
How to Fly the B-25 Mitchell Bomber (1944) [video] - geoka9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YQmkjpP6q8
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akovaski
I quite like the switching between the fuel level displays (6:02).
[https://youtu.be/-YQmkjpP6q8?t=362](https://youtu.be/-YQmkjpP6q8?t=362)

~~~
Aloha
I did too - I've never seen an analog meter like that before - it surprised
me.

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dpifke
As a pilot who flies "modern" aircraft, this didn't feel much different than
the training & procedures we use today.

I wonder if future spacecraft pilots will be saying the same thing in 75 years
when "old SpaceX training videos" surface, or if everything will be automated
by then and pilots will have gone the way of lighthouse keepers.

~~~
mattrp
I’m often reminded of that scene in the right stuff where Glenn and Co demand
a window... and a hatch. The “conspiracy” against pilots isn’t a new one! :)

~~~
Gibbon1
I remember reading in a biography that the first test 'pilots' were dismayed
that the rockets didn't have a throttle.

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mmrezaie
I good pilot does this or that this or that way. I cannot imagine how the
instructor could have put it in a better way of saying, this is the
right/suggested way. Also, for some reason the guys voice is just right!
Watching these videos may be my new guilty pleasure!

~~~
Aardwolf
"A good pilot starts his right engine first"

It would at least have been nice to say why that is though. My guess: because
the support people outside expect that one first?

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sandworm101
It depends on the aircraft. It started out as SOP, but after a while it became
expected practice. A few airframes require the right to be started first,
either because the left doesn't have an electric starter or because various
power devices are attached to the right but not the left, common in
multiengine helicopters.

Passengers and crew traditionally enter from doors on the left of an aircraft.
So in many situations the right engine is kept running while the left is
shutdown to accommodate passenger entry. You wouldn't start left, then right,
only to shutdown left to board pax.

As for safety, one would never start an engine if it would be unsafe to start
a different engine. You wouldn't start the right while someone was working
around the left. A single crossed wire or slip of the finger is too high a
risk to take.

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inamberclad
One of the things I've never found an explanation for is the voice these guys
use on the radio. Where did it come from?

The 'airline pilot' voice we all use these days comes from Chuck Yeager, and
everyone trying to sound cool, but these guys sound always sound like they're
telephoning the front desk.

~~~
hackerbabz
I've heard that that is apocryphal. The airline pilot drawl was a consequence
of early voice activated microphones. They would stretch out the first
syllable to wait for the mic to turn on.

I do not know if this is true.

~~~
inamberclad
Not particularly - in my experience, the squelch acts pretty quick and as long
as its set right, you don't need to think about it.

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SpaceInvader
"B25 is not designed for digging tunnels." Gread old fashioned humour, I miss
such things :)))

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JshWright
The B-26 version is great as well (especially the acting)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuTOFcqGPys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuTOFcqGPys)

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loser777
The most impressive thing to me is that this video, in all of its detail, only
covers how to get the plane off the ground and back down---it doesn't even
scratch the surface of where to go or how to tell where you are. Navigating
planes of this era by dead reckoning seems terrifying.

~~~
perilunar
It wasn't just dead reckoning - they had RDF (radio direction finder) since
the 30s, and dedicated navigators / radio operators on board.

But even without radio, why is it terrifying? Navigating by dead reckoning is
pretty straight forward in good weather.

Edit: they also used celestial navigation. Many planes (until the 60s?) had
astrodomes for the navigators.

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mstade
I found this linked video about using 747s as aircraft carriers quite
interesting as well:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=drnxZlS9gyw](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=drnxZlS9gyw)

~~~
jayrot
I discovered the "Mustard" channel a little while ago. Highly recommended!

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dsfyu404ed
The thing I like about this video is that even though the recipient is just a
pilot it still tells the "why" behind most of the stuff. A modern video would
just say "do X because we told you to and we know what's right" because giving
people the minimum information needed to do their jobs is more popular at
present.

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Aardwolf
Why don't we get training videos with such optimistic music and voices these
days anymore? :)

~~~
rootusrootus
I wonder if part of it was the transatlantic style of speech that was the norm
for movies & news of the era.

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nyolfen
there are tons of cool ww2-era training films on yt, one of my favorite things
to put on in the background

~~~
CamperBob2
There used to be a channel devoted entirely to stuff like this, run by a guy
named Jeff Quitney. YouTube recently yanked his account for reasons they
(apparently) didn't disclose, even though he (apparently) had no copyright
strikes at all, and wasn't breaking any other rules as far as I could tell.

Sadly, unlike some of the more popular YouTubers, he was unable to raise
enough of a shitstorm on social media to draw the attention of anyone at
Google who could look into it.

His channel is now on Vimeo at
[https://vimeo.com/jeffquitney](https://vimeo.com/jeffquitney) . Even though
Vimeo sucks in numerous ways compared to YouTube -- no captions, no variable
speed, no user comments -- they do seem to provide a valuable refuge for
victims of the Google star chamber. It's well worth checking out for those who
like this sort of thing.

~~~
inverters
One gets the sense that YouTube is downranking and filtering content according
to a branding effort that projects a certain image. Thus, anything in conflict
with the desired YouTube brand (especially if not feeding the financial flow),
regardless of real trends, gets smothered.

HN actually operates the same way, albeit as an aggregator, and thus with
greater subtlety.

~~~
dang
How is it that you're saying HN operates?

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killjoywashere
This would be good stock for some trip-hop.

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5580
This is awesome, thanks for posting!

~~~
angel_j
This is just terrible.

