Zzzziiippppp sounding arrows - a different kind of tuning

[jeduffey]

I was recently watching a showing of the 1953 Ivanhoe, with Elizabeth Taylor. At the end, they had on a guy who supposedly did the sound design for that or some other movie with arrows. He was very influenced by the Errol Flynn A.of Robin Hood. As a kid he was hooked on the sound of the arrows in the AoRH archery contest. He claimed that his research into AoRH showed that Howard Hill used a special cut of feather, with heavy shafts, and this autmatically made the sound he wanted. He had a proper arrow smith make a batch and got the sound.

Q: Does this seem reasonable to you? Do you know of any photos of Howard Hills' fletching that would agree with this guy's story?

[soul fly]

I know spinwings sound different to straight vains, especialy when your standing under them in a clout! so I guess it would be possable

[pwiles1968]

You stand under the arrow Flight Path, In Front of the Shooting Line, what is stopping someone accidentally shooting you.

IMHO Arrows should make Little or no noise, to make noise requires energy, if an arrow that is making noise it is not flying as efficiently as it could, that is just the engineer in me.

[geoffretired]

Getting the sound might have been just for the effect on the films. Also, the noise would make me think he was using a lot of drag to get the arrow straightened up quickly. If you want to get an arrow exactly placed in a target, you stand fairly close. It would not look good in a film if the arrow was 45 degrees out of line!!
I think Howard Hill used long straight topped fletchings.

[Schme1440]

Originally Posted by pwiles1968

You stand under the arrow Flight Path, In Front of the Shooting Line, what is stopping someone accidentally shooting you.

IMHO Arrows should make Little or no noise, to make noise requires energy, if an arrow that is making noise it is not flying as efficiently as it could, that is just the engineer in me.

True but they can sound cool. Have you ever heard an arrow with a fletching falling off. ad that happen. Click....release.....fizzzzzzzzzzzz.....Thump Damn! Everyone in a 5 target radius could hear it. SOunded good but shame about the arrow score of 1.

[steve58]

My indoor longbow arrows have a 5" helical fletch, if I release when the hall is quiet I can hear them whoosh off the bow. This is good as it indicates to me that the fletching is doing its job of steering the arrow. At longbow shoots there is often an "Agincourt Volley" at the end where everyone looses at once, this produces a wonderful whooooossssh sound as the arrows take off, followed by a ripple of thuds at the other end, great fun and highly recommended!

[Bald Eagle]

I once had some American Plains indian arrows thet sounded great when loosed. Tke fletchings were as wide at the top as they were at the bottom and were held on to the shaft with sinew. They came off the bow like a rocket but after about 50 yds,the apparent optimum killing range for plains indians, thy faded fast.

[soul fly]

Originally Posted by pwiles1968

You stand under the arrow Flight Path, In Front of the Shooting Line, what is stopping someone accidentally shooting you.

IMHO Arrows should make Little or no noise, to make noise requires energy, if an arrow that is making noise it is not flying as efficiently as it could, that is just the engineer in me.

I wasn't directly under them, I was on the 80m line and they were shooting from 185 and 165, we didn't have much room so they were standing about 5m to the side of me. I also had a corogated iron fence to hide behind. One had some carbon break off the frount and made a high pitched whisteling sound as it went past.

[gorbalite]

Several times on the more hunting oriented american forums I have seen a preferance for parabolic over shield cut fletching as they were considered quieter and less likely to give warning to there prey

[Sling-it]

I'm not sure who made or makes them, but I believe the plastic fletches that have holes cut through them are noisy flyers. Heard them shot on a target by us on a 3D range before.