Just use the laso selection tool to select the vertices along the bottom edge of the arch in that picture you've posed. You could also select them a few at a time using the rectangular selection tool if you want, but the lasso is easier. Once you have the whole bottom edge selected, assign a V coord to it to get the whole lot on one horrizontal line. Then do the same for the top edge so that at the end you wind up with an upside down trapezoid shap (ie, a four sided shape with the bottom edge shorter than the top edge) About the skewed polygons - this is what using a cylindrical mapping is meant to avoid, but even without the cylindrical mapping it isn't that big of a problem. If you use a box mapping, rather than a planar mapping, you'll get all four sides layed out. You may have to rotate some of them to get them all lined up right but basically you'll have two areas like the pic you've posted above, a rectange for the top side and a slightly shorter rectange for the bottom side. If you've used the scale option in your mapping dialogue (often overlooked but very useful feature - just remember to set your scale appropraitely under preferences), then after fixing the arched sides you'll find that the bottom side of the trapezoid is exactly the same length as the short rectangle and the top side is the same length as the long rectangle and all of the vertex positions match up. Once you've stiched the four sides together, you can x scale the vertices of the bottom side of the arch until the whole map is a neat rectangle if that's what you want. Rather than using the box mapping I've suggested, you might get better results by making four separate planar mappings - one of each side. Box mappings have six faces and sometimes you'll get some badly placed polygons on an object like this. The key thing is to have the four sides separate so you can work on them individually and to have them all the same scale, which you'll get by using the scale option.

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