An instrument takeoff means taking an airplane off the ground without any outside reference whatsoever. You practice this maneuver when you attend instrument school but very few pilots actually do perform it for real. In instrument school the instructor hangs a curtain in front of; and to the left side, of the pilot so he supposedly cannot see out and must rely solely on his instruments to perform an "instrument takeoff'. But it's not so bad doing it in school because the pilot can still glimpse the runway to the right side of the instructor who must be able to see out and take over in case things go wrong. And just having the instructor there to take over in case you screw up is a terrific confidence builder. But I did it one day for real. I was flying a C-47 (Goony Bird) back from Washington, D.C. to Eglin AFB, Florida with several passengers and had to land at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama because Eglin AFB was socked in with dense fog and we had to remain overnight. The next morning the dense fog was now over Maxwell AFB and Eglin AFB was now clear. It was the densest fog I have ever seen. You couldn't see a person standing 15 feet away. At the operations office the co-pilot and I talked things over. "Looks like we'll be here for awhile unless we want to make an instrument takeoff", I said. "I'm game if you are", he replied. "Think you can do it?" "Sure", I said. "I just finished instrument refresher school last week and I'd like to try it. How about you?" "Yeah. I used to teach in instrument school but I accidentally let my Green Instrument Card expire. That's the reason I'm flying co-pilot for a while", he answered. "Great", I replied. "Then you know exactly what to do. Lets go." The fog was so dense that I could barely see my wing tip lights. I asked the tower to send a "Follow Me" jeep and lead me out and position me on the center of runway 36, which they did. It's called runway 36 because when you are lined up for takeoff your compass reads 360 degrees. I further asked the tower turn the runway lights up to full brightness but when they did I could only barely make out the ones to my left and right and nothing ahead. Since my co-pilot used to instruct in instrument school he needed no further instructions or briefing from me. This is very important as both pilot and co-pilot must have absolute confidence in one another and know their job in order to perform this complicated maneuver. I positioned the C-47 so that the magnetic compass read 360 degrees and then set the gyroscopic compass to read 360 degrees. This would be my primary instrument until I lifted off. As long as I kept 360 degrees on the gyrocompass I should be going straight down the runway. Next I adjusted the small plane on my gyroscopic artificial horizon instrument to be slightly above the artificial horizon since sitting on the ground makes the nose of the aircraft slightly above the actual horizon. I was now ready for my instrument takeoff. I released the brakes and slowly advanced both throttles while keeping 360 degrees on the gyro compass. When I had the throttles about one-third open, the co-pilot taped my hand. I removed my hand from the throttles and placed it on the wheel and gave full concentration to my flying instruments. The co-pilot then advanced the throttles to takeoff power, locked them there, and monitored the engine performance and all the other engine gauges. I only paid attention to my flight instruments. Keeping my eyes on the gyro compass, I next brought the airspeed indicator into scan as I rapidly increased speed and brought the tail up which now placed the small plane on my artificial horizon exactly on the horizon line. I let the airspeed go slightly beyond normal takeoff speed before lifting off to insure that we would remain airborne and not settle back and bounce on the runway. This could be disastrous. Immediately upon becoming airborne, my scan went rapidly and continually from the gyrocompass to the artificial horizon (to keep my wings level), to the airspeed indicator, to the rate of climb indicator, to the altimeter, and back to the gyrocompass. These instruments provided me with the information I needed to keep my wings level, maintain proper flying speed, establish the correct climb angle, go straight ahead, and told me how high I was above the ground. When I was safely airborne and climbing, I ordered gear up and the co-pilot complied and also reduced power without being instructed to do so by easing back on the throttles and adjusting the propeller controls to a lower revolutions per minute. And that was it! I did it! I was now safely airborne, still flying on instruments of course, but with plenty of altitude above the ground so I could relax now. It was a good feeling knowing that I had accomplished something that not too many other pilots had.