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A hit through the engines, most likely if you can knock off a few blades. Damage the wings enough and they'll stop flying. But these computer things you speak of are down in the E&E or MEC as they like to call it nowadays and even some in the bag bins. Only the displays are up top. Plus there's only a few that might make a difference and as I keep saying, all you need is hydraulics from the RAT and the battery to drive a 757 or 767, at least to land. Look up the 'Gimley Glider' for a reference.
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As Spitfire will no doubt remember, the defenders of Britain in WW2 on occasion would sidle up next to the inbound V1s and gently flip them over with their wings. This would tumble their guidance system and...kersplash...
Um, you're talking about doing this to a cruise missile, and not a 757, aren't you?
And yes, I did know about that, but I didn't realize, until I read a Wikipedia article, that this technique was only very rarely employed.
Wikipedia
When the attacks began in mid-June of 1944 there were fewer than 30 Tempests in 150 Wing to defend against them. Few other aircraft had the low-altitude speed to be effective. Early attempts to intercept V-1s often failed but techniques were rapidly developed. These included the hair-raising method of using the airflow over an interceptor's wing to raise one wing of the Doodlebug, by sliding the wingtip under the V-1's wing and bringing it to within six inches (15 cm) of the lower surface. Done properly, the airflow would tip the V-1's wing up, overriding the buzz bomb's gyros and sending it into an out of control dive. At least three V-1s were destroyed this way. The Tempest wing was built up to over 100 aircraft by September; P-51 Mustangs and Griffon-engined Spitfire XIVs were polished and tuned to make them almost fast enough, and during the short summer nights the Tempests shared defensive duty with Mosquitoes. Specially modified P-47Ms (half their fuel tanks, half their 0.5in {12.7 mm} machine guns, all external fittings, and all their armour plate removed) were also pressed into service against the V-1 menace....
In daylight, V-1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone between London and the coast was declared in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. Between June and mid-August 1944, the handful of Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs...
Next most successful was the Mosquito (428), Spitfire XIV (303), and Mustang, (232). All other types combined added 158. The still-experimental jet-powered Gloster Meteor, which was rushed half-ready into service to fight the V-1s, had ample speed but suffered from a readily-jammed cannon and accounted for only 13.
By mid-August 1944, the threat was all but overcome—not by aircraft but by the sudden arrival of two enormously effective electronic aids for anti-aircraft guns, both developed in the USA by the MIT Rad Lab: radar-based automatic gunlaying...and the proximity fuse. [emphasis added]
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Huh, I didn't know that the Meteor saw action in WWII.
Being rather partial to the Grumman TBM Avenger myself - I've had a chance to help work on one a little bit! - I'll just mention that an RAF Avenger made the first night kill of a cruise missile (a V-1) over the Channel using a radar intercept. I don't remember the citation for this, though.
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Huh, I didn't know that the Meteor saw action in WWII.
It did see action--just not air-to-air combat against a manned aircraft.
Being rather partial to the Grumman TBM Avenger myself - I've had a chance to help work on one a little bit! - I'll just mention that an RAF Avenger made the first night kill of a cruise missile (a V-1) over the Channel using a radar intercept. I don't remember the citation for this, though.
Could this print possibly be of that incident? Also, it would have been a Fleet Air Arm Avenger, rather than an RAF Avenger. Although British naval aviation was merged into the Royal Air Force at the end of World War I, this unfortunate policy decision was reversed in 1937, resulting in the creation of the Fleet Air Arm. See here.
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That could very well be it, and thanks for the correction as to which service.
Ironic trivia note: the last active-duty Avengers were flown by... the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Well, military active duty. A number of Avengers have served in fire suppression although they have been recently phased out there as well. Fortunately, a number of these beasts are still flying in the care of warbird enthusiasts.
A big ol' airplane. Not what the average Joe would think of when you mention "single-engine propellor-driven aircraft".
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Ironic trivia note: the last active-duty Avengers were flown by... the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
Not as ironic as the Israeli Air Force's use of Me-109 variants during the 1948 War.
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and the syrians using german PZIVs against the Israelis
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All that text and no mention of HAARP. What kind of conspiracist do they think they are?
Personally, I think that a time-traveling Martian spacebunny was ingested by the port engine.
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That IS ironic.Originally Posted by SpitfireIX
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The hijackers weren't professional pilots (many airline pilots are ex-military/reservists, at least one is an ex-space shuttle pilot, IIRC) and if a fighter had showed up, probably would have panicked. Even a couple of rounds that hit nothing critical could have spooked them so badly that they crashed the plane (either on purpose or accident).
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One of the things that amazes me is the claim that there was just a round hole and no evidence of the wings. Photos taken from above the site clearly show the impact area of the wings.
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