The Doolittle Raid launched longer-range bombers from US carriers to hit Japan and they were lightened up to the max (dumped their guns and anything else non-essential) and planned from the get-go to ditch over China because flying back would be impossible.

Being able to fly a bomber halfway across the World was beyond WW2 tech.

[–] stankmut@lemmy.world 25 points 6 months ago

If I were launching an air raid on a flat earth, I'd have the planes fly over the edge and under the earth. They wouldn't be able to see you coming.

[–] ToucheGoodSir@lemy.lol 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That is some brutal tenacity for those kamikaze pilots to fly all that way just to say "AYYO FUCK THIS SHIP IN PARTICULAR"

[–] stsquad@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago

I don't think Kamikaze's came about until much later in the war. I'm sure a few heavily damaged planes went down taking targets with them though.

[–] zakobjoa@lemmy.world 19 points 6 months ago

It's a seaplane, dummy.

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 18 points 6 months ago

Round Earth is a lie, and so are aircraft carriers.

[–] MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 16 points 6 months ago

I mean, not flying over other countries actually makes sense in this case because we’re talking about military aircraft. Flying those into another country’s airspace could be considered an act of war.

[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 14 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Wouldnt that be the line it would fly actually? If you go from one side of the earth to the other its fastest over the poles or something no? Or because of map projections? Idk that much about maps.

[–] Sequentialsilence@lemmy.world 34 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Ignoring the fact that you would go east to reach Hawaii from Japan, because it’s in the northern hemisphere, it would actually curve up not down, and because both japan and Hawaii are close-ish to the equator the curve would be relatively flat.

Fun fact because every country charges you for every nautical mile flown in their airspace, you will actually get lines that zigzag and are less fuel efficient because they are paying less for airspace miles. Example. If you fly from Chicago to Paris or Dubai, you don’t actually head east first, you first head northeast into Canadian airspace and bypass the New England area because Canadian airspace is cheaper than U.S. airspace.

[–] bleistift2@feddit.de 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Isn’t that also the shorter route, because you’re circling the Earth where it has less circumference?

Also the North Atlantic Tracks are there. Might also play a role.

Image of the North Atlantic Tracks

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

it’s mathematically provable that the shortest path between any two points on a sphere will be given by a so-called “great circle”. (a great circle is basically something like the equator: one of the biggest (greatest) circles that you can draw on the surface of a sphere.) i think this is pretty unintuitive, especially because this sort of non-euclidean geometry doesn’t really come up very frequently in day to day life. but one way to think about this that on the sphere, “great circles” are the analogues of straight lines, although you’d need a bit more mathematical machinery to make that more precise.

although in practice, some airlines might choose flight paths that aren’t great circles because of various real world factors, like wind patterns and temperature changes, etc.

[–] areyouevenreal@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

You can't fly directly in a commercial aircraft. The airspace has routes and points you have to follow. Smaller planes don't always have to, but big planes almost always do. Altitude is one of the determining factors.

[–] lowleveldata@programming.dev 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Just go east?

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago

You're a genius. An evil genius who could figure out the most efficient way to kamikaze Hawaii from Japan.

[–] bleistift2@feddit.de 5 points 6 months ago

Judging by eye on the map projection OpenStreetMap uses, the direct line between Japan and Hawaii is about one quarter of the westbound straight line between Japan and Hawaii.

[–] uranibaba@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Wait until they see a non-western centric map.

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 17 points 6 months ago

On this map, the west is on the left, not the center /s

[–] AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 10 points 6 months ago

of course not they'd be shot down

since there are no missile launchers in the ocean it is perfectly safe

[–] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yet you can travel from Russia to Alaska in like 5 hours, so how does Flat earther explain that?

[–] MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Depends on where in Russia you start. Going from Moscow is gonna take a LOT longer than from Vladivostok.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 6 months ago

Going from Moscow is gonna take a LOT longer than from Vladivostok

In the flat Earth proposed by the above picture? Moscow should be faster, shouldn't it? Even if they're avoiding flying over other countries, enter the Baltic Sea near St Petersburg and navigate the Danish Straits; or if that's too close, fly North of Norway & Sweden, either way, much shorter than from Vladivostok.

If we're talking the real world, it depends on which part of Alaska you're talking about. To Anchorage, it's definitely "a LOT" longer. Along the northern coast of Alaska though, it's actually...well, still longer, but by a surprisingly small amount, thanks to Moscow being so much further north than Vladivostok and able to take the northern passage.

[–] Manzas@lemdro.id 2 points 6 months ago

Going above the speed of light

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 6 points 6 months ago

I've seen this graphic before, but I thought it was suggested as a joke.

[–] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 months ago

Claim and refuse to elaborate further.

[–] retrospectology@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

The earth is not flat nor is it round, it's like Flappy Bird.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Ol Danny boy needs to lay off the pipes for a bit

[–] spikederailed@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

"South Carolina, USA"... well that's sadly makes sense. I need to convince my boss to let me be full time remote so I can leave.