Pylon turn

A pylon turn is a flight maneuver in which an aircraft banks into a circular turn around a fixed spot on the ground. This maneuver originated early in the 20th century in air racing and was first used in combat in 1964 during the Vietnam War.

Racing

The pylon turn was originally used in air racing, where courses were set up with pylons to mark a location on the ground, and the planes would have to turn around at that point before returning to the airstrip.

Delivery

This maneuver can be used to deliver messages or packages by plane without needing to land. In 1955, Nate Saint, a Christian missionary who had served in World War II as a pilot for the United States Air Force, used a bucket on a line to give gifts to the Huaorani people of Ecuador. He would circle a spot near the village in such a way that the bucket would remain stationary on the ground, and devised a mechanism allowing him to release the bucket. Some of these gifts included an aluminum kettle and machetes, and after the third flight they began calling out friendly messages in the Huao language. The Huaorani responded by tying their own gifts to the line and building platforms to make the exchanges easier. Saint was later speared to death along with the four other missionaries who had been working with him. The attack appears to have been a surprise, and it is thought that it began as a seemingly friendly meeting. Some mail services have used the same technique to deliver mail where there are no available landing strips.

Combat use

The first combat use of the pylon turn was in the Vietnam War in 1964, with the development of the AC-47 Spooky gunship, which could fire miniguns mounted on the left side of the aircraft as the pilot circled the target. Later, the more advanced Lockheed AC-130 was used in the same way. Using this maneuver allowed pilots to continuously and efficiently fire at a stationary target for an extended period of time, without needing to make several passes. Another huge advantage of pylon turns was that the gunfire was accurate enough to be used even in close proximity to friendly troops, which had never before been possible in air power.

See also

* Pylon
* Air racing
* Nate Saint
* AC-47 Spooky
* Fairchild AC-119
* Lockheed AC-130

External links

* [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Pylon%20turn Article at Everything2.com]
* [http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/4670.htm Nate Saint biographical sketch]