Somatosensation

Abstract

This chapter discusses the feel of various wartime aircraft types among pilots and other airmen. It explores autopilot use and the somatosensory consequences of various manually initiated airborne manoeuvres. It examines the physiological consequences of various aerial evasion and combat manoeuvres aboard both bombers and fighters. It chronicles aircraft slipstream encounters, flak-burst shockwaves, and the reactions thereby generated among aircrew. It deals with the emotional aftermath of collisions with other aircraft or dropped ordnance. It explores the kinetic consequences for crew members having to fly aboard aircraft that had sustained heavy damage. It details the haptic discomforts in the ground and in the air associated with different climates and seasons, the various means through which these were ameliorated, and the experience of flying through bad weather.