Meditations on Turning 40

[Josquius]

Happy birthday.

Yes. Aging is scary. I too haven't come to terms with 30, doors being closed, etc...

[DGuller]

I was reminded of this thread this morning when I sneezed and threw my back out. 

[KRonn]

Happy Birthday Raz! At 40 you're still young, a lot younger than me. 

[KRonn]

And fly around the supermarket like that, try to get thee others to follow you in a finger-four formation.  Make people laugh, make them think.

Use the Thatch Weave and really get them to think deeply about Pacific War air tactics.

Cool visuals on that. I can see shoppers moving in the weave to keep other shoppers each other's six.

I think in WW2, early on especially for the US facing the Japanese, pilots learned that WW1 style dogfighting needed to be re-thought. They learned other tactics like Thatch Weave, or diving on opponents and speeding away, rather than always trying to dogfight in a turning battle against a better enemy aircraft. Such as also Chenault and the Flying Tigers with the P-40s.

[grumbler]

Cool visuals on that. I can see shoppers moving in the weave to keep other shoppers each other's six.

I think in WW2, early on especially for the US facing the Japanese, pilots learned that WW1 style dogfighting needed to be re-thought. They learned other tactics like Thatch Weave, or diving on opponents and speeding away, rather than always trying to dogfight in a turning battle against a better enemy aircraft. Such as also Chenault and the Flying Tigers with the P-40s.

Not just the US pilots, and not just early in the war.  Battle of Britain aces flying Spitfires over Australia had a losing record against Zeros.  The Spitfire was designed for turning battles, but the Zero was designed even better for turning battles.  Flight them vertically or in teams using the Thatch Weave, and you could exploit the Zeros' weaknesses.

In fact, the Japanese pilots at Midway were in the same befuddled position as the British pilots in Malaya.  They hadn't a clue as to how to handle the Thatch Weave, and Thatch and two wingmen held off 20 Zeros, shooting down four with no losses.  Reenacting that in a supermarket would be tight!

[OttoVonBismarck]

40 isn't young but it's not really old Raz, speaking from someone who passed that milestone awhile back. You've got a lot of life left, don't waste any of it.

[KRonn]

Cool visuals on that. I can see shoppers moving in the weave to keep other shoppers each other's six.

I think in WW2, early on especially for the US facing the Japanese, pilots learned that WW1 style dogfighting needed to be re-thought. They learned other tactics like Thatch Weave, or diving on opponents and speeding away, rather than always trying to dogfight in a turning battle against a better enemy aircraft. Such as also Chenault and the Flying Tigers with the P-40s.

Not just the US pilots, and not just early in the war.  Battle of Britain aces flying Spitfires over Australia had a losing record against Zeros.  The Spitfire was designed for turning battles, but the Zero was designed even better for turning battles.  Flight them vertically or in teams using the Thatch Weave, and you could exploit the Zeros' weaknesses.

In fact, the Japanese pilots at Midway were in the same befuddled position as the British pilots in Malaya.  They hadn't a clue as to how to handle the Thatch Weave, and Thatch and two wingmen held off 20 Zeros, shooting down four with no losses.  Reenacting that in a supermarket would be tight!

Lol, all that machine gun fire would spoil a lot of groceries! But good info about the dogfighting tactics of both sides, especially the Thatch Weave.

[Jacob]

Happy birthday Raz - you're appreciated