HURRICANE HUNTERS
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Bill N. was the radar operator on the first B-29 bomber crew picked to to fly into a hurricane in 1946. He says the first flight was "rough", but the third one really stands out in his mind:
Radar photo from the B-29 over the coast of Pensacola in a hurricane.
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"We hit the west quadrant, and were flipped nose down, tail up, and
on our back. It broke my seat, threw me on the ground and broke my
seatbelt. The wings were so buckled and wrinkled, after we landed they
towed it to the graveyard."
While that aircraft didn't fly any more hurricanes, they learned from that experience and made the bombers lighter to fly into the turbulence of the hurricane. "We must've taken off two tons of weight", recalls Bill. |