Totally agree JF. For instance the way we survive a bad landing or even a belly landing is over-protective. Wheels up would at best give bad bruising to the pilot shoulders and would usually break his nose on the gunsight (There is footage of a PR Spitfire landing wheels up from a mission but he was fine because the PR had no guns!). When they nose over the pilot is often injured, usually trapped and doused in petrol with a grave risk of fire. Heavy landings could easily cause spinal injuries and improper bailout often led to the pilot hitting the airframe - Hans Joachim Marseille was killed this way, the P51 Big Beautiful Doll which crashed at Duxford in 2011 injured the pilots legs on the tail as he bailed out - it would make people try to get out properly, canopy, half roll, forward stick and out. (can't really do harneess, oxygen and RT connection)
If you died on bad landings that would improve landing quality I am sure!
Last edited by Osprey; 08-09-2012 at 11:16 AM.
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