On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:39:02 GMT, "Sid Wood"
wrote:


"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
.. .
On 19 Nov 2003 18:41:40 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

Subject: Which cockpit has the best visibility?
I recall that -23 was
designed to be pretty good as well, although I left the program before
I saw if they could cast a bubble that big and that narrow without
distortion.


Ed, is that true? Are canopies "cast"?
For some reason I thought they were formed from sheet material.


Sorry, precision with language is usually a strong point, but I
dribbled before shooting on that one. They aren't "cast", as in poured
liquid, but they also are a bit more difficult to make than simply
pressing softened sheet in a mold.

My point was that the profile of the -23 was for a relatively narrow
faced canopy that would have required a lot of careful fabrication to
keep any semblance of optical correctness.

I will have to say that having been from the generation of flying
barndoors, driven at Mach 2 by hugely inefficient powerplants, that
the canopies of modern "teen" fighters are incredible engineering
achievements. I always get the sensation that I'm sitting above the
airplane, riding on a broomstick and unrestrained, about to fall out
into the nothingness of space. Of course I've always had a healthy
dose of acrophobia.