Nutloose,
Thanks for the steer. Will have a go.
Meanwhile the Du Plessis pic (Page 4, pic 15) is worth a comment or two. This must have been taken in the US before delivery. The sun is high in the sky, must be in a southern state. The mechs are in US uniforms, and the rear guns are still the US 0.300 Brownings which were the original fit. When we got them, we replaced them with British 0.303s, and ours had prominent, conical flash eliminators on the muzzles (at least, all the ones I ever saw had).
It is a Mk.III, the last of the A-31 type. As far as the naked eye can judge, the zero Angle of Incidence is obvious. Just forward and slightly below the the front cockpit is a strange thing on the fuselage which I cannot identify. It casts a shadow - it is real. Almost like a (very bent) panel hinged at the top (or a canard wing !). But all VV engine panels came straight off. Never saw anything like it. Any ideas ?
...Re the discussion on the Wg Cdr Arthur Gill Thread, and with particular reference to:
"Gabrielson ending up suspended on his leash, upside down and half way out of the cockpit. He couldn't get back in and so released the quick-release catch. Happily he had had the foresight to clip his chest parachute to his harness"
This puzzles me. On the few occasions I rode in the back seat of a VV, I remember I had a bucket seat with a pilot's parachute and four-point harness..
Hard to judge, but the back seat
does look as though a full harness is piled on top.
Danny.