Fighter pilot Essays

  • Brigadier Robin Olds as a Leader of Character

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    Army Air Corps and later an Air Force pilot from 1943 to 1973. From an early age, Olds was surrounded by great fighter pilots who mentored his leadership abilities. He character was also influenced by his father; Robin Olds Sr. Olds’ character was tested time after time as a cadet at West Point and as an Air Force Officer at the squad and wing levels. Robin Olds was a leader of character because of early influences and training, experience as a fighter pilot in World War Two, and his leadership skills

  • The Life of Canadian Fighter Pilot, Billy Bishop

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction: An aggressive pilot, due to his daring nature, a young Canadian became a legend and inspired a new generation of aces. Billy Bishop was a courageous man and the greatest fighter pilot to serve Canada during the times of war. The purpose of this essay is to learn and recognize the different contributions made by Billy Bishop and his journey to rising above his peers through strength and courage. This is true because he would go on to won 16 medals and become the first Canadian to win

  • Ignorance and Air Power: The Failure of U. S. Leadership to Properly Utilize Air Power in Vietnam

    4201 Words  | 9 Pages

    Ignorance and Air Power: The Failure of U. S. Leadership to Properly Utilize Air Power in Vietnam Major Ted Tolman’s F-105 Thud fighter/bomber streaked through the air at just under the speed of sound. His aircraft performed modestly at best, struggling to maintain its speed and altitude under the heavy load of ordinance and fuel it carried under its wings (Patrick). Tolman, and his wingman Major Lonnie Ferguson, were en route to a rail line that served to distribute supplies from Cam Pha

  • F-16 Research Paper

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction      The first F-16 was developed in 1974. They wanted a lightweight fighter that wouldn’t cost as much as the fighters they had at the time. They also needed a way to have a bomber without going out and building another bomber which would cost millions more. So they decided to turn the F-16 into a fighter/bomber and it all worked out. Here’s how. The Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon      They F-16 Fighting Falcon

  • Chuck Yeager

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chuck Yeager is unquestionably the most famous test pilot of all time. He won a permanent place in the history of aviation as the first pilot ever to fly faster than the speed of sound, but that is only one of the remarkable feats this pilot performed in service to his country. Charles Elwood Yeager was born in 1923 in Myra, West Virginia and grew up in the nearby village of Hamlin. Immediately upon graduation from High School he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps to serve in World War

  • American Heros in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    American Heros in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff depicts the lives of some of America's hottest pilots and its first astronauts. These men include Pete Conrad, Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Shirra, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter and Deke Sleyton. Some of these men were hotshot test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base, and some flew cargo planes. Some had impeccable service records, while others hadn't flown in a real dog fight for even a second

  • Eugene Bullard

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    first. Imagine being first, must have felt for Eugene Bullard, the first African American combat pilot. I know that a lot of people, including myself, thought that the first African American combat pilots were The Tuskegee Airmen. "He flew nearly 25 years before the first African American pilots graduated from Air Corps pilot training in 1942, at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama (African American Pilot Eugene Bullard, 1). Had it not been for famous firsts, such as Bullard, who helped pave the way

  • The Red Baron

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    Barron was actually a German fighter ace of World War I. His full name was Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, who will be referred to as von Richthofen for simplicity’s sake. By the Germans, he was called “der rote Kampfflieger” (The Red Battle-Flyer), the French called him “le Diable Rouge” (Red Devil), and in the English-speaking world he is known as “The Red Barron.” In a time of ancient aircraft technology when twenty air victories insured a pilot legendary status, von Richthofen

  • Area 51

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    The creation of Area 51 began in April of 1955, when a Lockheed test pilot, Tony LeVier, searched for a remote site to test the U-2. Grooms Lake is chosen as the location for the runway. By August of 1955, the U-2 makes its first flight from Grooms Lake. That was only the beginning for test flights from Area 51. In April 1962, the first A-12 Blackbird was tested at Groom Lake. February 1982, the F-117A Stealth fighter takes off for the first time. All other test flights have not been released to

  • BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES W. SWEENEY

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    as a pilot in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet on April 28, 1941. Receiving his commission as a pilot in the Army Air Corps in December 1941, Lieutenant Sweeney spent two years at Jefferson Proving Grounds Ind. From the proving grounds in 1943, Charles Sweeney, now a captain, moved to Eglin Field, Fla., where he served as an operations officer and also a test pilot. In 1944 he was promoted to the rank of major in the Army of the United States. At this time he was acting as a B-29 pilot instructor

