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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: ramzey on January 15, 2003, 05:40:33 AM

Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: ramzey on January 15, 2003, 05:40:33 AM
http://airforce.users.ru/lend-lease/english/articles/golodnikov/index.htm
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Duedel on January 15, 2003, 06:31:17 AM
Thank u very much ramzey. Very interesting read.
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Habu on January 15, 2003, 06:49:37 AM
Amazing read. He remembers so much from so long ago. Very informative.
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: DA98 on January 15, 2003, 09:58:56 AM
There's an interesting bit at the end:

"A. S. Nikolay Gerasimovich, sometime relatively long ago I was speaking with a pilot—a frontline veteran. Right after the war they flew in captured aircraft. And no matter how hard they tried, they were unable to attain the speeds the Germans had written in their specifications. The shortfall in speed was significant. In the end, they prevailed upon a German, a high-level specialist, and asked him, “Why this shortfall in speed? Are we using the engine’s capability incorrectly?” His response was that they would never achieve the target speed, because the German specifications showed the theoretical speed, and they were attempting to attain that speed on their instruments.

Nikolay Gerasimovich, in your view, is this possible?

N. G. Of course. We had a group of specialists with us from NII VVS. They were examining specifications and were looking at speed. “What speed is indicated at 7,000 meters? 780? Take away 100. And what about 3,000 meters? 700? Reduce it 70 km.” This is how they calculated the instrumented speed and, characteristically, almost always hit their target. Perhaps they knew something about our focus on speed."
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Gunthr on January 15, 2003, 10:45:28 AM
Fascinating... thanks.
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Thrawn on January 15, 2003, 12:26:47 PM
Thanks!

This made me chuckle.

"You and the two-seater! No, we did not have a two-seater! "

:D
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Tarmac on January 15, 2003, 01:17:05 PM
Makes me want to try an AH P-39.

Thanks for the good read.
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: DarkglamJG52 on January 15, 2003, 02:02:56 PM
Flyng I-16:

A. S. Did these sights permit normal precise aiming?

N. G. In our regiment we commenced firing at ranges of 70—50 meters, when we could see the rivets. One could not miss with either sight at that range. We never fired from beyond 200 meters. It was too far


:D :D :D :D :D  Like AH.
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: AKS\/\/ulfe on January 15, 2003, 02:05:57 PM
He was also talking about the MG armed I16 that had terrible dispersion beyond those ranges... and the MGs were significantly weaker at greater ranges.
-SW
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Tuomio on January 15, 2003, 03:19:39 PM
Thanks this was very entertaining and informative read! So rarely you see Russian war veterans being interviewed, prolly because the language barrier.

This was funny:

Let me say something else about the air frame. The Hurricane had a very light tail. We were based on sandy, insufficiently packed airfields. It was mandatory that a technician or mechanic sit on the tail when we were taxiing to keep it on the ground. We even flew with a technician sitting on the tail. We had a technician named Rudenko who flew around in a circle sitting on the tail. He sat with his back forward and was unable to jump off because his hands got caught in the skin of the vertical stabilizer. He sat there until the pilot landed the aircraft. There were cases when men fell off the tail and died  

:eek:
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: whgates3 on January 15, 2003, 04:24:58 PM
there is a good book by I-16/Hurri/LaGG-3/La-5 ace Iigor Kaberov
"swastika in the gunsight" - i dont know of any others in english by VVS aces (actually i dont think Kaberov was VVS - he was naval aviation)
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: StSanta on January 16, 2003, 11:21:09 AM
Well, look at this:

"N. G. Ours, without a doubt. The ShVAK was twice as reliable. The Hispano simply required an unbelievable amount of maintenance. The smallest exposure to dust, congealed lubricant, or any other kind of little thing, and the gun would not fire. Very unreliable.

The ballistics of our cannon were better. Our cannon had a flatter trajectory, which is significant for applying lead. When you talk about the Yaks, then one didn’t even need a sight. The tracers were almost straight, take aim and fire, and where the nose is pointing is where the rounds struck.

Our ShVAK had a higher rate of fire.

Regarding the target effect, these two cannons were about equal. In either case, there was no difference that I could see with the human eye."

Heh, PERK the Hizooka!
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: Charon on January 16, 2003, 12:14:46 PM
And then look at this:

Quote
A. S. Nikolay Gerasimovich, sometime relatively long ago I was speaking with a pilot—a frontline veteran. Right after the war they flew in captured aircraft. And no matter how hard they tried, they were unable to attain the speeds the Germans had written in their specifications. The shortfall in speed was significant. In the end, they prevailed upon a German, a high-level specialist, and asked him, “Why this shortfall in speed? Are we using the engine’s capability incorrectly?” His response was that they would never achieve the target speed, because the German specifications showed the theoretical speed, and they were attempting to attain that speed on their instruments.

Nikolay Gerasimovich, in your view, is this possible?

N. G. Of course. We had a group of specialists with us from NII VVS. They were examining specifications and were looking at speed. “What speed is indicated at 7,000 meters? 780? Take away 100. And what about 3,000 meters? 700? Reduce it 70 km.” This is how they calculated the instrumented speed and, characteristically, almost always hit their target. Perhaps they knew something about our focus on speed.



Perhaps we should adjust some flight models too :) I would imagine that at typical engagement ranges you would notice little difference between any second-generation belt-fed cannon.

Charon
Title: russian pilot interview
Post by: udet on January 16, 2003, 12:18:57 PM
I bet he was flying an La7 from Aces High :P