A few random notes re blind flying, Doolittle, and Lindbergh:
* Jimmy Doolittle's contributions to blind flying are well known. A quote from wikipedia:
"In 1929, he became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit. Having returned to Mitchel Field that September, he assisted in the development of fog flying equipment. He helped develop, and was then the first to test, the now universally used artificial horizon and directional gyroscope. He attracted wide newspaper attention with this feat of "blind" flying and later received the Harmon Trophy for conducting the experiments. These accomplishments made all-weather airline operations practical."
Photo of the instrument panel of the aircraft used in these tests:
CONSOLIDATED NY-2 (HUSKY) (COCKPIT) (DOOLITTLE BLIND FLIGHT AIRCRAFT) | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
What are all the instruments? Note the artificial horizon. Where is the directional gyro? Presumably the instrument above the panel is a second wet compass? Note the off-course deviation indicator for the "Pioneer compass" in the bottom center of the panel-- this was not a gyro instrument-- more about the "Pioneer compass" below, re Lindbergh. The dial in the upper right of the panel, right of the wet compass, may be for setting the desired course on the Pioneer compass? The octagonal display on the far lower left, below the panel, was the vibrating reed localizer.
This article suggests that contrary to most accounts, there actually was no directional gyro installed during the famous flight where Doolittle was under the hood from takeoff to landing: (see figure 3 and the text immediately above.)
Milestone-Proposal:First Blind Flight: A Joint IEEE-AIAA Milestone Proposal - GHN: IEEE Global History Network
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* Lindbergh engaged in extensive blind flying in his famous trans-Atlantic flight 1927. Blind flying was not unknown at this time, but was not fully developed either. Here is a photo of his panel:
Spirit of St Louis Photos
another view
001011 ? Complete View of Instrument Panel | Orbital Air, Inc.
and another view:
Instrument panel for Spirit of St. Louis | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Clearer view, on a "restoration", (should be "replica"?) :
Spirit of St. Louis instrument panel photo - Bill Chilcoat photos at pbase.com
The turn rate indicator is the only gyro instrument on the panel.
Note that there is not one slip/ skid instrument but two. A ball and a bubble. They give the same information, just to different scales. Note also the pitch trim level. This would only be useful for trimming the aircraft in un-accelerated flight.
The instrument labelled "Pioneer Compass", directly above the needle-and-ball, is the off-course deviation indicator from Lindbergh's Pioneer earth-inductor compass. This is a non-gyroscopic instrument that gives superior performance to a conventional wet compass. The left-right indication is the deviation from the set course. I'm not sure where the dial for setting the course is.
Read more about the Pioneer Compass here:
Atlantic Fever: Lindbergh, His Competitors, and the Race to Cross the Atlantic - Joe Jackson - Google Books
and more here:
Plane Talking - HyperScale's Aircraft Scale Model Discussion Forum: earth inductor compass explanation for those interested
There was also a wet compass that was installed over Lindbergh's head, and read through a small mirror on the upper left part of the control panel. Read more about it here:
Charles Lindbergh Discussion Center: Spirit of St Louis Compass
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Here's some amusing reading re blind flying around 1930:
Happy Birthday, Blind Flight! [Vintage PopSci] | Popular Science
Here's an interesting thing to skim through-- a 1938 bibliography on air navigation instruments. Includes references to many kinds of compasses. Start by taking a look at section 4 in the Table of contents (page 4 in the PDF).
https://info.aiaa.org/tac/ETMG/HISTC...ary%201939.pdf
Ok that's enough for now! Steve S