I have had the unique privilage of flying for 10 years in the real world - but I thought of something interesting while I observed a student of mine duke it out with a Lancaster Bomber while he flew an ME-109.
As an instructor of flight, students of flying are unlike students in any other realm of endeavor; what sets them apart is their habit of plunging gaily ahead into situations that would turn a veteran of the trade ashen white.
Now, there’s nothing inherently dangerous in most of those situations—given adequate training on the student’s part. What makes the subsequent adventures hair curling is the blissful unawareness with which the young student charges ahead. To the knowing, it is somewhat akin to watching a blindfolded person walking briskly toward the rim of a cliff. I only wonder if innocence is what protects them from harm.
What was unique about this situation is the 109 was lined up perfectly on the Lancaster - with 20 mm Gondola's and Nose cannon. Now, between the 3 of the bombers, more then 300 rounds of cannon were expended. All bombers were infact destroyed, but it poses an interesting question for history buff's in that was a study ever commissioned during the war about the actual hit percentage achieved against aerial targets during the war?
I look at this example and the fact he was not killed by the tail gunner was pure amazement. But as a teacher, is it any easier for the student and low time pilot to confess their lapses then it is the veteran? Sometimes yes, other times...maybe not. On one hand, the beginner is expected to make mistakes and to run into situations that are new and unrecognizable, to them, as being dangerous. Case and point - a rear quarter attack against a bomber formation with a low rate of closure. This, is an inescapable part of learning to fly. For most students, that first encounter with hazard, alone, with only one’s judgment to match against the wiles of nature and machinery, eclipses any and all close shaves to follow.
This leads to the reason why it is sometimes more difficult for the students to tell their story rather then it is the advanced pilot: students know that the outcome is frequently entirely out of their hands, that there is reliance only on luck and none on self. The veteran can at least reasonably argue, if only with them selves, that they’re skills determined the outcome.
~Wolfala
