Are You A Pilot?

[stephen]

If you are a pilot, your opinion would be appreciated. Please hit the "Traveling the Western Front" sidebar on this forum page and look up the photo of the field where Frank Luke landed outside of Murveaux ("the field where FL earned his medal of honor"). In your opinion, would it be possible for a WWI era biplane to manage any sort of landing on the FAR side of the field, where the sheep pasture inclines into the Cote St. Germain? Is it even a logical landing spot, given the choice of the flat field on the nearer side to the camera?

An important point in researching Frank Luke's career. Next time I'm there (2000 or '01) I'm actually going to step off the distance and compare it to the original 700 yard estimate (details in the sidebar text).

Your submissions are gratefully received.

This is a bit of a curly question to ask Stephen.
Luke was badly wounded, and like MvR, his first
concern would be to land ASAP before he blacked out. As such, a desperate pilot would land where
ever he could, believing that any landing you can
walk away from is a good one.
During training, your instructor turns off the engine and calmly tells you to pick a spot and land. You have to do this without any help, except
if he sees that you are going to make a complete
hash of it. This happens during training - what
could an experienced combat pilot achieve?

[Vigilant]

Stephen,

Well it is plenty long enough for a microlight which I should think is comparable (and it's all I have to go on The slope isn't ideal, but God knows I've picked much worse practising with my instructor - and I didn't have the excuse of being wounded!

Do you know if he landed into wind, or downwind? That would make a big difference to landing run.

[Barrett]

My system is Netscape Navigator and it doesn't show the bar for "touring." It also obscures several threads with the poll (BTW: how can we access current poll results?)
Anyway: we don't know if Luke made a controlled landing a-la MvR or not. He might have crunched his SPAD and emerged from the rubble. It's a tough bird.

Stephen,
To answer your question.Yes, I could put an aircraft down on either field. I have landed cropdusters in less room than that. But, if I was shot up pretty bad, I imagine I could put one down in your back yard if I had to!

[Shooter]

Stephen:

While I am certain that your knowledge of this event is better than mine, I also believe that he could have landed on either field.

I have a great appreciation for the difficulties he would have faced on the far patch of pasture, but, if I recall the "landing" properly, Frank Luke actually took off his undercarriage in the act of setting the SPAD down, and that sort of landing he could have done on either side of the stream.

I must admit, from the picture, the near piece of ground is more inviting, but how would they look from the air, in the half-light available just after dusk?

Since the citizens who were witness to these events maintain that Frank Luke landed on the far field, I am inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, pal.

Me? I don't know if I could put down on either field.

r/s

Bill

Hey I don't see a problem putting a plane down in any open field if you gotta. If she is coming down you don't have much choice. The SPAD glided like a brick and needed to be landed with power on if he lost power he was coming down like NOW!
Lt. Dwight Rudder, RFC

PS: I have landed my NIE.16b in rice fields, hill sides and on a city street, you put her down where you have to and I only fliped her in the rice field. and the other times I took off within 2 hrs.

[stephen]

Thanks for the replies, fellas. Keep 'em coming.

Shooter: I never read anything from the witnesses that stated Luke came down in the far field... the only evidence of that would be if the 700 yard estimate placed it there, which in my horrible distance estimation, it does. Anything to add to that?

[Shooter]

Stephen:

Negative, pal. I miss read your comments and assumed that the villagers stated that he crashed on the far side. Sorry about that....

As for the 700 yd. distance, could not the stream have moved? Streams and rivers do change their courses, and with agriculture and war to add their effects to the equation, this stream could have added or subtracted from the distance to the road over the years. Not so?

Again, given a "wheels up" landing, could Frank Luke not have gone in on the far side?

Ponderable points.

r/s

Bill