How to do a flip

[Gilly]

Originally Posted by bobbysocks

that's exactly my point! a lot of planes went from concept to prototype within a scant few months and then into full production not too far from that. think of today and what has to happen for a plane to be "accepted" and "approved" by governments. they are almost obsolete by the end of the process. the boys that flew them didnt have 4 years of college or have a specific level of scholastic education ( yes they did have to master an acceptable level of FLIGHT training/education). i totally understand that aircraft are severely more complicated in this era..... but that doesnt necessarily mean they are better pilots.... in fact a college professor once told me, " the smarter we make machines the stupider become". this may be an overstatement but i do believe there is a hint of truth to it. most fighter aircraft now have 2 people doing what one did before. one flies the plane and the other operates the weapons systems.... that in itself is a commentary. yeah i believe the pilots then were better...and given their age... even more so. and like i said....all nationalities.

lest we also forget that today's planes also have sophisticated computer systems that aid the pilot in whatever they are doing and wouldn't fly without them. Back in WWII they were literally connected to the control surfaces by physical wires with no back up if they messed up.