Originally Posted by
ancientaviator62
John,
when I was on 92 as Lightning (F2A) groundcrew we had a couple of incidents when the pilot was unable to open the canopy after landing. As I recall the a/c were towed into the hangar and the riggers got to work to free the prisoner.I wonder if these incidents were in any connected to the canopy jettisioning problem. Perhaps an ex armourer could enlighten me.
"ex-armourer" never! Now a retired armourer, I was on 19(F). The armament aspects of the canopy jettison system were confined to the gas-powered (cartridge) parts that provided the thrust to raise it. The mechanical bits were for the riggers to enjoy. The 2/2A's had simple jacks at the front whereas the 3s and later had additional cartridges installed at modified jacks. I cant recall if this was a retrospective mod or design improvement.
