fandomhigh | Aviation & Aeronautics, Thursday October 2, Period 2

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Aviation & Aeronautics, Thursday October 2, Period 2

Murdock had yet another dog with him in class today, deciding that making two trips this morning would be a bit more than his twisted knee was up for. Houston lay on the floor next to the desk, tail thumping and watching the students with interest as the class filed in.

"Don't mind him," Murdock smirked. "He's just a guest for the day. Houston's friendly though, if any of y'all want to meet him. Ain't ya boy?" Houston just wagged his tail further.

He got up and limped toward the chalkboard. "So let's get started. There's quite a bit of notes, since we'll be covering World War I."

(ocd up ~~shortly~~)

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Like ya do.

Cindy Mackenzie

Anemone

Jack Burton

Naomi Wildman

Make notes, nap, play with the doggie, etc...

She only spent a minute or two, screwing up bits of paper to toss for Houston. Really.

And they were the pieces she wasn't writing notes on.

Hey! There were ball papers!

Houston snatched the first one, but got quickly distracted by the second. He tackled one, making a fun pile of confetti in the process (totally unbeknowst to his owner) then proudly trotted another back over to Mac, tail wagging.

Mac pulled a face, and glanced toward Murdock, hoping he was too into his teaching to notice or care about that little bit of mess.

She did smirk when the dog happily came back over, and leaned out to pet him. "Good boy," she murmured.

Okay, so destroying paper balls isn't usually classed as 'good boy' behavior, but she wasn't sure what else you said to dogs, really.

Murdock was talking about military history and aircraft. Of course he was far too distracted to notice much of anything else.

The petting got more tail wagging in response. He dumped the (slightly slobbery) paper ball next to Mac's feet and looked up expentantly.

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Jack was there with a free hand positioned for any skritches. If, y'know, a dog happened by.

Hey, look! A hand! Houston trotted over to see if he could get anything from that hand.

Murdock was far too engrossed into his lecture and note scribbling (it was a wonder his students could dechiper any of it, really) to notice what Houston may or may not have been doing.

The hand? Was a skritching hand, with a side of petting. Jack grinned. He could use a dog. Or even a cat, if his frog-shaped roommate would allow it.

A lot of stuff today. Don't mind all the links, whoa.

"Between 1914 and 1918, war's furious pace forced aviation through a period of change never again to be matched. During the era, virtually all the possibilities for the development and deployment of air power were explored. Strategic bombing, guided missiles, reconnaissance and surveillance, and even jet propulsion. This last glimpse of the future was made possibly by Henri Coanda (http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/AERO/coanda.htm)'s ducted-fan development of 1910. The three types of military aircraft emerged; fighters, observation, and bombers. Such facts as these, tempt some military analysts to conclude, the First World War was simply a training ground for the Second." Murdock turned and glanced at the class. "Because one war apparently wasn't enough," he remarked dryly.

He went back to sketching more notes on the chalkboard. "When war began in August 1914, neither side really understood the implications of an air war. As the first months of the war sped by, deficiencies of tremendous size and importance were apparent in every aspect of aviation for every country involved. The aviation mobilization, was done very loosely, as no one had drawn the correct inferences from the very limited warfare that aircraft had engaged in. No one had the slightest idea of the enormous baggage train of equipment, men and supplies necessary to sustain a single aviation unit in operations. And no nation had any idea of the wastage involved in aircraft operations, and none had created the industrial base to sustain active combat operations."

"When war broke out, two dozen or more aircraft, a mixed bag of English Bleriots (http://www.bleriot.org/), Henri-Farmans (http://www.adenairways.com/First_Flights.htm), Avros (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Images/Current/Transports/HS748/H1033.jpg.html) and B.E.2s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_B.E.2) and B.E.8s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_B.E.8) landed in France. Operating from outside of Amiens, the tiny force covered the retreat imposed on the 100,000 man British Expeditionary Force by the huge armies of German invaders. The British began the long retreat from Mons, which was all based on the report of aviators. Later, French flyers observed the shift in thrust of von Kluck's armies, and the resulting change in British and French dispositions brought about the Allied victory at the Battle of the Marne (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/marne1.htm) that saved Paris."

"Like many other discoveries during World War I, the perception of the value of aircraft developed as a result of miscalculation. The one situation that no nation wanted developed, a static war. Trench warfare with its massed machine guns spelled the end of cavalry scouts and aircraft replaced horses for reconnaissance. The Germans relied on heavy artillery for defense, and aircraft were used to register the cannon fire. The evolution of trench warfare dictated the initial task for aircraft, in turn, their success made trench warfare more permanent. Kind of the downside there, ain't it," he stated, glancing back toward the students. "The principal work of aircraft was reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and equally important was the prevention of the other side from doing so. Prevention required 'scout' aircraft, as pursuits were first known. We now call them fighters," he added. "Ideally, the scout attacks would be foiled by other scouts, and a new scenario was established. Inevitably, the war started with unarmed aircraft, most often observation two-seaters, and it ended with a predominance of single-seat fighters intent on first eliminating each other and then eliminating the two-seaters." He stopped writing and fully turned to face the class. "Dog fighting. The first real emergence of air combat. Of course then, it gets more deadly."