  • Interesting Facts

    504 Words  | 2 Pages

    signature wasn't added until 5 years later. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards." The most common name in the world is Mohammed. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Modern Warfare

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    The technology involved in a complicated system such as these fighter planes is immense. The older planes are packed with high tech gear such as micro processors, laser guiding devices, electromagnetic jammers and infrared sensors. With newer planes, the airforce is experimenting with a virtual reality helmet that projects a cartoon like image of the battlefield for the pilot, with flashing symbols for enemy planes. What is more, if a pilot passes out for various reasons such as the "G" force from a

  • Stephen Coonts "flight Of The Intruder": Summary

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stephen Coonts' "Flight of the Intruder": Summary This week I read Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts. I read from page 1 to page 437 for a total of 437 pages. The book is about an A-6A Intruder (a naval bomber) pilot named Jake Grafton. In the first few pages Jake's best friend and B/N (Bombardier/Navigator) is killed by a Vietnamese soldier's rifle. In this mission their target was a "suspected truck park." Jake goes into despondency (depression, despair) for a days and tries to convince

  • Chuck Yeager

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Yeager is by the far the most enjoyable history lesson anyone could wish for. The autobiography tells the story of Chuck Yeager, the world’s greatest pilot and first man to break the sound barrier. The story, told by General Yeager himself, has the perfect balance of humor and action. Witty anecdotes and suspenseful flight sequences keep the reader engrossed. The book is a multi-million bestseller for a reason. Chuck Yeager was born in 1923 in West Virginia. He learned to always do his best

  • Star Wars

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Storm Troopers have attacked the Jawas. Luke then finds out that his uncle and aunt are dead. He then decides to train to be a Jedi Knight. They head to a Mos Eisley, a spaceport to search for a pilot to get them to the planet Alderaan. Obi-Wan and Luke meet up with a smuggler named Han Solo and his co-pilot, Chewbacca the Wookie also known as Chewie. They make a deal for Han to take the two humans and the two droids to Alderaan. While preparing the ship Han runs into a crime lord, Jabba the Hutt.

  • Roah Dahl Biography

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    graduating from Repton School in 1933, he went to work for the Shell Oil Company of East Africa until World War II started in 1939. He then served in the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot and he became a Wing Commander. In 1940 Dahl's plane was hit by a machine gun fire, and he was severely injured. He was rescued by a fellow pilot and took him six months to recover. Although Dahl rejoined his squadron in Greece in the spring of 1941, the pain from his head and back injuries grew worse so that he had

  • Guns in the Cockpit

    2127 Words  | 5 Pages

    cockpits and a pilot should give full, undivided attention to flying his plane. He believes that pilots can use their plane as their line of defense by landing it as quickly as possible and conducting in-flight maneuvers to keep the hijackers off balance (MSNBC 3). John Magaw believes that pilots have to make use with what they have. Captain Tracy Price, head of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance who supports equipping the cockpit with guns, stated, We advocate arming airline pilots with firearms

  • Charles Lindbergh

    2153 Words  | 5 Pages

    how to be a fighter pilot. One year later he graduated from the Army flight training school that was held on both Brook’s field and Kelly’s field. He graduated as the number one pilot in his class. After that he bought his own airplane and for the next six years of his life he spent flying an airplane for Robertson Aircraft Corporation. The planes filled with mail he flew from St. Louis, Missouri to Chicago, Illinois. During this time he was also a barnstormer which is a stunt pilot that does stunts

  • Thrust Vectoring

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    responding, they are heading right for each other, the pilots don’t have enough time to eject, there’s a mid-air explosion, and the needless death of American servicemen. About one fifth of peacetime fighter losses during the past few years were due to loss of control. Now imagine that the US has been developing the technology to prevent this for the last decade, but due to budget problems this technology was never installed on our fighters. I’m talking about a Thrust Vectoring. This engineering

  • How to Calculate the G Forces in NHRA Drag Racing

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    475 pounds. This causes a big strain on the body. The exact physical response on the human is not exactly known because studys on pilots show that some can become accustomed to a little higher G force as when they first started the study. Over all it showed that a human would loose consciousness between 8 and 9 G’s. the space shuttle launches at about 3 G’s. Modern fighter jets pulling out of a hard dive can experience about 8 G’s. Under this kind force the blood pools in, usually the wrong, parts of