I have a little thing still niggling me that I have mentioned in Posts some time ago, when we were engrossed in the subject of Vultee Vengeance pilot's instrument panels. This was the unanswered question of Two Balls (needle 'n ball kind) on one Panel. (Groans of boredom all round !)
This (supposed A-35 [VV Mk.IV to us] arrangement was certainly also in the Curtis P-40), and others of that family, so it must have been a factory fit. BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TWO AT ALL ?
My curiosity was reawakened when I came across a Thread called "What Cockpit" (Multi-page Thread 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...18 Last Page). This lives in "Aviation History and Nostalgia" and the latest Post is currently on Page 2 of that. Obviously there would be a rich field of panels to explore here and I set about it to find more double ball examples.
But in all I have seen, there is only one case (p.3. #52) "confirmed", (and even then it might be argued that both are on the centre panel and so might reasonably be regarded as being shared out between the two pilots). This was the Lockheed L-14 Super Electra, which brought Premier Chamberlain back from Munich in '38, with his infamous piece of paper from Hitler promising "Peace in Our Time" (we were at war the next year !)
So I throw it open to all pilots (and anyone else with an opinion): can anybody give me a credible reason why a second 'slip' ball (which must have had a cost) on the panel would be an advantage to one pilot ?
Danny42C.