WWII Fighter Pilot Heights

I was surprised to see that F/O Rowland Ward, pilot of Lancaster ME453 of 467 squadron RAAF was only 5’5″ tall, weighing in at 8st 3lbs. As a Lanc flight engineer recently said to me, they were easy to fly but not “fly by wire”!
Max Williams
Portland

I am pretty sure that the late Raymond Baxter OBE was way above 6′ tall.
Cannot find the exact height of him yet.

Brian.

Sgt Marmaduke Ridley, killed August 26, 1940, serving with 616 Squadron, was 5 ft 1 ins. Photo courtesy William Walker.

Best Wishes.
Robert.

LoL…

TRUSCOTT, KEITH WILLIAM (1916-1943), Australian Rules footballer and air force officer, was born on 17 May 1916 at Prahran, Melbourne, second child of William Edward Truscott, wickerworker, and his wife Maude Mabel, née Powell, both Victorian born. Keith was educated at Melbourne High School, where he captained the first XI and the first XVIII, and proved a good scholar. He practised as a student-teacher at Spensley Street State School, Clifton Hill, in 1935-36 before working as a clerk with W. Angliss & Co. Pty Ltd, at Footscray. A powerfully built man, 5 ft 9 ins (175 cm) tall and 12 st. 13 lb. (82 kg) in weight, he had auburn hair and dark grey eyes.

You know us Aussies with our yarns…..:D Knew he was a big bloke…Widthways.Yes just finished reading the book “Milne Bay 1942” by Clive Barker and Greg Knight and Bluey is featured well in it.Still a stocky guy in a narrow Spit is still impressive.;)

USAAF ace Ernie Fiebelkorn was a pretty tall drink of water:

http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/6940/fiebelkorn.html

Wasn,t Bluey Truscott about 6’4″?And built like a brick outhouse to boot.:eek:

TRUSCOTT, KEITH WILLIAM (1916-1943), Australian Rules footballer and air force officer, was born on 17 May 1916 at Prahran, Melbourne, second child of William Edward Truscott, wickerworker, and his wife Maude Mabel, née Powell, both Victorian born. Keith was educated at Melbourne High School, where he captained the first XI and the first XVIII, and proved a good scholar. He practised as a student-teacher at Spensley Street State School, Clifton Hill, in 1935-36 before working as a clerk with W. Angliss & Co. Pty Ltd, at Footscray. A powerfully built man, 5 ft 9 ins (175 cm) tall and 12 st. 13 lb. (82 kg) in weight, he had auburn hair and dark grey eyes.

I wonder how tall Mutt Summers was. When you see the film of him flying the Spitfire prototype for the first time, he has the canopy open all the way and his head protrudes above the windscreen height by several inches. With the flat canopy of that prototype he’d never have gotten it shut without a serious stoop and hunch.

Can’t have been many taller than Roald Dahl – I think he flew Gladiators and Hurricanes and was 6′ 6″!

And a champion AFL player

Wasn,t Bluey Truscott about 6’4″?And built like a brick outhouse to boot.:eek:

Many years ago (in the 70s, early 80s) there was an article by the tallest 1950s fighter pilot in the RAF in one of the RAF Yearbooks, with cartoon illustrations – one showing him with his head ‘stuck out’ of the top of a Meteor. I think he’d transitioned to the post-war RAuxAF, and had flown, maybe Spitfire XIVs during the war. That magazine’s long gone. Anyone?

I don’t know if it was ever policy, but I think taller Commonwealth pilots would often get posted to larger aircraft – plenty of headroom in a Sunderland.

As to personal experience, I’ve fitted in a fair number of W.W.II types myself, at 6’4″ but they’ve often been a tight squeeze – not so much by headroom but all dimensions, when trying to move about in the aircraft. I take my hat off to the turret gunners, particularly.

