I don't need too much detail. Just the basics of the controls. Actually, I've written the scene, now. The plane is attacked, the pilot shot up, and my hero has to land the plane - that was the original idea. That's not how it turned out.
The pilot is blinded, so he can still operate the controls. My hero just has to read out the altitude and airspeed, keep an eye on the artificial horizon and make sure the plane's nose stays up, oh and tell the pilot how far he is from the runway. And help him to line up the plane on the approach.
Here's what I have. Comments and suggestions welcome.
“What do I do?” said Kurt.
“You’re doing fine. Just watch our altitude. Make sure I keep her level and make sure our air speed doesn’t drop below 100.”
Felix described the landing procedure in detail. Felix would execute the landing; Kurt would be his eyes. At the end of the lesson, Kurt was less than confident that they would make it down safely. He told Felix how he was feeling.
“It’s a doddle. Don’t worry about it,” said Felix.
They had flown across the water for close to two hours before Kurt saw land ahead and Ashford airfield established contact.
“This is RAF Ashford. Come in Alfa Victor Oscar.”
“This is Alfa Victor Oscar,” Felix replied. “Has Squadron Leader Hazelwood informed you of our situation?”
The modern phonetic alphabet is different from the WW2 variety. And the Brits had their own -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_phonetic_alphabet
“Roger. You have lost an engine and are injured. We will be ready for you here. Please adjust your heading to 035. Wind speed on the ground is five to seven. We have a slight haze. The field is clear for you.”
With Kurt reading out their headings, Felix executed a reasonable turn to the right and placed the plane on the required heading.
The heading direction of the time would have been a little different, but that would complicate the story ( Q -codes. If you want authenticity, look them up, but I wouldn't bother unless you are writing for pilots.) I'd write out the heading as
zero-three-five and give a direction for the wind -
north-westerly at six knots. Nowadays they use numerical bearing for the wind, but they did not do that then. The rest is okay.
“Altitude?”
“900 metres.”
“Air speed?”
“100.”
“Are we level?”
“Yes.”
“We should be reducing altitude.”
“We are. We’re at 850 and dropping.”
“Keep an eye on that. Let me know if it drops too quickly.”
“How quickly is too quickly?”
“50 meters every 3 minutes should be about right.”
Kurt said, “Air speed’s dropping. It’s at 90.”
Felix increased power. “Can you see the airfield yet?”
“Air speed 95. And no. I see land, but no airfield.”
Soon they were flying over land and Kurt could see that the plane was descending steadily. He broke out in a sweat as he relayed the instrument readings to Felix.
“I see the airfield!” said Kurt.
“Are we lined up on a runway?”
“Nearly. We need to move a smidgen to the right.”
“A smidgen.” Felix made a slight adjustment.
“That’s perfect,” said Kurt.
“Altitude and air speed?”
“300 metres and 70.”
Felix increased power.
“Tell me if the nose dips. We need to keep the nose up.”
“Right. Altitude 260 metres, air speed 80.”
“How far to the runway?”
“About another runway.”
“Speed looks good, but you’re coming in a little high,” said the man on the ground.
Felix, used the flaps. Kurt felt the plane braking in mid air.
I can't see anything that would make me cringe in there, but
instead of 'used the flaps' you might say 'extended the flaps' and if you are in Felix's head he would not think braking there, he's probably feel it 'ballooning'. Having said that, ballooning would be an expression only a pilot would know.
By the way, the engine that was shut down would make a huge difference in a blind man's ability to control the machine. Either of the outboards out would make it very difficult for him due to asymmetric thrust. It can be trimmed out easily, but with configuration ( flaps) and power changes it would have to be done accurately, smoothly and very quickly or he'd lose control. With the number two out, he wouldn't have that problem, but he could have a windscreen full of oil if you would like to provide an additional challenge!
Use of meters is correct, by the way. That's what the Germans used til the end of WW2. Meters are still used in a lot of eastern Europe as well as China.
Felix said, “Tell me when we’re over the start of the runway, and tell me when we’re at the level of the tops of the buildings.”
“We’ve just passed the start of the runway,” Kurt shouted.
“How high are we?”
“50 metres.”
“Ignore the altimeter. Look out the window.”
“Tops of the buildings,” said Kurt, gripping the edge of his seat.
“What about now?”
Tops of telegraph poles. Nose dipping.”
Felix lifted the nose and cut the two engines completely. A klaxon sounded.
“What’s that noise?” Kurt shouted.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Felix. “Hold on to your seat.”
The landing was a rough one, but they made it in one piece. Felix applied the brakes, and they came to a halt 20 metres before the end of the runway.
“Good luck,” said the Hurricane Squadron Leader. He made a pass overhead, waggled his wings at them.
“Congratulations!” said the air traffic controller. “Welcome home.”
This is a little more difficult for me to swallow. I think a better way to get them on the ground in one piece would be for felix to tell Kurt this: Right, I want the runway about ten centimetres up the windscreen during our approach. I want you to mark that spot in your head and ten me I need to go 'up' or 'down'. Then I want you to call out the airspeed. If it stays at eighty, say nothing. For heading, say left, right, or stop if I am on the money."
Over the end of the runway, he would squeezel the throttles back a few inches and level the nose and then hold it there until touchdown. Just yanking the stick fully back could be very messy. During the flare the rate of adjustment to get it right is rapid and it would be impossible for Kurt to relay it quickly enough even if he knew what he was supposed to be looking for.
A WW2 era JU 52 would not have a stall warning system. Preserved examples may have, but in WW2, definitely not.
By the way, I used to fly DC3s for a living as well as C-45s. If I got stuck like these guys this is what I would do.
There was a B 24 that got shot up in the Pacific and the pilot was blinded. The FO was killed and the flighty engineer had to talk the blind pilot back to base. That story is told in a book called 'Log of the Liberators'
Good luck with this. You can PM me if you have any questions.
