Do you think they could literally smell the flak?

[Les]

Interesting read, swore out loud when he said how low he pulled out of that dive.

I have little doubt the flak could be smelled under the right conditions. It just makes sense that if air was getting into your plane, and the flak residue was in the air, there it'd be. If there was enough of it and you flew through it the only reason I can think why you wouldn't smell it is if there was some even stronger smell closer to you. As I imagine there often would have been. Poor buggers.

I too have a vague sense of having read or heard about bomber crews noting the smell of the flak they were flying through, but I can more clearly remember reading about or seeing a video in which a modern day A-10 (?) pilot mentioned the smell from his own guns he was firing on strafing runs. Admittedly those things spew out a lot of fire, but I think it's a good indication that if a pilot of a modern aircraft can smell that, pilots flying through flak barrages could probably smell what was outside in the air as well.

Anyway, thanks for the link to the story, it's not an aspect of the war that one's reminded of very often, especially not from the point of view of someone who was actually there taking part in it.

[Strike]

I read somewhere a Mustang pilot dipped down over berlin to pursue a german fighter towards the end of the war, he noted he could smell the stench of dead bodies from the devastated city. Can't find the reference, might have actually read it in a book.

I think it's quite obvious that if an aircraft uses ram-air or outside air it would be noteable. As long as the crew keeps their masks on, they should be fed by the oxygen tanks, which, unless someone at the re-fill station is doing a practical joke, should smell like air. If a bomber dropped to lower level, i still believe that the dominant smell would be of aviation gas or fuel. Distinguishing cordite smell from gas/fuel is hard. They don't smell the same at all, but the fuel sure dampens your smelling-sense, at least JP-8 does it :p

My jet once had a small electrical fire and I didn't smell it until after shutdown. Turned out some wires had short-circuited, arcing and caused the isolator to burn, releasing a smoke-puff of foul smelling burnt plastic.

[SpecialCake]

Oh but don't you become so addicted to that smell of aviation fuel?


YEAH OUR GAS HAS LEAD IN IT, SO WHAT?

I remember watching a documentary where bomber crew said that they could smell the cordite from the flak. How those young lads got into those aircraft every night is beyond belief.

[SQB]

Originally Posted by SpecialCake

Oh but don't you become so addicted to that smell of aviation fuel?


YEAH OUR GAS HAS LEAD IN IT, SO WHAT?

mmm, mmm. Put it in a can and spray it around the house

[Feathered_IV]

A Typhoon pilot at Falaise mentioned that the smell of dead bodies was very distinct as he flew sorties in the area. An Il-2 pilot who strafed a troop column also said that his aircraft had large quantities of blood, flesh and bits of uniform stuck to it afterwards.

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by SpecialCake

Oh but don't you become so addicted to that smell of aviation fuel?


YEAH OUR GAS HAS LEAD IN IT, SO WHAT?

I am curious if your name has a connection to pipe tobacco, sometimes referred to as special cake.

[SpecialCake]

None. I used to be into drugs and having the initials KK, always went by SpecialK. Having grown out of that and not wanting to be identified as such, I found Special Cake to be an appropriately similiar, and hilarious replacement.


I have never heard of such a thing. To the Googlenator!

[Novotny]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8dBo-GcrXU

[mazex]

When I learnt to fly gliders many years ago there was a crematorium close to the field with a rather high smoke stack. The days when it was in use you cloud get a weak thermal close to the downwind sector flying at 200-400 meters and a distinctive smell of burnt hair could be noticed... Really unpleasant but I'm sure the stories from the pilots talking about the smell of corpses is true when flying low with mask off.