My old boss was a P-40 pilot with the Free Dutch AF, whe came in at about 6’2″ later transitioning to P-51s( said those were a bit tight to fit in. It helps to be big when muscling a heavy warbird in High-G combat. Of course when he and another large friend took a Cub for a romp in Australia, maxing out the poor things limit, he got in trouble when he took it up a blind canyon and ran out of air space. Too much size in an airframe is not a good thing.

One for the B-17 man! I have seen a maximum crew load on the side of the A/C stating 1200 lbs. At a 10 man crew, if my math is working, leaves only 120 per crew man! Is that weight load mearly a suggestion? I know the ball turret operator had to be small!!!

Oh…and when I said Mini’s….I meant the car…

Honest:D 😀

Steve

Hi Dave;

In several types I was (including the Spitfire), but I admit that in the 109, I wasn’t sitting on a parachute pack or cushion. I found the lack of shoulder space quite interesting though as opposed to the headroom issue. I guess I would have had to have left the parachute behind to fly a 109. However, being tall, I have developed the knack of having to squeeze into small spaces…such as girlfriends Mini’s in the past…:D

Steve

Steve (RAFRochford),

Were you sitting on a parachute in those aircraft though? That would elevate a person a six inches or so I’d think.

Hi;

From the opposite end of the spectrum….

I’ve read that Flying Officer Robert Dafforn of 501 Squadron was 6′ 6″ tall, and this is very apparent in the few photographs of him with other pilots of 501.

Also, wasn’t there a pilot with 92 Squadron mentioned in Geoffrey Wellum’s book who was in the region of 6’5″ tall….I think his first name was Sebastian..maybe? Public school boy type and rugger player. Don’t have my copy of the book at hand to reference.

And looking at the photograph of Squadron Leader Mickey Rook leaning on the wingtip of his Spitfire Vb Trop in Tunisia, he too must easily have been in the 6’6″ range.

I’m 6’5″ myself and sat in a fair few WW2 types with the lid shut, and never really noticed the cramped cockpit conditions often mentioned, even with the 109. Mind you, the Chipmunk was a sod to get in and out of!!:D

Steve

A picture of Keogh here: http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/eagles/eagle1.htm

Reference (unchecked!) to his height here:
http://henrykisor.com/blog/category/aviation/

Adrian

Another shortie was Eric ‘sawn-off’ Lock who was, according to some accounts, the second highest scorer in the Battle of Britain. He needed three cushions on his chute to see adequately out of his Spit. Lockie went missing on a fighter sweep in 1942.

Interesting stuff, thanks Ross and Adrian

Lacking books to hand to check things like spelling, I believe that American volunteer in the RAF “Shorty” Keogh (or Keown?) was 4′ 10″ tall. A search might turn him up, as I’m sure we’ve discussed him before. Pre-war he’d done parachute stunts for paying audiences. IIRC killed when his plane flew into the channel.

Probably very handy under high-G!

Adrian

Disadvantage

Hi Dave,

A short pilot was the cause of at least two Coastal Command Losses.

10/05/40
235 Sqn
Blenheim IV
N6193
LA-N

P/O R L Patterson
Lt Ogilvie RN
LAC A G Smith

Op: Recce, RAF Bircham Newton, Took off 1930.

Night mission to the coast of Holland from Texel to Borkum. The accident was attributed to the pilot being short of stature, encumbered by his Mae west, being unable to operate the fuel cocks resulting in an engine failure. P/O Patterson believed that there was insufficient fuel in the tank of the live engine to remain airborne while he manually pumped down the u/c and flaps so he bellylanded at 22:30 hrs, the aircraft catching fire in the crash after the u/c collapsed.

18/12/43
236 Sqn
Beaufighter X
LX858
P

F/O M G Seelly
Sgt Owen

Training, RAF North Coates

Undershot and ditched into mud flats after starboard engine failure during evasive action on a fighter affiliation 2 miles north of North Coates at 12:05 hrs.

The court of inquiry suggested that as the pilot was short of stature he had difficulty in controlling this type of aircraft and would be best employed on a different type.

Regards
Ross