Volume 14, Number 16

Indy Squadron Dispatch

September 11, 2002

SCOTT PILOTS BIPLANE IN LOOP, ROLL & STALL!

Gets New Look at Dawn Patrol From Cockpit of Stearman

On September 6th, our own Scott Campbell was lucky enough to get to ride - and fly - a Stearman Biplane. Not only did he perform a number of aerobatics, he had the presence of mind to compare what he felt in the Stearman to what we all imagine in Dawn Patrol. He was also kind enough to write this report of his experiences for the Indy Squadron Dispatch:

It was a beautiful, clear blue September sky around noon at Mt. Comfort airport as I stood under the Red Baron tent near the FBO waiting for my ride in the front seat of a Red Baron Squadron PT-17 Stearman biplane.

I saw one of the Red Baron pilots heading toward the tent and started in his direction. As he approached I said, "Have you seen Jim Keller?" He said, "No, but if you see the son of gun tell him I'm looking for him!" I looked at the name on his red flight suit which read Jim Keller. I looked at him and he smiled and introduced himself. Jim was a small guy of about 5'6" and hardly looked any bit of 50. We chatted a bit and then he went into the FBO to hit the head and get a drink. He had just come back from a 4 plane photo shoot with a Channel 8 camera man in the front seat who complained the whole time because he couldn't keep hold of his huge camera.

"I could see how an inexperienced pilot would easily be shot down by a veteran..."

When Jim came back he said, "Are you ready to go up?" I said, "Born ready. Now is this duel controls?" He said, "No it isn't." I said, "I'd like to take the stick a little if you don't mind." He said, "Uh, Okay, let me see what I can do." After talking to a man in a nice white Lincoln he came back and said, "No problem. We can take a different plane." He grabbed his headset out of his plane and we walked two planes over to a duel control plane.

I climbed into the front seat and Jim explained to me the procedure to bail out and pulling the rip cord in the case of an emergency. I adjusted the seat height and made sure my feet could reach the rudder pedals. The stick was just that - a literal wooden stick about 2 feet long. I moved it around looking left, right, and back just like Bruno Stachel did in "The Blue Max." Jim called out, "Clear prop!" and the two blades of the Pratt & Whittney radial slowly swung around then disappeared as the motor roared to life. We taxied out of the parking spot and Jim began to S turn with the rudder to see forward around the cowl. We pulled onto the runway heading East and got cleared from the tower. Jim added full power and in a few seconds of rolling the tail came up followed by that wobbly feeling of being airborne.

The ground began to recede as the plane climbed in a gentle left hand turn the stick and rudder pedals moved as Jim worked the controls from the back. I had no gauges whatsoever just the throttle control levers on the left a mirror up and to the left and a push button mike on the dash to the right. Jim's voice crackled on the headphones, "You might as well fly us out to the area where we'll do some stunts." I put both feet on the rudder pedals and grabbed the stick with my right hand. I was now flying the plane!

I moved the stick to the left a hair and the plane banked left then back right and it banked right. The wind was a little choppy and I had to use the aileron and elevator a little to keep it level. At one point some wind shear hit and the plane dropped while flying straight forward and I could feel the straps against my shoulders as the plane pulled us down. I pushed on the rudder pedals left and right feeling the tail move with each push. It was just as I had imagined it. The mike crackled again, "Okay, we're here. Why don't you try a 360 degree turn?" I pushed the stick left and back at the same time applying a little left rudder and the plane rolled and turned left in about a 45 degree angle of bank. I looked forward keeping the nose level with the horizon and came around 360 degrees heading North again and leveled out. Jim said, "Okay, lets do some tricks... I've got the controls. We'll start out with a roll."

