The USN had the NH-1 instrument trainer during the big one. It had conventional LHS/RHS plus a limited panel and flight controls for a student in the curtained cabin behind the LHS. Also an instructor's seat alongside the student.
I have heard (from the fellow who invented this layout) that when it was first proposed to the Army about 1938, they laughed him out of the place.
But the Navy loved it, because four aviators (two in front, two in back) could log time in the same single-engine airplane!
