How to Ditch a Fortress
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Title (Dublin Core)
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How to Ditch a Fortress
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Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
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How to Ditch a Fortress
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extracted text (Extract Text)
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WHEN the order, “Prepare to ditch,”
tomes over the interphone system of
one of our big bombers, 30 seconds may
mean the difference between life and death -
for the crew. For that warning, sounded by
the pilot, is notice that the big land plane is
being forced down on the sea, and 30 seconds
afloat without seaplane landing gear may be
all that can be expected even under the
most favorable conditions.
So well trained are our bomber crews,
though, that these emergency landings on
water have lost much of their hazard, at
least insofar as it relates to loss of life or
injury in the actual landing. Each man
knows his station, and he goes to it, ready
to act instantly with the final impact of the
plane on the water. Each has his specific
duty to perform, and he does it without hesi-
tation and without delay so that he and his
mates will be assured of at least a fair
chance of survival in their life rafts. In ad-
dition, each man also knows duties of the
others in the crew so that no hitch will oc-
cur should any be too seriously injured to
carry out his part.
Specific instructions, known officially as
the “ditching procedure,” have been pre-
pared by the Boeing Aircraft Company and
the Army Air Forces. The steps apply par-
ticularly to Boeing's big Flying Fortresses,
but in general they are also followed for a
water landing made by any other multimo-
tored land plane. Illustrations and instruc-
tions from the “ditching procedure” are giv-
en on this and the preceding page.
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Language (Dublin Core)
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eng
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Date Issued (Dublin Core)
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1943-11
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pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
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84-85
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Rights (Dublin Core)
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Public Domain (Google digitized)
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Archived by (Dublin Core)
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Matteo Ridolfi
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Alberto Bordignon (Supervisor)
Popular Science Monthly, vol. 143, n. 5, 1943
