Any Landing You Can Walk Away From by kjer_99
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Description
...Is a good landing. An airplane is like a bumblebee. They all fly by brute power. If that power fails, the airplane becomes a gliding rock--and you know how well rocks glide!
Engine failure can kill you as surely as a German fighter pilot. Flight-Sergeant Roland Stokes, a Canadian, has just dead-sticked his Hurricane to a bouncy but uneventful landing in an English sheep pasture. As he walks away from his plane to seek assistance, Roland is uneasily watched by the gathering remnants of the flock that he scattered in terror when his Hurricane swooped down among them a few minutes ago. Roland is very happy to be walking on English soil. He was still over the Channel when his engine sputterd to a halt. This was much better than bobbing in the cold waters of the Channel.
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It would be an interesting statistic to know just how many Allied fliers died because of engine trouble or other mechanical failures. Think we'd all be surprised at how large the number of casualities would be.
In war, a lot of things can kill you besides bombs and bullets. Flying straight for more than 30 seconds can do it. Weather can. Just being the wrong guy in the wrong place can ruin your day. Just about anything can kill you, unless you remain vigilant--and sometimes, it will even if you are.
This pays homage to the brave fliers of the Battle of Britain of all nationalities. However, the picture is dedicated to Neil Wilson for his tremendous Hurricane model, which he gifted to the CG community and to Luis Tavares, who has given me the chance and fun of playing with his RAF Uniforms-- a Work In Progress. Thanks, Guys!
Jeremy
CREDITS:
Figure: DoMuS Dork (freebie from Deviant Art??).
RAF Uniforms: Luis Tavares aka Tryphon (not available to the public--yet!)
Aircraft: Neil Wilson aka neiwil "Hurricane" (ShareCG)
Animals: DAZ "Sheep" and "Lamb."
Eco-system: Gill Brooks "Eco-Grass" (Renderosity).
Comments (13)
NefariousDrO
Indeed! In most wars more soldiers are lost to accidents, disease, and the like than to enemy action, and I think you're right about the mechanical dangers of flight in that war. A very interesting discovery came to light several years ago when a group was restoring one of Germany's rocket-powered fighters that was made very late in the war: the fighter had been made in a slave-labor factory mostly jewish laborers and some convicts. The stunning thing was they discovered someone had sabotaged the drag-parachute used for landings so it wouldn't deploy! Looking more closely at the structure they counted over 100 acts of deliberate sabotage to the fighter, including careful filing of grooves into the fuel lines prior to installation so that once installed they wouldn't be noticeable, but probably would have ruptured once in operation! If that fighter had ever actually been flown it probably would have killed its pilot...
mininessie
nice work Jeremy!!!
warder348
Great job, great render!
wotan
Cool scene!
Faemike55
Great scene and interesting discussion
neiwil
Thanks Jeremy, very nice render and an excellent topic for discussion..dread to think how many were lost to non-combat related mechanical failure, but as you say the number would probably be 'high'.You mention the relief of not coming down in the Channel, that WAS a problem for the Germans.The RAF had the advantage of fighting over home territory. Pilots who bailed out of their downed aircraft could be back at their airfields within hours. For Luftwaffe aircrews, a bailout over England meant capture, while parachuting into the English Channel often meant drowning or death from exposure. Morale began to suffer, and Kanalkrankheit ("Channel sickness") – a form of combat fatigue – was common among Luftwaffe pilots.
geirla
Very nice image! And with all those other problems, there's also friendly fire to consider, Espically at night or in bad weather.
grafikeer
Well done Jeremy...a fitting homage to the fliers who take to the skies during any conflict!
emmecielle
Very interesting image! Excellent work! :)
Tryphon
Well done Jeremy, the render came out nicely, simple yet eloquent. As you say any thing can get you killed including your own aircraft. Very nice tribute to those brave young men who flew those aircrafts regardless of misgivings they might have had flying certain planes. I'm talking about the British policy early in WW2 of throwing everything that could fly into the fray regardless of air worthiness, obsolescence or effectiveness. Thanks Jeremy I'm Happy you like the models, cuz I made them to go with all the Brit planes Neil has been coming out with. All those great RAF planes without pilots or crew, just didnt feel right ;o)!
mermaid
Very fine work, Jeremy and some very interesting thoughts to go with :)
NetWorthy
Wonderful work Jeremy - and your words are SO true. My dad was a pilot instructor in the Air Force and was able to walk away from a couple of incidents. For me that wasn't the remarkable thing - it was him cheerfully strapping himself into another plane the next day...
Django
The gras is amazing