Spitfire Controls

In article ,
Guy Alcala writes:
Dave Eadsforth wrote:

In article et,
Frijoles writes

snip

I too wondered about the circle thing watching "B.O.B." the other night.
Seems its just something one got used to over time.

SNIP old stuff

A fellow air cadet and I raided a fire dump when staying at an RAF
station (MANY years ago). We got the control column tops out of a
Meteor trainer destined for fire practice - I got the 'modern' handle
and my pal got the WWII spade grip. Wish we'd done it the other way
around now...

Which reminds me -- the spade grip was pretty much SOP for RAF fighters during
WW2. Anyone know which a/c first dispensed with it and went with a standard
sticktop? I know the Hunter had a regular top, although it too was pivoted about
halfway down to avoid the "hitting the knee" problems that Pete mentioned. OTOH
it had powered controls, so brute force wasn't an issue, and they could have
geared the stick throw however they wanted. Anyone know what the Meteor and
Vampire used? IIRR the latter had the hand-operated brake lever, so probably had
the spade grip.

Emergency Followup - in my haste, I gave teh URL for the wrong cockpit
image. That's a DH Queen Bee (Basically a radio controlled Tiger
Moth).

This is the Vampi
http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/dhaircra...%20cockpit.htm




--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

Presidente Alcazar wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 07:53:54 GMT, Guy Alcala
wrote:

Which reminds me -- the spade grip was pretty much SOP for RAF fighters during
WW2. Anyone know which a/c first dispensed with it and went with a standard
sticktop? I know the Hunter had a regular top, although it too was pivoted about
halfway down to avoid the "hitting the knee" problems that Pete mentioned. OTOH
it had powered controls, so brute force wasn't an issue, and they could have
geared the stick throw however they wanted. Anyone know what the Meteor and
Vampire used? IIRR the latter had the hand-operated brake lever, so probably had
the spade grip.

Yup, the Vampires (at least up to the FB.5) had the spade grip
according to the pilot's notes I've seen.

Given the photo of the T.11 Pete provided, and the pilot's notes you've seen, it
occurs to me that the standard stick stop would have had to replace the spade grip
when ejection seats came in. IIRR single-seat Vamps and (I think) early Meteors
didn't have ejection seats. A spade grip would presumably interfere more with the
ejection path, and who wants to lose a leg at the knee if they don't have to?

Guy