Jim pushed the stick forward to get some speed and my body pushed against the shoulder straps leaving the seat then Jim pulled back and I came back into the seat and he started the roll as we got inverted I was hanging by the straps and I looked up at the ground below seeing rows of corn fields and a few houses. It was awesome. We came back around to wings level and Jim said, "OK, now a loop." We dove a little to gain some speed and Jim pulled back fairly hard I was immediately confronted with about 3 G's and felt a tremendous weight pushing me into the seat. The blood rushed out of my head as I fought to keep my head upright and I felt a little light headed. We got to the top of the loop and things returned to normal and I looked up at the ground as we pulled through into the vertical looking straight down. The G's began again as Jim continued through the loop and I really fought this time to keep my head up. As we pulled out to wings level Jim came on again, "Now up into a hammerhead." The G's continued as we pulled up into the vertical. I felt a little faint as we continued to climb straight up and I could see how an inexperienced pilot would easily be shot down by a veteran regardless of the aircraft that either flew during a dogfight. Jim kicked full right rudder at the top and the tail came around pointing the nose to the ground.

As we headed to the ground he rolled doing a sort of half Cuban 8 then pulled out to wings level saying, "Now into a barrel roll." At this point I couldn't tell the difference between the roll in the beginning and the barrel roll but I think he had some rudder applied but essentially it was the same upside down feeling. I was definitely feeling faint and queasy at this time and came to the realization that this was nothing like a computer flight simulation game. These kinds of effects and the ability of the pilot to deal with them made the difference between life and death in a dogfight.

"How about a tail spin?"Jim replied, "No, we don't do those anymore... too many people have been killed..."

Jim's voice came through the headset again, "Okay, now you try a loop." I pushed the button on the dash, "Uh, just let me get my cookies back here." I tried to save face by saying, "You know, Chuck Yeager threw up several times when he first started doing aerobatics." Jim replied, "No, I didn't know that. I haven't read his book, though. Why don't you fly and try a turn to the right." "Okay," I replied. I pushed right on the stick and executed a more drunk and disorderly right turn than my first left. I finished the circle and Jim told me to head east for a while. After a little bit I said, "OK I think I'm ready."

Jim replied, "Why don't you do a roll first." "Okay," I said. Jim told me to push the stick forward a little then pull back before doing it and I did this. With the nose inclined upward I pushed left on the stick. We started to roll and as we neared the inverted position Jim said to push harder on the stick or we would end up doing a split S and going down so he pushed harder on the stick which I felt and we rolled to wings level. I then was ready to do a loop and pushed the stick forward to gain some speed and then pulled back up into the vertical. As we came around toward the ground I felt Jim help out on the pull out and he said you need to pull more elevator when coming out of the loop than into it.

We came out and I suggested another hammerhead stall. I pulled back and up into the vertical without Jim helping but when we neared the top I couldn't tell what our airspeed was so I had no idea when to kick rudder. Jim told me over the radio and I pushed left rudder. I felt him push it a little harder and he also pushed the stick hard right to keep us from rolling inverted due to the torque of the engine. We headed to the ground and I pulled back on the stick feeling the G's push me and my head into the seat.

When we leveled out Jim said, "Head North-North West a little now." I looked up at the sun and banked right to what I thought was north west and we flew straight for a while in this direction. He said, "Anything else you want to try?" I said, "How about a tail spin?"Jim replied, "No, we don't do those anymore... too many people have been killed doing that." Trying to think of all the maneuvers in Dawn Patrol, I finally said, "OK, how about a knife edge?" Jim dived to get some speed then rolled left to a 90 degree bank. He then applied hard right rudder and we were flying side ways. I looked left at the ground and the slipstream nearly tore my goggles off and I almost lost my right contact lens. I pulled my head back behind the windscreen and then we rolled to an upright level attitude.

Jim came on again, "You ready to head back?" I said yes out of courtesy, but I could've stayed up there all day. Jim pointed the plane in a south west direction and I could see the airport and runway in the distance. We approached from the north, made a gentle left hand diving turn to come in on final heading east. Jim taxied the plane into the 3rd slot of the four Red Baron planes parked in a neat line and killed the engine. I undid the belt and Jim helped me with the chute straps then turned around for my wife to do a quick photo shoot. It was a complete rush I'll never forget.