30,000 feet up and they expect to be protected by a helmet upon crashing.
I know it protects them from the bumps within the plane during sharp turns.
But the imagery of crashing plane and walking away strikes me as funny.
Seinfeld: why wear a helmet when skydiving?
Can you (almost) make it?
Not any better than my Dad’s leather helmet during WW II in a B-24.
Most WWI plames maxed out at less than 110 mph with a min stall speed around 45 mph and top altitude was less than 8,000 feet. It wasn’t until the end of the war planes could hit 150 mph in a dive.
The rotary engines were 2 strokes (with off/on for a throttle) so the pilots were soaked in oil, while the gas tank was gravity feed right above them, so and burning to death was way more likely than a head injury.
I image it was more about protection against the elements and the spray of oil coming off the Bi-planes engines which was substantial.
Like wearing leather helmets in a tank was more about bumping your head on hard metal surface’s than shedding flying shrapnel.