Landing the SSW's Widowmaker

[History 63]

9 hours ago, vgbaron said:

With the number of female pilots in the military increasing, they may want to come up with a gender neutral name - widow maker doesn't cut it, widowermaker sounds dumb - any suggestions??

Deleted

Edited June 6 by History

[History 63]

4 hours ago, Mike A said:

Flying coffin is also used.

This nickname also goes to Brewster.

(In case someone is asking what "Brewster" is)


 

[Mike A 356]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_coffin
 

[History 63]

1 hour ago, Mike A said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_coffin
 

I didn't know it is a generic name for multiple planes. Thank you 

[Lord Farringdon 609]

11 hours ago, vgbaron said:

With the number of female pilots in the military increasing, they may want to come up with a gender neutral name - widow maker doesn't cut it, widowermaker sounds dumb - any suggestions??

No need to make up a word up when one already exists:  

A women who loses her spouse and doesn't remarry is a Widow.

A man who loses his spouse and doesn't remarry is a Widower. The term is legal but not as widely used since many men do tend to remarry while many women don't. 

The gender neutral term is Widowed. 

So the F104 could be renamed the Widowed Maker. However, my guess would be that women never flew the F-104 or if they did they were never married or if they were they never died in an F-104 accident. So, along with a number of other older aircraft , and in the context of the times, it can probably still be safely called the Widow Maker and not stray too far from the truth. 

 

But FWIW, if you are looking to buy a farm then,  you need to Fly the F-104 "Farm Salesman".   😁

 

PS: Sorry OP. I don't have a clue how to the land the Starfighter. 

 

Cheers

Terry

 

 

Edited June 6 by Lord Farringdon

[Bernard Ducret 807]

1 hour ago, Lord Farringdon said:

my guess would be that women never flew the F-104

For the sake of an accurate record Terry, at least one did Jacqueline Cochran. She was married to Floyd Odium, and died at 74, obviously not in a F104 cockpit. So one of your assertions is correct!

As to landing an F104, simply looking at the thickness of the wing - extrados vs intrados (razor shape), it shows that one cannot grease a landing without eating a good length of runway (hence the parachute) or be too slow on short final with the risk of stalling. So yes the OP is right as is Lars, "aircraft carrier" landing is better than butter.

[Fielder 3,871]

Instead of widow maker, how about Acme?

[Fielder 3,871]

[jcomm 6,117]

13 hours ago, vgbaron said:

With the number of female pilots in the military increasing, they may want to come up with a gender neutral name - widow maker doesn't cut it, widowermaker sounds dumb - any suggestions??

🤣

[Lord Farringdon 609]

15 minutes ago, Bernard Ducret said:

For the sake of an accurate record Terry, at least one did Jacqueline Cochran. She was married to Floyd Odium, and died at 74, obviously not in a F104 cockpit. So one of your assertions is correct!

 

Phew! Just scraped in! 👍

Thanks @Bernard Ducret for that interesting link reference Jacqueline Cochran. I am surprised by how many early aviatrix there have been and the extraordinary feats they have done at a time when the patriarchal society limited their aviation opportunities and advancement.  The only ceilings some of them seemed to come up against were the limitations of the airframes they were flying!. The famous Amelia Earhart and my own less famous Jean Batten are a couple of cases in point. While Amelia Earhart was the first woman to conduct a solo transatlantic flight in 1932 in her Lockheed Vega 5B. Jean Batten conducted the same feat, but faster in 1935 in her Percival gull monoplane. Both women went on to complete extraordinary solo flights. In 1935 Amelia was the first aviator to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, CA. While in 1936 Jean flew her Gull from England to New Zealand, covering the distance in a little over 11 days, an absolute record for 44 years! 

As we all know Amelia tragically went missing on her round the world record attempt and her story remains eternally captivating. Meanwhile, Jean* died a pauper in obscurity in Spain. In her Wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Batten, Batten is considered to be New Zealand's most notable aviator and a better pilot than her contemporaries Amy Johnson and Amelia Earhart, particularly for navigation.

I greatly admire these women who not only faced the many dangers and unknowns of early aviation, but who in their pursuit of aviation firsts had to press past a society not given to creating level playing fields for women. I'll definitely be adding Jacqueline Cochran to my list of extraordinary aviatrix...(or  should that be women aviators?)

 

* In a belated recognition of Jean Battens aviation heroism, the Auckland International Airport terminal was named Jean Batten Terminal in her honour. A bronze statue of Batten was unveiled at the airport in November 1989, and the Percival Gull in which she made the first solo trip from England to New Zealand in 1936 is displayed in the terminal.

 

 Cheers

 

Terry      

[History 63]

13 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

This guy seems to have mastered the technique......

 

That my friend... is insane... 🫠

[sloppysmusic 393]

16 hours ago, vgbaron said:

With the number of female pilots in the military increasing, they may want to come up with a gender neutral name - widow maker doesn't cut it, widowermaker sounds dumb - any suggestions??

Daisy Pusher? Meh too early in the day for me. 

[sloppysmusic 393]

16 hours ago, vgbaron said:

With the number of female pilots in the military increasing, they may want to come up with a gender neutral name - widow maker doesn't cut it, widowermaker sounds dumb - any suggestions??

Daisy Pusher? Meh too early in the day for me. 

Edited June 6 by sloppysmusic
Ahh the double post issue strikes again!

[History 63]

23 minutes ago, sloppysmusic said:

Daisy Pusher? Meh too early in the day for me. 

😅🙃