight.com/271-days-combat/

[rabbidrabbit]

See Rule #14

[DaveBB]

Bush leveled his
smoking aircraft and Nat heard him tell
his crew to bail out, yelling, “Hit the
silk! Hit the silk!” One crew member
jumped but his parachute failed to open.
Nat saw him fall to his death.

This would show that Bush had his mic set to "Radio" instead of "Intercom".

[Bodhi]

This would show that Bush had his mic set to "Radio" instead of "Intercom".

Or All.

[rabbidrabbit]

This would show that Bush had his mic set to "Radio" instead of "Intercom".

How do you know that Bodhi is wrong? 

[DaveBB]

The throttle  had a single  “talk”  button.  Unfortunately,  the pilot had to separately  select intercom  or radio,  resulting  in  ordinary  crew talk  frequently  broadcast  to the  entire  world.     

http://www.fisthistory.org/planes.pdf

[Bodhi]

Dave, I have to disagree with how you are reading that.  The pilot's mic/intercom can be used to talk on the air and to the crew separately.  It can also be set so that the intercom hears what the pilot does on the radio as well.  Which makes sense, so that the whole crew can hear specifics that might concern them.  That does not mean that the crew can talk on the air, just that they can hear what was said.

As for Bush Sr. broadcasting over the air (the order to bail out), it could be quite simply that he was too darned busy to worry about switching over to intercom only as he knew the crew would hear him call it.  That atleast one crewman made it out lends credence to that theory.

[DaveBB]

Hopefully I am misreading it.  But I think this is a picture of the TBMs intercom system control panel.



Selector switch has ICS (intercom system), VHF (very high frequency) and MHE (???).

[Bodhi]

I don't think you are misreading it.  It looks like one of the multitude of intercom systems supplied for the Gov't during the war.  What you are seeming to misunderstand is that the crew can also hear the pilot on comms if the pilot chooses to set that.

[Guppy35]

As much as I enjoyed Flag of our Fathers, I must confess to being disappointed in Flyboys.

The emotional investment Bradley had in his first book really showed.  In his second it didn't have that investment and it felt more like he just felt like writing a book.  It just came up lacking for me.

[Yankee67]

Hopefully I am misreading it.  But I think this is a picture of the TBMs intercom system control panel.

(Image removed from quote.)

Selector switch has ICS (intercom system), VHF (very high frequency) and MHE (???).

That's not the intercom system control panel.  That is the late-war AN/ARC-5 Pilot's Receiver Control Unit.  The pilot's selector switch for intercom or radio would be on the pilot's remote mount control box.   Earlier in the war (1943), the radio set would be a GP-6 Transmitter, a RU-12 Receiver, and an RL-5 Intercommunication Control Unit (which was an "intercom system control panel").  With the early war set up, you had to switch the mike itself in order to talk to the crew.  But the newer AN/ARC-5's came out in 1944.  These sets are a little weird, in that the pilot could switch to ICS and give commands, but the crewmen had to select ICS on their remote mount control boxes as well, in order to talk back.  Regardless, if the pilot was communicating on radio, and the crewmen had their remote boxes set to radio as well, they could still hear and talk to each other.  The TBF was known to have an operational quirk where the entire crew would stay on radio and banter back and forth and clog up mission comms, and forget to all switch to ICS (which was meant to be the "banter channel").  Regardless, with the newer radio set, they could still all hear each other with their control boxes set to radio.  In fact, if a crewman was on ICS while the pilot was on radio talking to them, the crewman could hear him, but if the crewman tried to transmit back on ICS, any radio traffic from the pilot's position would walk over the crewman's ICS transmission.  And if the pilot was on ICS and the crewman on radio, the communication would be one way only, pilot to crewman.  This gave the pilot's transmissions - irrespective if they came from ICS or radio - priority over the crew position transmissions.

[DaveBB]

This is an RL-7, which the site claims only has minor differences from the RL-5:

[rabbidrabbit]

This is an RL-7, which the site claims only has minor differences from the RL-5:

(Image removed from quote.)

What's your point?

[Mano]

Very good book. Recommend for any AH player.