Dilbert Dunker

The Dilbert Dunker is a device for training pilots on how to correctly escape a submerged plane.

It was invented by Wilfred Kaneb, a nautical engineer, during World War II.

The device was featured in the 1982 film, An Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger.

The word Dilbert is not listed in the dictionary although the term is used in the United States Navy to define a person who is slow witted and incapable of getting things done correctly. It is combined with "dunker" because a mockup cockpit (SNJ in the 40's and 50's)is sent down a 45 degree rail from a high stand at the deep end of the training pool, and at the end of the run under water it flips inverted to simulate a water ditching. The preflight student must detatch the communication wire from the helmet, release the seat and shoulder harness, dive still deeper and swim away from the "aircraft" at a 45 degree angle to the surface for the purpose of assuming that the water around an actual situation has burning fuel on the waters surface.

Richard H. Cheney, Pensacola Preflight Class 39-55