Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2021 May 28

= May 28 =

WW1 aircraft
Is it true that fighter pilots in World War 1 could only fly on an empty stomach? 2601:646:8A01:B180:D883:8633:2575:56ED (talk) 03:46, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
 * It might have been a good idea. But where did you see that? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:15, 28 May 2021 (UTC)


 * It was said of French fighter ace Charles Nungesser, that "he seemed more resilient than many other aces; his nerves were fine. He never had the shakes and never threw up his breakfast".
 * A regular task of Western Front fighter squadrons was the "dawn patrol", the time of day when an enemy attack was most likely. I imagine that breakfast would be served afterwards, especially as fighter pilots were notorious for late-night alcohol-fuelled mess parties. Canadian ace Billy Bishop once entertained the famously taciturn Lord Trenchard by drunkenly dancing on top of a piano at a party which ended at 3 am and was followed by a dawn patrol. Ref: No Empty Chairs (2012) p. 187. Alansplodge (talk) 11:50, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
 * "At first light of day a group of sleepy-eyed boys would assemble at the airfield for the dawn patrol. Two hours later they would sit down to breakfast, studiously ignoring the empty chairs in which their mates had laughed and chattered the night before". The Early Eagles (1962) p. 116. Alansplodge (talk) 12:41, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Actually, I was thinking of another reason besides just the motion sickness from dogfighting -- the reason I specifically asked about World War 1 is because most fighters in that war had open cockpits and were powered by rotary engines like the Gnome Monosoupape, whose rotation around the fixed crankshaft, in addition to having weird effects on the plane's turning ability, also sprayed out large amounts of the castor oil used as lubricant directly onto the pilot -- and if said pilot tried to fly after having eaten, you could probably guess the results! 2601:646:8A01:B180:1DE2:D2F6:E6BE:D56F (talk) 10:31, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Ah yes. Sir Arthur Coningham said of the SE5a fighter (which had an in-line engine): "The engine was exceptionally silent and there was little of that nauseating smell of castor oil that is so apt to affect a pilot endowed with a weak stomach". So perhaps some could tolerate it better than others.
 * Another downside: "However, unburned castor oil from the engine still tended to be hurled into the pilot’s face, often having an unfortunate laxative effect on the pilot".
 * Alansplodge (talk) 11:14, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

I think the most likely explanation is that while some pilots might have flown on an empty stomach some of the time it is highly unlikely that there was an order to aircrew prohibiting them from flying within x hours of eating a substantial meal. It is feasible that such an order pertaining to alcohol was issued, but not food. If certain pilots chose to abstain from flying within x hours of eating, it is likely to have been based more on superstition than science. Dolphin ( t ) 12:44, 1 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Or more likely on personal experience, given what has been said above about rotary engines and castor oil. 2601:646:8A01:B180:F128:3233:CEB5:8B15 (talk) 02:00, 2 June 2021 (UTC)