British Supermarine Spitfire Cockpit
70 Years of the Spitfire (March 2006)
An article on CBC (March 5, 2005) marking the Spitfire's 70th Anniversary of this great war bird. From the article:The Supermarine Spitfire, a plane that became an emblem for the British and Canadian air forces in the Second World War, marked its 70th anniversary Sunday.
Spitfire Cockpit
Here's my latest addition to the basement (or as my daughter refers to it - daddy's junk box :-).This wooden mockup of a British Spitfire cockpit was given to me by my now ex-neighbour (who has since moved to Germany to teach flying). They had a garage sale, that we stopped in to check out. I noticed a lot of flying related items in their garage (not for sale). It was an opener to a conversation where we talked about flying, planes and simulators. Brian mentioned he had a Spitfire cockpit in the back that horrors - was going to be cut up for FIREWOOD!. He asked me if I was interested in having it - to which I excitedly agreed!
This cockpit is very well built, the skin is wood paneling which I hope to either patch / smooth or replace with something smoother. A paint job is definitely in order, as is a basic cleaning as there appears to be some mold (the cockpit sat outside for a while).
Unlike my C172 pit, I do not plan on putting mechanical gauges into this pit. I will probably use a small monitor in the pit for the panel and 3 larger monitors for front, left and right views. The idea is more for fun then realism.
The frame sits in my garage waiting for a rainy day to be pulled out and revived.
I found a pilots operating manual.
Spit2Manual.pdf
Here are some photos of the shell that I have.
Top of the simulator facing the rear.
Top view facing the front.
Seat frame - since removed.
Rear window as viewed from the left hand side. (Was this even useful for the pilot? Didn't the seat get in the way of looking out the back?)
Instruments get mounted here. And the pedals go below. This is taken 'sitting' in the seat so to speak. One has to place a board or other firm surface in first as the floor is only glued on wood paneling and tends to come off quite easily.
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