Originally Posted by
tomgoodman
I read somewhere that in the days before instruments, the emergency way to get below a thick cloud deck without losing control was to enter a deliberate spin! Apparently that put your biplane in a stable and easily recoverable mode, with a modest rate of descent.
That would work as long as you knew what the ceiling was. It would prevent graveyard spirals or other manuevers likely to overgee / overspeed the airframe. A spun airplane is unloaded and will not pick up forward A/S.