Posted on 04/12/2007 11:46:29 AM PDT by RDTF
The Kremlin has vetoed a move to launch a fresh investigation into the death of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, despite aviation specialists' belief that they have unravelled one of the 20th century's greatest enigmas.
The rebuff comes as Russians celebrate Cosmonauts' Day today, the anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight around the Earth on 12 April 1961. That foray, which lasted just 68 minutes, was a milestone in the space race between the Soviet Union and the US. But Gagarin was destined to a short, controversial life.
On 27 March 1968, Gagarin died in a mysterious plane crash while on a routine training mission in a MiG-15 with his flight instructor, Vladimir Serugin, just outside Moscow.
The results of the official investigation that followed were hypothetical and did not explain exactly what happened and why.
Investigators were only able to conclude that "the most probable cause" of his death was a sudden in-flight manoeuvre that sent the MiG into a nosedive from which it was impossible to recover.
They suggested that the pilots had been forced to swerve sharply to avoid a collision with a weather balloon or to avoid cloud cover.
The vague nature of the commission's findings led some experts to question Gagarin's competence as a pilot and created an information vacuum that has since spawned endless conspiracy theories.
(Excerpt) Read more at belfasttelegraph.co.uk ...
Surprising.
Short stature is beneficial in flying fighter jets. Supposedly, they can withstand higher G-forces.
Wasn’t it in Israel that a report on this came out?
Huh
I heard he dies from radiation poisoning due to his work on the (now cancelled) atomic rocket motor to be used for a moon shot.
But, I could be wrong.
The maintenance was horrible resulting in very low availability rates. The pneumatic systems were designed for Arctic operations so ethyl alcohol was the fluid used. This added to the drunkedness of the maintenance personnel and exacerbated the poor flying conditions of these aircraft.
What killed Gagarin? All of the above!
Wait, he was in a MIG...don’t they drop out of the sky from time to time? Or is that only at air shows?
That explains Tom Cruise..........
Maybe they were looking for someone as short as Khrushchev.
Are Russians normally that short? Or were they picked for their height?..........
Short stature was useful for fighters before jets. It became even more useful when the ejection seat was invented.....
Short stature was useful for fighters before jets. It became even more useful when the ejection seat was invented.....
In the F16 the pilot sits in a reclined position to better enable him to withstand G-Forces.
Russian tankers were also very short due to the low silouette of the typical Russian tank & their cramped interiors.
There's a story about Ted Williams (yes that Ted Williams) returning from a mission (he was a Marine fighter pilot in Korea) with a hydraulic leak. He was going to eject but he remembered that the windscreen fairing would probably smash his knees (because he was over 6ft tall). He opted to stay with the plane & landed safely. Ted returned to finish his career with the Boston Red Sox.
I used to work with a very tall Air Force veteran. He said that in an ejection, if the canopy did not open automatically, there was a tool attached to the back of the seat that was supposed to break the canopy. However, the top of his head was higher than the top of the tool.
If Yuri got into a supersonic dive, there would be no way to pull out, and possibly no way to eject at that high speed.
There are a lot of very tall Russians. Some of their leaders have been very short.
You’re correct but its not a tool as such, but the top of the ejection slide has a heavy metal end, like a hammer, that will break through the canopy. At least, that’s the theory. Years ago Tactial Air Command (TAC) produced a flight safety magazine called TACATTACK. At the end of each issue were some statistics about flight accidents. One I will always remember was Number of ejections followed by Number of succesful ejections. Usually, the numbers were not the same.
With my 5’8”, I could take 6-7G in a non-reclined seat without G-suit and no blackout. My IPs didn’t believe me and tested me... LOL. Strong legs and strong heart, I guess.
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