There is a lot of science involved in wake patterns, a branch of fluid dynamics Wake - Wikipedia. The wake formed by a duck was explained by Lord Kelvin who died in 1907. you can see the wakes formed by ducks on a smooth lake when you are much too far away to see the duck itself. A lot of study and practice may have gone into it, but it is obvious as soon as you look down on a smooth sea, there are little "V" shapes all over the place.
FW Condor attacking a ship with engines off - thoughts?
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GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Ages ago, I had a SBD pilot explain to me how they looked for wakes when scouting. They would determine the direction of the ship by comparing the width of the wake:
Wider to the east, narrower to the west - so they'd head westward to investigate.
The Luftwaffe Jabos would do something similar when hunting bombers. After being vectored to a certain area, the contrails would lead them to the fight by heading toward the narrowest end of the track.
Wider to the east, narrower to the west - so they'd head westward to investigate.
The Luftwaffe Jabos would do something similar when hunting bombers. After being vectored to a certain area, the contrails would lead them to the fight by heading toward the narrowest end of the track.
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On the subject of waves...
I am sure there was a known ratio of bow wave to ship length that would enable aircraft to assess the speed of a ship. Cannot think where I saw it but I guess some manual or guidance notes. Coastal Command Review perhaps? Direction was of course obvious and highly visible in the right conditions. At night in some seas there was a phosphorescent wake.
I am sure there was a known ratio of bow wave to ship length that would enable aircraft to assess the speed of a ship. Cannot think where I saw it but I guess some manual or guidance notes. Coastal Command Review perhaps? Direction was of course obvious and highly visible in the right conditions. At night in some seas there was a phosphorescent wake.