"Machine guns had been mounted on aircraft almost from the start of the war, but the effect of the extra weight was so detrimental to flight performance that these arms were immediately removed. The first step toward the development of real pursuit or fighter types took place when Roland Garros (http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/garros.htm) while with the French Escadrille M.S. 23 arranged for bullet deflection devices invented by Raymond Saulnier (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/morane-saulnier.html) to be attached to the propeller blades of his Morane-Saulnier Type N in March 1915. The bullet deflection wedges attached to the propeller blades permitted him to fire a Hotchkiss (http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_hotchkiss.htm) machine gun through the arc or 'disk', formed by the whirling prop without shooting off the blades. And believe me, you don't want that to happen." Not that he's ever had a problem with such a thing, no. Yah right.

"Copying the deflectors was easy, making them work was not. In German experiments, the gun simply shot the propeller off. So the German High Command turned to Dutch designer Anthony Fokker (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Air_Power/Fokker/AP7.htm). Fokker rejected the deflection system and directed his staff to create a synchronizing system for the Parabellum machine gun (http://www.hegewisch.net/blindkat/voss/lmg.html) to be mounted on his new Fokker M 5K monoplane. The synchronizing system momentarily interrupted the fire of the machine gun whenever the propeller blades were in front of the muzzle, therefore no bullets could hit the blades except in hang fire. Eventually the Allies would develop their own device, the Constantinesco interrupter gear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Constantinescu), but not before Fokker's device gave Germany a significant advantage."

"Parceled out to various squadrons as they were built, they became the object of much desire for pilots. They were coined Eindeckers (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_fokker_eI.html) by the German High Command and by mid-1915 they had earned the nickname the 'Fokker Scourge'. Opposition to the Fokkers was light at first, the British were flying the slow B.E.2cs and Maurice Farman (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/farman.html) 'Box Kites' and sought some sort of mutual protection in formation flying. The French employed Morane-Saulnier Parasols (http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~worldwarone/WWI/Airplanes/index.html), Bleriots (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Bleriot/Aero47.htm), Farmans (http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/a_farman.html) and Voisins (http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/voisin.html). Their Caudron bombers (http://www.wwiaviation.com/bombers_allies.shtml) were soon retired to night duty after heavy losses during day raids. None were capable of standing up to the Fokkers, whose highbred pilots would stalk the front."

"As the air war spread, airplanes became significant even when used in small numbers. In 1915, British Short seaplanes began operations from the H.M.S. Ark Royal against the Turks in the Dardanelles. The Italians broke their alliance with Germany and entered the war on the side of the Allies on May 24, 1915 with just under 100 aircraft. The Italians then went on to engage the Austrians in pinprick air battles, primarily with seaplanes. In contrast, the Germans found that their fighters and other aircraft were more effective if grouped in homogeneous units. More than 80 individual sections of aircraft were deployed by the Germans by the end of 1915, including specially designated bombing squadrons. Such expansion demanded the creation of a chain of flying schools, training courses for observers and mechanics, and the establishment of tables or organizations of great size. By 1916, a 14-plane fighter group required 117 people to support it. That still kinda holds true," he turned to the class. "Even nowdays, it takes a lot of effort and resources to field an aerial unit. It's not a cheap or easy process."

"So, the British and French went through a similar evolutionary process," he spoke as he turned back to the chalkboard, "tailored to their national military organizations, national resources and grounded in their respective approaches to warfare. This resulted in deployment doctrine for the aerial service. German fighters depended less on patrols than did their Allied opponents, instead relying on increasingly sophisticated warning systems to analyze threats before pilots launched their aircraft. These tactics were eminently sensible, but German air superiority was at an end by June 1916."

He finally put the chalk down and wandered back toward the desk, leaning against it a bit. "There's a lot more to cover, but I think this is enough for one day, don't you agree?" And his knee was protesting all the time he'd just spent standing. "We'll cover the end of World War I and get into World War II next week. See ya then," he waved a hand, dismissing the class.

By the end of the lecture, once again, Mac's hand was just a little bit tired.

She always managed to take far more notes in this class than in her other one.

Jack's eyes glazed over by the end of the lecture, not because Murdock wasn't entertaining (he was) but that he had a feeling that the professor was a bit long-winded ~~(he was)~~.

Still, his notes were fairly detailed until they turned into drawings and why was there a beagle on a doghouse shooting down planes?

Naomi took down detailed notes.

Yep, he's limpy. Again. Pester him or his doggie.

Don't know about you guys, but I'm learning a lot. :D

And speaking of, have something a bit more current. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081002/ap_on_re_us/fossett_search)

Yes, I'm a dorkgeeknerd.

Yes. Yes you are a dorkgeeknerd. And sorry for any delays, but my cat is pulling a Houston. :D

HAHAHAHAHAHA! I am getting faaaaar too much amusement from this class today. :D

...I just called my cat "Houston." I think I'm grounded. XD
I think the grounding will be delayed as long as there are skritches.

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Class antics.

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Re: Ze Lecture, ze end.

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Ze Lecture.

Ze Lecture, part 1.

Ze Lecture, part 2.

Ze Lecture, ze end.

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Le Prof.

OOC

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