NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
"hack" as a noun
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2019 Feb 18, 13:25 -0800
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2019 Feb 18, 13:25 -0800
Back in November, "hack" as an adjective ("a hack watch") and verb ("hack a watch") were discussed. The word has been used as a noun too. I came across that in an official US Air Force document: AN 01-5EUG-1, Flight Handbook USAF Series B-36H Aircraft, November 1953. Before flight the crew stands in formation at the aircraft for inspection. A diagram in the book shows the correct place for each man. His personal equipment is at his feet and arranged in a specific way, illustrated in a second diagram. The procedure is remarkably formal, perhaps because the operator of this airplane was the notoriously regimented Strategic Air Command. [QUOTE] Crew inspection 1. Give the command, "Attention," and call the roll. 2. Give commands, "Right face," "At ease," and "Inspect parachutes." 3. Give commands, "Attention," "Left face," and "At ease." Check each crew member's displayed equipment for completeness and condition. 4. Read discrepancies noted in Parts II and III of Form 1. 5. Have the navigator give the crew a time "hack." 6. Designate specific crew members for command of the nose, radio, and aft compartments. [END QUOTE] I have seen a video of this roll call. The crew members indicated they had completed the parachute inspection of the man beside them by a slap on the butt. There was no sound in the video, but I saw one man, wearing the insignia of a major, clearly say "ouch" and grin. The time hack was not included in the video. The B-36 had three navigators in the nose compartment. In the forward left corner was the navigator with his plotting table and Loran receiver. Aft on the right was the senior navigator, called the "radar observer," surrounded by the control panels of the bombing and navigation system. Both positions are seen in the 1955 Paramount production "Strategic Air Command," in the part where Jimmy Stewart gets an introductory B-36 flight after being recalled to active duty. He talks with the actor playing the navigator. Aerials for that flight were shot between Texas and Florida. Famed movie pilot Paul Mantz flew the B-25 camera ship for some of the photography, but the view looking down on a B-36 streaming contrails at sunset was photographed from another B-36. It was challenging since the light was perfect for only about a minute. The third man in the nose was the "observer," who helped the navigators and doubled as nose gunner. My 1953 manual shows an astrodome on top of the cockpit. It's part of a hatch which can be opened for emergency escape. Later the B-36 had a flat hatch with a periscopic sextant port.