Goose, a victim of Hollywood!
QUESTION Would Goose have been able to save himself in Top Gun if he had followed the correct procedures?
Maverick’s wingman dies when he is fired into the aircraft canopy while trying to eject from his F-14 fighter aircraft. This was not a problem with procedure, but it probably would not have happened in real life. ejection is a three-stage process. The crew member starts the automated sequence by activating one of two controls: pulling downwards on a loop-shaped handle above their head, or upwards on a handle between their feet. Both controls are attached to the ejector seat.
Having two methods of initiation is a failsafe, to take into account that a crew member might be injured and unable to initiate ejection if there were only one option available.
in a two- seater aircraft, there is also the ability to eject an injured crew member before saving yourself — so Maverick could have ejected Goose, and vice versa.
The second stage of the ejection is the release of the cockpit canopy. This is done by the detonation of exploding bolts. it is designed so that the front end breaks away first and the slipstream of the aircraft propels the canopy backwards as the rear bolts fire.
The final stage is the firing of the ejector seat rocket to exit the crew member from the cockpit. although the removal of the canopy and the firing of the ejector seats appear simultaneous, they are separated by a spilt second so the canopy flies clear. There is also a slight delay between the two seats ejecting, so they don’t collide.
Once the ejection seat is clear of the aircraft, a parachute opens automatically, which is another failsafe in case of unconsciousness. The crew separate from their seats at the same time as the parachutes deploy.
The reason for Goose hitting the canopy is supposed to be because the aircraft is spinning horizontally, like a car on ice. He hits the canopy because the aircraft has rotated through 360 degrees.
This is an unlikely event. although the aircraft is spinning, it would still have forward motion. The canopy would not only be behind the cockpit but behind the aircraft, meaning Goose couldn’t hit it as he ejected. The only way he could hit the canopy would be if the aircraft went nose-up as he ejected, but this isn’t depicted in the film. However, this would also be unlikely, as the canopy has to obey the law of gravity and would be on a downward arc, taking it away from a horizontal ejection path.
it would seem Goose was more a victim of Hollywood scriptwriting than of not following the right procedures.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.
QUESTION Why did Adolf Hitler carry a whip?
HITLER carried a dog whip to give him a martial air as he forged his early public persona. such whips were used for training, enforcement and as a deterrent.
as he began his rise to power in the early 1920s, the socially awkward former corporal was taken under the wing of Helene Bechstein, the wife of wealthy piano manufacturer and Nazi donor edwin Bechstein.
according to Otto strasser, a Nazi who later broke with Hitler, Bechstein ‘lavished on him an ecstatic and faintly maternal devotion’. she bought him new clothes and taught him table manners.
Helene also gave him an alsatian dog, Prinz, and a dog whip to train him. Hitler would carry the whip tied around his wrist in the manner of a cavalry officer.
Following his release from landsberg Prison in 1924 after the failed Beer Hall Putsch (an attempted coup d’etat) in Munich, Hitler was a celebrity.
He was befriended by businessman ernst Hanfstaengl and introduced to high society including elsa Bruckmann, the wife of the publisher Hugo Bruckmann. Once again, Hitler’s social naivety brought out an older woman’s maternal instinct. she presented him with a silver-handled dog whip. in 1928, elizabeth Büchner, the wife of German cyclist Bruno Büchner, gave him a third whip, made of hippopotamus hide, that she had bought in africa.
By 1933, when Hitler came to power, he had become embarrassed about his early image, although he remained fond of equestrian touches such as jodhpurs. But he felt the dog whip was gauche and there was an attempt to destroy all photos of him carrying one, though a number survive.
William Griffith, Cardiff.
QUESTION Have any gem quality diamonds been found in Britain?
FEW gemstones have been found in Britain. it’s possible that a diamond was discovered near ‘a lake three miles north-east of Ben Hope’, scotland’s most northerly Munro, in sutherland. a specimen found by the great scottish mineralogist and chemist Professor Matthew Forster Heddle was described in a posthumous supplement to his book The Mineralogy Of scotland in 1901.
He described it as containing either ‘colourless garnets or diamonds’. But his son-in-law, alexander Thoms, stated that when Heddle showed it to him, he believed diamonds were most likely.
As Heddle was the most eminent scientist in the field, the claim led to amateur mineralogists scouring the area for diamonds. at least three discoveries have been claimed, but none verified. 1984, sapphire was discovered in a dyke at loch roag, on the isle of lewis. a 9.6-carat stone found there was valued at £60,000 in 1995.
Shaun Bains, Washington, Tyne & Wear.
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