Aircraft seats for sale.

[ex82watcher]

https://facebook.com/marketplace/item/320353871934667/?ref=messenger_share

Does anyone recognize these ? They are descibed as being fom a DH night-bomber,but as they would not accomodate parachutes,I am extremely dubious !

[dduxbury310]

Sound more like passenger seats to me, but will leave it to the experts! Maybe out of a Dove or Heron?
David D

[stevef]

I've never seen seats like that on a Dove or Heron. Night bomber? Definitely not from a Mosquito. Can I see ashtrays on the armrests? If positively DH, perhaps they're from a Flamingo transport?
EvansB from the What Cockpit days will probably know.

[washoutt]

The board at the underside of the seats suggest a luggage restraint, so it seems that these are pax seats.

[chevvron]

The blurb says 'originally bolted together' which would definitely indicate passenger seats.

[sycamore]

Not Rapide seats either....
Maybe from a Valetta/Varsity/Hastings...

[dook]

Ah - a DH Valetta eh ?

[DaveReidUK]

Clearly some aspects of the description on Facebook need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The fact that it's a double seat (with a hinged centre armrest) implies that they must be from a cabin that's at least 3-abreast.

They look a bit austere for either an Albatross or a Flamingo, and you can also see what looks like seat-tray latches on the backs (plus holes for plug-in trays in the armrests), so I think more likely a post-war type - perhaps one of the earlier versions of that famous DH night-bomber, the Comet. :O

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/512x394/30276_1477350316_1a1df5928e469f7ce1ad5d80e7b45d46f86328a6.jp g

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8413860

As for "scrapped down in the West Country", well a couple of the RAF's Comet C.2s were broken up at Lyneham, so I suppose if one is a bit geographically-challenged ...

[chevvron]

Bear in mind the RAF fitted rearward facing passenger seats to its passenger aircraft thus explaining the under seat leg restraint.

[megan]

They look similar to the Mosquito seat, but missing the slots for the shoulder straps. Mosquito crew didn't wear chutes, hence no recess in the seat pan, they used chest mounted chutes, on the fighter they were stored on the floor ahead of the nav by the entrance door, bomber not sure.

[DaveReidUK]

They look similar to the Mosquito seat, but missing the slots for the shoulder straps. Mosquito crew didn't wear chutes, hence no recess in the seat pan, they used chest mounted chutes, on the fighter they were stored on the floor ahead of the nav by the entrance door, bomber not sure.

I can't think of any military aircraft where the pilot/nav seats were bolted together side-by-side. In fact in most if not all Mosquito variants, the crew seats were also offset longitudinally from each other.

My money is still on pax seats (the tray attachments would support that) and, assuming the DH part is correct, likely from a Comet.

[India Four Two]

I agree with Dave, those are not Mosquito seats. Here's a picture of the pilot's seat of (I suspect) KA114 - Avspec's first Mossie. I've sat in both seats in that cockpit and confirm that the nav's seat is further aft, to allow a narrower fuselage without any shoulder overlaps.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/600x400/mosquito_seat_9e054a96664bba7e5cc20e095f184b4c46c4d260.jpg

[aloominumtoob]

Alo,
The facebook seats are ex-R.A.F. Hastings or Beverly seats.
The 'photo from David is of ex-R.A.F. Britannia/Andover seats.
Rearwards,
alt

[DaveReidUK]

The facebook seats are ex-R.A.F. Hastings or Beverly seats.

I wouldn't argue with that (though of course it would mean that the de Havilland reference in the Facebook post was also incorrect, as well as the "night bomber" bit). Both Hastings and Beverley would fit with the "scrapped in the 60s" reference.

The 'photo from David is of ex-R.A.F. Britannia/Andover seats.

The photo is of a Comet C.2 interior (click on the link below the photo), but they may well be the same seats as fitted on the Brit and Andover.

[Warmtoast]

RAF Britannia interiors from my time with 99 Sqn 1959 - 1963. Photos 1 and 2 are looking forward, photo 3 looking to the rear.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/800x527/britanniaraf253cmk1aqmstationmedium_d7f19c82ba67da2107230023 efb4425e7f8571ab.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/800x726/britanniaraf253cmk1cabin2medium_90bdb7e3e3bfff18fe55c7b3fdbe 32bd02d13ee8.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/403x600/britanniaraf253cmk1cabin3medium_fd9af6eb951296e3e8170d8dcef4 5ccf6c957eba.jpg

[Max Tow]

The asymmetric top contour suggests mounting on curved port side of aircraft and in this respect is identical to photos of the offset Mosquito pilot seats online. However, as Megan notes, there's no slot for straps.
Perhaps two pilot seats but modified & joined later?

[DaveReidUK]

The asymmetric top contour suggests mounting on curved port side of aircraft and in this respect is identical to photos of the offset Mosquito pilot seats online. However, as Megan notes, there's no slot for straps.
Perhaps two pilot seats but modified & joined later?

I don't see any "asymmetric top contour".

The reason the top of one of the seats appears slightly higher is simply that the other seat is missing a back leg (you can just discern the bracket to which it would have been bolted in photo #6) and is therefore tilted back a bit more.

[Max Tow]

"I don't see any asymmetric top contour". Really? If you look closely, there is a definite angling in of the right side of both the seat backs in the photo (i.e. to the occupants left side) which is presumably to fit a tight fuselage or canopy side contour. Possibly the reported joining might be a red herring, i.e. these might be two individual pilot seats which have been modified, otherwise why contour both? Plenty of photos online of Mosquito pilot seats with similar backs but hopefully someone from Salisbury Hall will come along to confirm or deny!

[diginagain]

Alo,
The facebook seats are ex-R.A.F. Hastings or Beverly seats.
alt
They look nothing like the seats from Beverley XB259 that found their way into the hands of 152 Sqn ATC.

[DaveReidUK]

Possibly the reported joining might be a red herring, i.e. these might be two individual pilot seats which have been modified, otherwise why contour both?

Yes, it's possible that they weren't joined, though at this rate we'll have discounted pretty well everything in the description of them on that Facebook page. :O

Sticking solely to the photos, which can't lie, if they are actually single seats (whether asymmetric or not), then that would put the Heron and Dove/Devon back in the frame, so they could still be passenger seats (which would also explain the fittings for both seat-back and plug-in trays).

[l.garey]

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1000x750/dscf0006a_1b5cc24d0d35fc368fa6fdce86d782028da093d0.jpg
Seats inside the Heron at Al Mahatta Museum in Sharjah
Laurence

[Pontius Navigator]

The seat back on that Mosquito has a curved seat back.

[FlightlessParrot]

"I don't see any asymmetric top contour". Really? If you look closely, there is a definite angling in of the right side of both the seat backs in the photo (i.e. to the occupants left side) which is presumably to fit a tight fuselage or canopy side contour. Possibly the reported joining might be a red herring, i.e. these might be two individual pilot seats which have been modified, otherwise why contour both? Plenty of photos online of Mosquito pilot seats with similar backs but hopefully someone from Salisbury Hall will come along to confirm or deny!

I'm not so sure about the asymmetry, having looked at all the photographs. The seat back is not in a single plane, but inclines towards the neck of the occupant, roughly, and then away. This means that when the seat is looked at from an angle, variation in the z-plane looks like assymetry in the x-plane, but when compared with other photos, you can see that this is an effect of point of view.

I'm not sure I've got z-planes and x-planes right, but if you look at all the pictures, you'll see what I'm talking about.

[Max Tow]

Agree - not Mosquito then.