Sywell "Piston & Props" - 24/9/16

[Eric Mc]

A grass strip has the same directional limitations as a tarmacked runway. In WW2, many fields were fairly open and the aircraft took off into whatever direction the wind was blowing from - if at all possible.

If you watch clips of 109s (which were notoriously difficult to handle on the ground), they often took off in a curved path.

[eharding]

Eric Mc said:

A grass strip has the same directional limitations as a tarmacked runway. In WW2, many fields were fairly open and the aircraft took off into whatever direction the wind was blowing from - if at all possible.

If you watch clips of 109s (which were notoriously difficult to handle on the ground), they often took off in a curved path.

Grass is much more forgiving in taildraggers than tarmac though - grass runways also tend to be wider, and generally don't have sharp pointy things at the edge of them, hence far less fraught when operating in crosswinds (the ploughed field at the edge of the grass at Breighton which did for my old Pitts being an obvious exception).